“The various grants which you have made for education in the United

Kingdom will, I trust, be conducive to the religious and moral

improvement of my people.

“_My Lords and Gentlemen_,—I think it proper to inform you that it is

my intention immediately to dissolve the present parliament.

“I rely with confidence on the loyalty to the throne, and attachment to

the free institutions of this country, which animate the great body of

my people. I join with them in supplications to Almighty God that the

dearth by which we have been afflicted may, by the Divine blessing, be

converted into cheapness and plenty.”

An event occurred at this juncture not unimportant to the government,

and in which the Roman Catholics of Ireland felt concern. The O’Connor

Don, one of the members for Roscommon, and a lord of the Treasury, died.

He was a patriotic Irishman, of superior education and intelligence, and

much respected, not only by the county he represented, but in Ireland

generally. In the province of Connaught he was regarded with the

reverence paid to a Celtic chief.

Parliament having been dissolved, writs were at once issued for the

election of members for a new one. The especial feature of this election

was the want of a definite policy on the part of the great body of the

candidates. The Whigs seemed to have no clear notion of what they ought

to propose to themselves or to the country. Lord John Russell, as has

always been his custom, referred to his past life as the standard by

which the electors should judge his future policy. A suspicion existed

in the electoral body in Great Britain that it was the intention of

government to endow the Roman Catholic clergy, and this injured the

cause of such Whig candidates as were not very explicit on this matter.

The previous parliament had added to the influence of the church by

increasing the number of bishops, and by their education plan; this

prejudiced many of the Dissenters against Whigism in general, and the

government leaders of that school as its most prominent advocates.

There was a general expectation that, whatever the complexion of the new

parliament, Sir Robert Peel would of necessity be in power before

its dissolution. The energy of the country party was, however, mainly

directed against the Peelites, and their strength was sufficient to bar,

for a time at all events, the approaches to power against Sir Robert.

The elections proceeded throughout Great Britain with fairness, except

that the landlords in some places exercised an influence which was

unconstitutional and unjust. Tenants were evicted because they voted

according to their conscience; and the tradespeople in country towns

were menaced with loss of custom by the neighbouring landowners. In

Ireland the landed interest also exercised an undue influence, and many

cases of extreme hardship occurred. The Boman Catholic clergy used the

power of their office for electioneering purposes, in a way injurious to

their own moral influence, subversive of the rights of the people, and

dangerous to law and order.

The elections terminated by the return of a majority, ostensibly in

favour of government, but there was little earnestness of principle or

purpose to give consistency or continuity to their support.

ASSEMBLING OF A NEW PARLIAMENT.

In consequence of the public distress in Great Britain, the famine in

Ireland, and the disturbed state of that country, it became necessary

for parliament to assemble sooner than had been customary. Accordingly,

on the 18th of November, the first session of the new parliament began;

Mr. Shaw Lefevre was re-elected speaker. On the 23rd, the Marquis of

Lansdowne was commissioned to read her majesty’s speech. That document

referred with hope to the state of commercial matters in Great Britain,

and with gratitude to Providence for a bountiful harvest. Her majesty

expressed her sympathy for Irish suffering, and her abhorrence of Irish

crime. She expressed her pleasure at the alacrity showed by all classes

to relieve the destitute in Ireland; and recommended her parliament to

take measures for repressing outrage, and preserving the public peace in

that country. She expressed her regret that civil war had broken out

in Switzerland, and her readiness to use her influence to heal those

distractions. The speech announced a treaty with the republic of the

equator for the suppression of the slave-trade, and avowed confidence in

maintaining the general peace of Europe. The navigation laws, the health

of the metropolis, and the revenue, were also subjects to which she

called the attention of her parliament.

In the debate upon the address, in the lords, Lord Stanley was

unreasonable and virulent; Lord Brougham, always in opposition to

somebody, refuted the conservative leader. He “praised the government

for calling parliament together so soon; justified the interference with

the bank charter, recorded on another page; declared that Ireland

stood in a shameful and hateful pre-eminence of crime, and trusted that

effectual measures would be taken to disarm the people, and protect life

and property.”

The debate on the address, in the commons, was chiefly remarkable

for the boldness and extent of Mr. John O’Connell’s demands upon the

Treasury for the relief of Ireland. Sir Benjamin Hall made some very

foolish replies to Mr. O’Connell, and added to the bitterness of the

debate. Mr. Maurice O’Connell made the startling declaration that not

more than one-fifth of the sum voted for Ireland had ever reached that

country.

A Roman Catholic archdeacon, named Laffan, at a public meeting in

Cashel, had made a very inflammatory speech, which had excited the

indignation of the public, and was the subject of animadversion in

parliament. Mr. Mahon, an Irish member, was chairman of that meeting,

and the mode in which he palliated the atrocious speech of the

archdeacon caused murmurs of disapprobation in the house. Ireland

appeared to great disadvantage in this debate, and the tone of English

members was not so generous as it ought to have been. The dreadful

crimes perpetrated in Ireland had produced a state of feeling in England

which was almost resentful, notwithstanding the compassion entertained

for the sufferings of the Irish poor. There could be no doubt, as Mr.

Stafford O’Brien reminded the house, that some of the best of landlords

had been assassinated. There appeared to be a relentless thirst for

blood among the Irish peasantry, prompted by fanaticism, famine,

and despair, which was calculated to destroy the sympathy of the

representatives of Great Britain.

The address in the commons was ultimately agreed to after a most

acrimonious debate, protracted by the Irish members and their opponents

far beyond the limits usual on such occasions.

DEBATE ON THE DISTRESS OF THE NATION.

On the 30th the chancellor of the exchequer rose, pursuant of notice,

to move for “a select committee to inquire into the causes of the recent

commercial distress, and how far it has been effected by the laws

for regulating the issue of bank-notes payable on demand.” After an

intellectual debate, except so far as some incoherent rhapsodies of Mr.

Urquhart made it otherwise, the motion was acceded to. Sir Robert Peel

appeared to singular advantage in this discussion; he placed the causes

of public distress luminously before the house, and supported the policy

of government. In the lords there was a similar debate, remarkable for

the extraordinary assertion of Lord Brougham, that the public distress

was chiefly to be attributed to the obstinacy of government and

parliament in not taking his advice and that of the Duke of Wellington,

proffered for the last ten years. His lordship seemed ambitious of

identifying himself with the illustrious duke on all possible occasions,

although scarcely any two men could have entertained opinions more

dissonant than these two noble persons.

MEASURES FOR THE REPRESSION OF HOMICIDE AND OUTRAGE IN IRELAND.

The party of Lord John Russell had thwarted the government of Sir Robert

Peel when endeavouring to enact a law for the preservation of life and

property from the lawlessness of the peasantry in Ireland: it was Lord

John’s fate, in this session, to invoke Sir Robert’s aid in carrying

measures very similar. It became necessary to pass some enactment

calculated to hold Irish outrage in check. Lord John’s influence

ultimately suffered by so frequently opposing others in their more

timely efforts to carry measures of which he was glad at last to avail

himself.

In the six months ending October, 1847, there were ninety-six murders,

while the appalling number of one hundred and fifty-six attempts at

assassination had been made. During the same period, one hundred and

sixteen dwelling-houses had been set on fire by incendiaries. But

offences against life, property, and the civil and religious freedom of

the respectable inhabitants, were innumerable. Portions of Ireland were

under a reign of terror. The sympathies of whole districts were on the

side of those by whom rapine and assassination were committed; and there

was a general unwillingness, even among the better class of farmers, and

persons in higher stations still, to bring the malefactors to justice.

Sir George Grey introduced the remedial measures of government. The

proposed bill was to be applicable only to such portions of Ireland as

the lord-lieutenant should proclaim to be disturbed. The reserved force

of Irish constabulary was to be increased from four hundred to six

hundred men—a feature of the scheme so absurdly inadequate as to expose

its authors to ridicule. From this paltry reserve his excellency was to

send forces into the proclaimed districts. This force would be paid out

of the district it was sent to protect—a most salutary arrangement, as

giving the small farmers and clergy an interest in checking insurgent

proceedings. All persons, unless especially exempt from the prohibition,

were to be forbidden the use of arms in proclaimed districts, but they

might have such in their own houses. This provision, which appeared

reasonable in itself, was practically mischievous, for the houses of

many became depots of arms for their companions in disaffection more

suspected than themselves. Robberies of arms were perpetrated by

_unarmed_ bands, who were nevertheless not resisted. Any violation of

the disarming clause of the bill would subject the culprit to three

years’ imprisonment. The lord-lieutenant had power to authorise search

for arms in the houses of the suspected, and all prohibited weapons were

to be delivered up on proclamation to that effect, under penalties.

This also was evaded, for as soon as a district was proclaimed, the arms

disappeared into a neighbouring district, not so situated, from whence

incursions were made into the proclaimed district, where the force

was generally too feeble to protect the numerous points upon which the

depredators fell. The police had power to call upon all males between

sixteen and sixty, in any district where a murder was committed, to join

in pursuit of the murderer; and any one who refused, was held guilty of

misdemeanour. This clause alarmed the disaffected more than any other.

The bill was received with loud cheers. Mr. John O’Connell, who had

declared that he would “die on the floor of the house” rather than

allow a coercion bill to pass, admitted the necessity of some provision

against the outrages which had prevailed, and that Sir George Grey’s

bill was moderate and just; but he strangely added that he would oppose

it at every stage, unless government passed such a bill regulating the

law of landlord and tenant as he and his party approved. Mr. Fergus

O’Connor bantered Mr. John O’Connell for his subservience to ministers,

which ill accorded with his loud demonstrations of ministerial hostility

in Conciliation Hall. Mr. O’Connor opposed the bill, even in its first

stage. That gentleman wished the Irish repealers to join the chartist

movement, and to place himself at the head of both. Mr. Horsman sensibly

observed that the most appalling thing to him was that the government

had allowed these murders to go on ever since, by the union, the

imperial parliament had undertaken to govern Ireland. Mr. Maurice

O’Connell did not oppose the bill. He also had been a man of fiery words

in Ireland, and paltry deeds in the presence of the government and the

legislature in England. Mr. Disraeli satirised the great outcry about

suppressing outrage, if the addition of two hundred constables were

sufficient. When the second reading was moved on the 6th of December,

Mr. John O’Connell opposed it, and moved “that the orders of the day be

read.” The honourable member had been so pressed by Conciliation Hall,

and the Young Irelanders had raised such an outcry against the measure,

that although he approved of the bill, and took care to let the house

see that he did, yet he was obliged to oppose it, or forfeit his

leadership of “Old Ireland.” His opposition, however, influenced the

people of England against the O’Connells and their class. Murder

and outrage stalked abroad, and whatever were the wrongs of Ireland,

incendiarism and assassination were not the means of redress upon which

brave men could look unmoved. That a country should fall into such a

state of crime was horrible; that the political leaders of any party

in it could be found to oppose measures so mild, and so little

ultra-constitutional, to put down these dreadful deeds, was still more

horrible. The speech of Mr. John O’Connell exposed himself and his

country to just ridicule. A party numbering millions of persons,

choosing as their principal leader a man so little qualified for the

task, or for any great political undertaking, could not but sink in its

relative importance. In spite of the opposition of a few Irish members,

the bill passed the commons almost unanimously. In the lords but little

opposition was offered. On the motion for going into committee on the

16th December, Lord Farnham brought under the notice of the house that

Major Mahon was murdered after he had been denounced from the altar

of the Roman Catholic chapel by a priest named M’Dermot, to whom Major

Mahon had offered no other offence than objecting to that gentleman and

his clerks constituting the relief committee of the district. The debate

was rendered still more remarkable by a frank and manly speech from Lord

Beaumont, a Roman Catholic peer, deprecating these altar denunciations,

which had so frequently been followed by the murder of the persons

denounced. Lord Beaumont expressed his astonishment that the bishops,

clergy, and laity of the Roman Catholic community did not bring their

moral influence to bear upon those priests who offended against the

laws of God and man in so flagrant a manner. This gave rise to severe

animadversions upon the whole body of Irish Roman Catholics for not

having acted as Lord Beaumont pointed out. Lord Stanley especially

adopted this line of remark, with the dextrous facility his lordship

possessed for turning every occurrence and every admission of an

opponent into an element of party attack. The measure was speedily

passed through the house of lords, and became law.

Notwithstanding these weary debates upon Irish affairs, the house of

commons was obliged to participate in another as acrimonious as any of

the former. Mr. Fergus O’Connor moved for a committee of inquiry into

the circumstances which led to the legislative union between Great

Britain and Ireland, the means by which that act was attained, and its

effect upon the working-classes of both countries. Mr. Henry Grattan

denounced the speech of Mr. O’Connor, and his general spirit and

conduct. Mr. John O’Connell and Mr. Smith O’Brien gave their support to

the motion. It was all but unanimously rejected.

MOTION FOR THE REPEAL OF JEWISH DISABILITIES.

Baron Rothschild, a distinguished member of the Jewish persuasion,

having been elected member for the city of London, the question of the

right of Jews to sit in parliament was raised and warmly discussed, in

the public press and in the country. Lord John Russell was also elected

for the city of London, and was bound, therefore, by his especial duty

to the citizens, to look particularly to the settlement of this matter.

He moved, on the 16th of December, “that the house should resolve itself

into a committee, to consider the removal of the civil and religious

disabilities affecting her majesty’s Jewish subjects.” The resolution

was carried by a very large majority, its principal opponent being Sir

Robert Inglis, one of the members for Oxford.

ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE.—CLOSE OF THE PARLIAMENTARY LABOURS OF 1847.

On the 20th of December the house adjourned for the Christmas holidays,

and did not meet again until February. Thus closed the first session of

the new parliament, and the legislative business of the year.

Throughout the year the sanitary deficiencies of large cities, and their

moral peculiarities, were the subjects of desultory conversation in

parliament, and of extensive discussion in the newspapers and at public

meetings. To such a degree did the sanitary question excite public

interest, that her majesty was advised to recommend its consideration

to the new parliament; and during the educational debates, the moral and

intellectual condition of large towns, and especially of the metropolis,

was a theme of desponding comment. The reverend Dr. Guthrie, of

Edinburgh, has since then eloquently shown that the providential

dispensation which consigns so large a portion of our people to the

close confines of cities, like all the other arrangements of Providence,

however mysterious, are full of goodness and mercy:—“Somehow or other,

amid their crowding and confinement, the human mind finds its fullest,

freest expansion. Unlike the dwarfed and dusty plants which stand around

our suburban villas, languishing like exiles for the purer air and freer

sunshine that kiss their fellows far away in flowery field and green

woodland, on sunny banks and breezy hills, man reaches his highest

condition amid the social influences of the crowded city. His

intellect receives its brightest polish where gold and silver lose

theirs—tarnished by the searching smoke and foul vapours of city air.

The finest flowers of genius have grown in an atmosphere where those of

nature are prone to droop and difficult to bring to maturity. The mental

powers acquire their full robustness where the cheek loses its ruddy hue

and the limbs their elastic step, and pale thought sits on manly brows,

and the watchman, as he walks his rounds, sees the student’s lamp

burning far into the silent night.”

CHAPTER LX.

{VICTORIA. 1848}

Warin India..... Colonial Affairs..... Foreign

Relations..... Revolutions throughout Continental

Europe..... Distress and Crime in Ireland..... Disaffection

of the Irish Roman Catholics, and attempted Revolt.....

Enforcement of Law and Order in Ireland..... Chartist

Disturbances in England, and their suppression..... Home

Incidents..... Transactions of Parliament.

{A.D. 1848}

The year 1848 was one of the most eventful which had ever occurred

in the history of Europe, or in the history of the world, since the

introduction of Christianity; and the relations of England to the great

transactions which passed like a whirlwind over the continent were such

as to enhance her dignity and her glory. It is difficult to write

the History of England, during a period so interesting to continental

Europe, without enlarging upon the events which took place upon other

fields of action, and by which England was in many respects so much

influenced. It will aid in confining the relations of this chapter

within proper bounds, to narrate first those transactions in which

England was exclusively interested, so far as other European powers were

concerned.

THE WAR IN INDIA.

The Punjaub had, in 1847, as already related, been the theatre of most

stirring incidents. The reader of this History can hardly fail to have

observed, that although the defeat of the Sikhs was so complete, the

subjugation of the spirit of that people was far from having been

effected. The dispersed Khalsa army cherished a fierce hostility to the

government of British India, and they were ready to enrol themselves

under the banner of any chief who would lead them, in numbers sufficient

to afford hope of success, against their recent conquerors. An

opportunity occurred in the person of Moolraj, the chief of Mooltan.

Mooltan is a large and fertile country, situated between the left bank

of the Indus and the right bank of the Sutlej, and terminates at one

end where these two rivers form a junction. It gives its name to the

capital, which was protected by defences unusually strong for an eastern

city.

When the British obtained the submission of the regent of the Sikh

monarch, Dhuleep Singh, Mooltan was governed by Moolraj. Moolraj owed

allegiance to the government at Lahore, to which the chieftainship of

Mooltan had been subjected by conquest. The durbar of Lahore purposed

the deposition of Moolraj, and negotiated with him for that purpose. He

affected to acquiesce, and, in consequence, Mr. Agnew, a political agent

of the Honourable East India Company, and Lieutenant Anderson, of the

Bombay Fusileers, were deputed to attend the new governor appointed by

the government of Lahore, to instal him in his office. This official

was named Sirdar Khan Singh, and was an object of extreme jealousy to

Moolraj. The party arrived at Mooltan, accompanied by their respective

suites and a small escort of cavalry. On the 17th of April, the

authority was surrendered in due form by Moolraj, and the object of

the British officers seemed to be accomplished. On the 18th they were

attacked and desperately wounded; it was at first supposed from a sudden

impulse on the part of the soldiery of Moolraj, but it was afterwards

known to be the result of treachery. The officers, accompanied by the

new governor, were carried to a small fort outside the town. A fire was

opened upon the place from Mooltan, but it was ineffectual. A few days

afterwards, however, the fort was attacked by the soldiers of Moolraj;

the Sikhs who garrisoned the place, and among whom were the escort,

treacherously opened the gates, and the assailants entered, foaming

with rage, and demanding vengeance upon the infidel officers. Lieutenant

Anderson was in a dying state; but Mr. Agnew, although so badly wounded,

defended himself with resolution to the last: both officers were

murdered. Moolraj declared that he had no knowledge of the transaction,

but no one believed his disclaimer. Intelligence of these barbarities

reached Lahore with the speed so peculiar to the East; and a force of

three thousand cavalry and some infantry was dispatched, under Sirdar

Shere Singh, against the refractory city. There happened to be upon the

Indus, at the head of a small force, a young and gallant officer who

had served with distinction upon the staff of Lord Gough, and who was

favourably known by his clever contributions to the India press on the

state of the Company’s territory, civil and military: this officer was

Lieutenant Edwardes. He was engaged in settling a disturbed district of

country, and in collecting the land tax due to Moolraj, as Sikh governor

of Mooltan. At the same time, Colonel Van Courtlandt, a native of India,

and a distinguished officer in the service of the Company, occupied

Dherra Ismael Khan, also in the neighbourhood. Lieutenant Edwardes

crossed the river into the Deerajat, whence he wrote to the Khan of

Bhawulpore, requesting him to make such a movement of troops as would

prevent Moolraj from falling upon either of their forces. The khan’s

territories were so situated as to enable him to effect a military

disposition to accomplish this object. The khan made the required

demonstration. When Edwardes crossed the Indus, he left a detachment of

three hundred horse to protect the collection at Serat, where, on the

18th of May, they were attacked by a body of cavalry exceeding their

own in number, sent against them from Mooltan, with ten light field-guns

(zumbooruks). The British force so manoeuvred as to attain a good

position, although under the fire of the zumbooruks, and then charged

brilliantly, dispersing the Mooltanese, and capturing their guns.

Colonel Courtlandt was as prompt as Edwardes in the measures taken by

him. He left the port of Dherra Ismael Khan, and proceeded by the base

of the hills southward. On his route he was joined by a Beloochee chief,

with one hundred of his wild followers. Courtlandt detached these, with

a portion of his own troops, against the fortress of Sunghur, westward

of the Indus. The commander of the fort refused the summons of

surrender, and for six hours maintained a gallant resistance; he then

brought off the garrison by a skilful manoeuvre, reaching Mooltan in

safety.

Lieutenant Edwardes and Colonel Courtlandt effected a Junction of their

small forces, and on the 20th of May were attacked by a division of

the Mooltan army. The united forces of Courtlandt and Edwardes were

so disposed that not more than one thousand five hundred men could

be brought into action, while the enemy numbered three thousand. The

artillery force of each was about equal. Edwardes was, however, joined

by a body of irregular cavalry, and a party of Beloochees, which brought

up the British force more nearly to an equality of numbers. The Sikhs in

British pay happily showed no disposition to fraternise with the Mooltan

army, although the calculations of Moolraj were based upon such an

expectation.

The enemy suffered a signal defeat and great slaughter. The Beloochees

behaved remarkably well. The skill of the British officers turned the

balance in favour of the native army under their command.

After this engagement, Edwardes, acting upon the authority which he

possessed as a civil officer of the company, demanded a reinforcement

from the Khan of Bhawulpore, and in the meantime recruited his force by

Sikhs, Beloochees, Affghans, and men from the hills of various tribes.

The faculty of organisation, the ceaseless activity, and the courage of

this young officer were surprising. Colonel Courtlandt was also equal to

the part assigned him; but, although senior to his colleague in military

rank, the civil functions of the latter gave him an especial, and, in

some respects, superior authority. The Khan of Bhawulpore responded to

the demands of assistance, and a plan was laid for a junction of the

troops. In pursuance of this, Edwardes and Courtlandt crossed the Indus

on the 10th and 11th of June. Moolraj was informed by his spies of every

movement, and the intelligence was conveyed to him with astonishing

rapidity. He accordingly marched a large force to intercept either army,

and beat both in detail. On the 14th he crossed the Chenab, leaving a

considerable force on the other bank. This detachment marched to Khan

Ghur, but on the following day crossed the river, being surprised at

that place by the advance of Edwardes’s irregulars. The Mooltanese had

barely time to cross the Chenab, when the scouts of Edwardes galloped

into Khan Ghur. The Sikhs, instead of giving battle at that place, and

practically attempting the scheme proposed by Moolraj, encamped on the

opposite side of the river, in observation of the British officer and

his little army. This delay and timidity was fatal; for Edwardes

was soon joined by the infantry and a portion of the artillery of

Courtlandt, whose cavalry were scouring the country. The situation of

affairs became now interesting and important, for the Bhawulpore forces

had arrived on the enemy’s side of the Chenab, within twelve miles.

Edwardes made a retrograde movement, so as to place himself opposite the

Bhawulpore encampment. The enemy advanced to within four miles of

that position. In the course of the night, the raw levies of Edwardes

contrived to cross the river in a very irregular manner, and within

dangerous proximity to the enemy’s patrols, but were unmolested. On the

18th, early in the morning, the lieutenant crossed with the remainder

of his little army, except the horses and artillery, which remained

with Courtlandt on the opposite side, for a more slow and safe transport

across the river. Scarcely had the lieutenant gained the opposite bank

than he was attacked by the Sikh army, which had been moving up from

Bugurrarah while he was gaining the passage. This was a terrible

engagement. The sun had hardly risen upon river, and swamp, and

undulating plains, when the Mooltanee forces fell upon the motley crowd

of the British levies, and in such superior numbers that victory seemed

certain. For nine hours the English lieutenant resisted the onslaught,

and by his valour, activity, presence of mind, and moral influence, kept

his undisciplined forces in firm front to the foe. At last Courtlandt’s

guns were brought over, and made the contest somewhat equal; later

in the day, two regular regiments belonging to the colonel’s division

arrived, with six guns, and the enemy panic-struck fled, leaving a

large, proportion of their troops upon the field, slain, wounded, and

prisoners, with six guns, and their entire baggage and munitions of

war. The conduct of Edwardes throughout the day was splendid, and laid a

deeper foundation for his military reputation.

Moolraj retreated to Mooltan, followed by the British, and the Khan of

Bhawulpore, who had rendered hitherto but little assistance, and whose

movements led to the suspicion that he had more sympathy with Moolraj

than he dared to avow.

On the 28th of June, a Sikh brigade under the command of

Sheik-Emaum-ood-deen, which had been dispatched by the government of

Lahore, arrived to reinforce the English. The whole army appeared before

Mooltan, consisting of eighteen thousand men, comprising the levies of

Edwardes, the division of Courtlandt, that of the Khan of Bhawulpore,

and the newly arrived brigade of the sheik.

Moolraj collected his army between the city and the invaders, and

intrenched himself in a strong position, near the village of Sadoosan.

Edwardes attacked the camp with one portion of his force, storming the

breastwork, and with another taking the intrenchments in flank. The

discomfited enemy was driven in disorder within the city. The loss of

the allies was about twenty killed and less than one hundred wounded:

the enemy suffered severely. The difficulties of Edwardes increased with

his victories, for it was impossible for him to take Mooltan by a

_coup de main_, and he had no siege _matériel_. To remain inactive was

dangerous, for little reliance could be placed on the sheik, still less

on the khan, and even the regular regiments of Courtlandt were not

very trustworthy: he had mainly to rely upon his brave but undisciplined

Affghan and Beloochee levies. With such an army, so collected, and

without siege train, or heavy artillery of any kind, the conquest of

Mooltan was an impossibility, and yet affairs demanded speedy and

decided action. He accordingly sent to Sir Frederick Currie, the British

resident at Lahore, acquainting him with the delicacy of his situation,

and urging the dispatch of siege guns, and such other material of war

as was requisite. Communication was made to Lieutenant Edwardes by the

British resident at Lahore, that troops, material, and a general

officer of experience to take the command, would be sent as speedily

as possible, and meanwhile Edwardes was to watch the movements of the

enenry. This he effectually did; Moolraj could execute nothing beyond

the walls of Mooltan, for the eyes of the vigilant English lieutenant

were constantly upon his movements.

On the 18th of August General Whish arrived from Lahore with two

regiments of native infantry, a regiment of irregular horse, a troop of

horse artillery, and the 10th regiment of her majesty’s foot. The next

day a column arrived from Ferozepore, consisting of three regiments of

native infantry, two regiments of native cavalry, one regular and

one irregular, a battering train, a troop of horse artillery, and her

majesty’s 32nd regiment of the line. The forces before Mooltan then

amounted to six thousand Europeans, and more than twenty-two thousand

native troops, including the levies of Edwardes, and the khan’s forces.

Scarcely had the army under General Whish assembled before Mooltan,

when other events still more formidable than the defection of Moolraj

occurred elsewhere.

MUTINY OF SIKH TROOPS IN THE PUNJAUB. AND REVOLT OF CHUTTUR SINGH.

Sirdar Chuttur Singh (father of Rajah Shere Singh) was governor of the

Hazareh country, under allegiance to the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, of

Lahore. That chief took advantage of the revolt at Mooltan, and opened

correspondence with other chiefs for the purpose of tampering with the

Sikh soldiers in garrison in their different provinces. The government

of Lahore was guilty of complicity in these movements, although

affecting to be incensed against the refractory chiefs and provinces.

A knowledge of this circumstance soon spread among the Khalsa* soldiery

all over the Punjaub, and disposed them to follow any leader who had the

boldness to hoist the standard of rebellion.

* “Khalsa,” or church. This name was assumed to express the

idea that the army was composed only of the faithful; the

Sikh religion being a sort of eclectic religion, chosen from

Mohammedanism, Brahminism, and other oriental systems.

Early in September the whole Hazareh country was in ostensible

insurrection, and an attack was made upon Attock. Happily Major Lawrence

was then, in the phraseology of the Indian political service, the

assistant at Peshawur. He sent Lieutenant Nicholson, at the head of a

detachment of cavalry and infantry, to take possession of: the fort. By

a forced marched this was effected before the arrival of the rebellious

sirdar’s troops. Cabbot Abbot, the political agent in the Hazareh,

joined Lieutenant Nicholson, and their position was very precarious.

Major Lawrence, whose comprehensive mind was prepared for every

emergency, had troops moved to their assistance from Peshawur and

Jullundur. The revolt, however, spread in every direction. Peshawur was

begirt, with disciplined and fanatical enemies, and at last, early in

November, Major Lawrence and family had to fly for their lives from that

place, the troops in the garrison having mutinied on the approach of

Chuttur Singh and his army. Major and Mrs. Lawrence, with Lieutenant

Bowie, found refuge at Kohat, under the protection of Mahomed Khan.

Mahomed, either through fear or treachery, or both, gave them up as

prisoners to Chuttur Singh. The sirdar treated them with kindness, and

frequently conversed with them on the prospects of restoring the Sikh

ascendancy in the Punjaub; nor were the dissuasions of Major Lawrence of

any effect, for Chuttur believed in the Khâlsa confederacy.

On the 18th of December, when Shere Singh was at the head of a numerous

force, Major Lawrence was brought to his camp with the object of using

him for negotiations with the governor-general. It is necessary, in

order to preserve the collateral relation of events, to return to the

army of Whish before the besieged city.

SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF MOOLTAN.

General Whish pressed his operations against Mooltan with skill and

energy. He was ably aided by Edwardes, Courtlandt, Brigadier-general

Markham, and other officers. During the first ten days of September

skirmishes were frequent, and some of these were sharp and spirited. On

the 12th Whish determined to attack certain posts, the capture of which

was essential to the execution of his plans. The enenry had established

an extensive and formidable outpost in a village and garden near the

walls. To capture this a body of the besiegers, numbering two thousand

five hundred, were told off. They began the attack at break of day,

under the command of Brigadier-general Harvey. The contest was very

severe, but ended in the accomplishment of General Whish’s design. The

slaughter of the Mooltanese was signal, and the heroism of the European

regiments extraordinary. The loss on the part of the British was heavy.

Major Montazambert, of the 10th foot, Colonel Pattoun, of the 32nd,

Quartermaster Taylor, also of that regiment, were the officers of the

royal regiments which fell. Lieutenant Cubit and Ensign Lloyd, of the

Company’s service, also fell. The latter officer was treacherously

cut down while parleying with the enemy. The 10th regiment fought

desperately, making havoc of the Mooltanese with the bayonet.

The next day the besieged made a sortie against the camp of Lieutenant

Edwardes, but were beaten back, the pursuit issuing in the capture of

another important outpost. The defence had arrived at its crisis, but

Sikh treachery averted from the city the impending blow. On the morn-,

ing of the 14th, Shere Singh, with the whole of the Lahore troops,

five thousand in number, went over to the enemy. This event, at

once lessening the army of the besiegers, and increasing that of the

besieged, made their relative numbers so disproportionate, that the

siege was raised, the army withdrawing to a position a few miles

distant, where they intrenched. Soon after the British took up this

position, Shere Singh left Mooltan and marched along the banks of the

Chenab, forming a junction with Chuttur Singh, which placed the former

at the head of thirty thousand men. It became necessary for another

British army to encounter this enemy, while Whish and his troops could

do nothing against Mooltan until strongly reinforced. On the 21st

of December, a strong division of the Bombay army arrived at General

Whish’s camp, and thus strengthened, the general resolved upon active

operations. His army now numbered about seventeen thousand Sikhs,

Beloochees, Affghans, and other contingents, about fifteen thousand

more Queen’s and Company’s troops, and one hundred and fifty pieces

of cannon. On the 27th General Whish resolved upon a grand attack, and

moved his army forward in four columns. The enemy falling back from

their outposts, the British took a position in the suburbs within

five hundred yards of the walls. That day and night batteries were

constructed on all appropriate points, and early on the 28th a terrible

bombardment began. By the 29th, the works were carried forward to within

eighty yards of the place, breaches began to be effected, the granary

was fired, and the batteries and buildings of the enemy suffered much

under the heavy cannonade of the besiegers. On the 30th a shell blew up

the principal magazine of the city. The shock was felt for two miles,

and the camp of the besiegers literally rocked above the convulsive

throes of the earth. The magazine contained sixteen thousand pounds

of powder. The explosion was instant; with one fierce crash and a

long-continued roar, the smoke and flame gushed upwards—one of the most

grandly terrible sights upon which human eye could look. Eight hundred

men perished, their charred limbs and whole carcasses were cast far

beyond. The houses of the chief persons, the public buildings and

temples, were shaken down by the vibrations; yet the walls of the fort

endured, and the bulk of the city was intact. A fire was communicated,

which raged through several streets, but was extinguished. It was

supposed that this event would lead to the surrender of the place, but

next day Moolraj sent word to General Whish that he had still powder

enough for a twelvemonth’s siege, and that he would hold out while one

stone remained upon another. This was supposed to be mere bravado, and a

summon was sent to surrender. Moolraj, with perfect _sang froid_, rammed

the letter down one of the longest guns, and fired it at the British.

During the following night a distinct breach was effected in the Delhi

gate of the city, and the next day another at the Bohan gate. The fire

of the besiegers was plied hotly for the two following days and nights,

the city blazing like a hell, amidst the crash of falling buildings, and

the outcry of wounded women and children. On the 81st the Sikhs made

a sortie from the south-west gate against the camp of Edwardes. That

officer, ever vigilant, and ably seconded by the engineer officer,

Lieutenant Lake, repulsed the sortie, inflicting heavy loss. The

cannonade continued for fifty-six hours longer, and on the 2nd of

January the assault was made. The Bengal and Bombay divisions were

formed into separate columns, and precipitated upon the two breaches.

These columns moved forward with great daring and under a heavy fire.

The Bengal column found the breach impracticable, with an open drop in

front, and strong defences in the rear. While the Bengal Sepoys were

obstructed by obstacles which they could not surmount, the Bombay column

gained an entrance. The sergeant-major of the Bombay Fusileers boldly

planted the British flag above the breach. The Bengal column turned

and followed their more fortunate comrades of the other presidency. The

enemy resisted at every step, receding only before superior force,

and it was not until the sun went down over the blackened ruins and

blood-stained streets of Mooltan that the city was completely in the

hands of the conquerors. The troops of Moolraj retreated to the citadel,

which was a place of surpassing strength, and could only be taken by

regular approaches. Parallels were opened, and a fierce cannonade was

directed against it on the 4th; but it was not until the 18th that

any decided impression was made. By that date the intrenchments were

carried up to the very walls, but such was their extraordinary strength

that they were proof against artillery—at all events, any artillery of

the calibre possessed by the besiegers. Whish resolved to effect their

destruction by mines. On the 18th three mines were exploded, and the

counterscarp was blown into the ditch. A shaft was then sunk under the

trench, and a gallery cut towards the wall. At the same time a battery

was placed on a level higher than the citadel itself; another carrying

eighteen and twenty-four pounders was placed close up to the wall.

From this battery the most extraordinary cannonade and bombardment was

conducted. Eight-inch howitzers discharged live shells into the wall,

which buried themselves in the mud and brickwork of which it was built,

and, exploding, tore away large portions. On the 19th the sap reached

the crest of the glacis, and on the 21st the engineer officer in charge

announced that there were two practicable breaches. General Whish gave

prompt orders for the storm on the following morning. Moolraj had been

seriously alarmed during the progress of the works for the few days

previous, and repeatedly offered to surrender if his life would

be spared. The answer returned informed him that no terms but an

unconditional surrender would be conceded. On the 22nd, the British

columns were forming for the assault, when the garrison hauled down its

flag, and Moolraj surrendered at discretion.

The scenes which followed were at once picturesque and painful. The

discomfited troops marched forth as prisoners of war. First came a few

hundreds of the most miserable, dispirited looking men, ill clothed,

and wan with fatigue. These were fanatics who had under a vow devoted

themselves to especial peril and labour in the defence, and as is so

frequently the case with men under the influence of fanaticism, defeat

brings reaction in the form of despair. A column of about three thousand

five hundred soldiery, stern looking men, next came. With such troops

it was no wonder that Moolraj made so glorious a defence. This splendid

body of men laid down their arms with reluctance, and looked back upon

the breaches as if they fain would return and die there, with their arms

in their hands. The body-guard of Moolraj followed, a splendid body of

soldiers, whose equipment in arms and uniform was superb. The chiefs,

friends, and family of the governor next came. They were deeply

dejected, and uttered words of expressive anguish and shame. Moolraj

himself was the last man of the Khalsa host who left the citadel. He

was gorgeously appareled in silks, and decorations expressive of

Khalsa religious or military associations. He wore jewels, carried arms

superbly ornamented and of superior make, and rode a beautiful Arab

charger, covered with a scarlet saddle-cloth, with gilt or golden

trappings. His personal appearance was impressive, his countenance manly

and well formed, with quick, fiery, expressive eyes. Above the middle

height, his form was strong, muscular, and yet elegant. His bearing

was manly and gallant; there was no assumed or insolent defiance, no

fanatical contempt expressed by it, nor did he allow dejection to betray

itself. He and his followers became prisoners of war, and were placed

at the disposal of the governor-general. It was alleged that the

British army was guilty of plunder, and that officers of engineers were

discovered appropriating to themselves prizes, which belonged either to

the custody of the prize agents, or were sacred as private property. It

would appear that these allegations were circulated by certain agents of

persons in England having interests adverse to the Honourable East India

Company, and were utterly unfounded. Lord Ellenborough, more than eight

years afterwards, confuted the calumny.

Mooltan, and the territory of which it was the capital, was now

completely subjugated, and our ally, the khan, returned to his own

province a wiser if not a better man, his further services being

confined to the maintenance of peace in his own territory, and to the

exercise of a certain degree of vigilance in reference to surrounding

provinces. The fall of Mooltan was received over all British India and

the neighbouring independent states as one of the grandest events in

Indian history, and filled the petty chieftains with awe, while it

excited exultation in the presidencies. Far different were the feelings

created in the minds of the Sikh soldiery and people; they were

exasperated, and determined to hazard all upon a single throw. To avenge

past disasters, and expel the British from the country of the five

rivers became the passionate purpose and ambition of chieftain and

soldier, and everywhere desultory bands made war, as they pressed onward

to join the great chiefs, Shere Singh and Chuttur Singh who were now at

the head of a powerful army.

CAMPAIGN IN THE PUNJAUB UNDER LORD GOUGH.

It has been already related that Shere Singh quitted Mooltan with a

strong division of Khalsa troops, on the 9th of October, and formed a

junction with Chuttur Singh.

The latter returned to the territory of Hazareh, leaving the bulk of

his forces under the command of Shere Singh, who was gradually joined by

other chiefs and sirdars, whose followers augmented his army,—that army

consisted of men inured to combat, the flower of the Sikh nation. Lord

Gough, the commander-in-chief of the army in India, was ordered to

assemble an army at Ferozepore, and act against Shere Singh, and, in

fact, reconquer the Punjaub. Bombay and other troops were ordered to

join the army collecting at Ferozopore, and the victorious troops

of Whish, Courtlandt, and Edwardes were ordered to follow and form a

junction with the grand army. These troops did not join as soon as Lord

Gough expected, and the Bombay division, under the Hon. Major-general

Dundas, was so dilatory as to evoke from the good-natured

general-in-chief a most stinging rebuke. The major-general was urged

by despatches to advance with all possible celerity, but he expressed

himself as not perceiving the necessity of such speed. “Tell him,” said

the gallant commander, “to stay with the native troops if he likes, but

to send on the Europeans!”

Before, however, the army which had acted before Mooltan could render

any assistance to Lord Gough, months before that city had fallen, events

gathered within the Punjaub in gloomy and rapid association. It was on

the 21st of November before General Gough assumed the active command of

the army at Seharun, a central position. The river Chenab is the central

one of the five rivers which give name to the district, and the theatre

of conflict was midway between the Chenab and its confluence with the

Indus. On the left bank of the former, about a mile and a half from the

river, the town of Rumnugger was situated: there Shere Singh had taken

up his quarters. Opposite that town the river bends, and there was an

island in mid-channel; this island was about two acres in area. The main

force of Shere Singh was posted on the right bank of the river, but a

strong brigade of four thousand men occupied the island, and erected

batteries. These batteries commanded the only available ford, or

“nullah,” as it is called in the vocabulary of the country. The opposite

town of Rumnugger was favourably situated for defence; it was flanked

by a grove, and by the bend in the river. This position Shere Singh had

skilfully fortified. On the 22nd, at two o’clock in the morning, Lord

Gough approached the enemy. While the right bank and the island were

occupied by the chief forces of the sirdar, he had a strong body also

posted on the left bank, and it became the first object of Lord Gough

to dislodge them. Between the island and the right bank the passage

was effected by boats, so that the enemy was able to preserve his

communications with tolerable certainty and ease. The nullah or ford

was not difficult, although the descent to it from the left bank of the

river was steep. It was directly commanded by the guns on the island,

and was exposed to a raking cross-fire on either side from batteries

placed on the right bank. The 8th light cavalry (Company’s service)

advanced along the left bank, skirmishing, supported by her majesty’s

3rd Light Dragoons. The horse artillery pushed into the deep sand on the

margin of the river, and commanded the batteries at Rumnugger, but were

obliged to retire before their superior metal, leaving behind one gun

and two ammunition waggons embedded in the sand. The enemy took skilful

and immediate advantage of this reverse, and pushed over a powerful

cavalry division. Orders were given to charge them, and the 14th

(Queen’s) Light Dragoons, and the 3rd light horse of the Company’s army,

in spite of overwhelming numbers and of imperfect supports, cut through

the enemy and dashed after them into the nullah. The passage was

familiar to the latter, who made good their retreat to the island; the

latter were of course ignorant of the ground, and were impeded in their

pursuit by that circumstance, had none other obstructed them. As soon as

the Sikh cavalry cleared the ford, the batteries of the island and the

flanking batteries on the right bank opened with deadly effect. How any

British officer could have been so imprudent as to give the order to

charge into the nullah is almost inconceivable; that the error was not

evident, while the brave men were being mowed down by an artillery fire,

which they could do nothing to silence, is still more marvellous; such,

however, was the case. Colonel Havelock dashed into the ford at the head

of the 14th Light Dragoons, but was never seen again. A native trooper

supposed he saw him in the nullah soon after he entered it, unhorsed,

and several Sikh soldiers “hacking his person.” After much useless

slaughter was thus incurred by Havelock’s gallant brigade, Major-general

Cureton rode up with an order from Lord Gough for the troops to retire.

He had scarcely given the order when he fell dead from two shots, by

which he was instantaneously struck. The troops retired with a loss, in

every corps engaged, of officers and men. Lord Gough considered the

end attained in driving the enemy from the left bank was worth the

sacrifice. The death of General Cureton was severely felt by the army,

and was in some degree irreparable. He had risen from the ranks by his

superior soldiership, and was deemed one of the best, perhaps the best,

officer for outpost duty then in India.

On the 30th of November Lieutenant-general Thackwell was ordered to

cross the Chenab above Rumnugger, where an indifferent ford had been

discovered, and where Captain Nicholson had provided boats. Thackwell

was to take the Sikhs in the flank and rear, while Lord Gough observed

them from his old position, ready to take advantage of any favourable

opportunity for attack which the manouvre of General Thackwell might

create. That gallant and skilful officer performed well the part

assigned to him. He gained the right bank of the river; but Shere Singh

was also a skilful commander, and did not allow Thackwell even to

menace his rear or flank, for he detached a strong force to attack the

intruder, as soon as he saw that the river had been forded. It was the

3rd of December before Thackwell secured the passage, and on the fourth

he began his march along the right bank towards the lines at Rumnugger.

He soon discovered that a strong body of Sikhs were marching in a

north-west direction. They threatened his flank with cavalry, and

cannonaded him severely. Thackwell’s orders did not allow of his taking

any measure for attack, and the enemy drew off after a sharp and heavy

cannonade. As soon as this officer’s artillery was allowed to open upon

them, they marched towards the Jhelum. Perhaps the enemy were decided

in abandoning their strong positions, not only from fear of their left

flank being turned by General Thackwell, but also by the energetic

proceedings of Lord Gough, after the force detached to observe Thackwell

had departed. Lord Gough opened a heavy cannonade upon the island, and

upon the batteries on the right bank of the Chenab. On the morning of

the 3rd a brigade of infantry, under Brigadier Godby, passed by a ford

not far from Rumnugger, his passage being covered by the approach of

General Thackwell, who had by that time been advancing from the passage

at Wuzerabad. Shortly after, the 9th Lancers and 14th Light Dragoons,

under General Gilbert, were ordered to cross the river, and harass as

much as possible the retreating enemy. The British generals seem to have

believed that the Khalsa army would abandon their chiefs and disperse

to their homes, and this impression influenced their proceedings; for

although Gilbert with his cavalry followed the enemy briskly, there

was not that celerity in the movements of the British which actual

circumstances demanded.

On the 28th of December Lord Gough, with his whole army, crossed the

river and encamped. The right bank was now clear of the enemy, Shere

Singh having followed the previous division of his army to the Jhelum,

where he ultimately took post in the formidable position of Russool,

with a force which was augmented to forty thousand men, and a powerful

artillery, estimated variously from sixty-two to ninety guns.

While these events were passing, Chuttur Singh, who, as before noticed,

had retired to his own province, pressed the fort of Attock, which had

been long and gallantly maintained by Major Herbert. When it fell the

major contrived to send tidings to Lord Gough, and to warn him that

Chuttur Singh had repaired with his army to the upper Jhelum, to form a

junction with the army of Shere Singh. Lord Gough determined at once

to follow the Sikh forces, and bring them to a decisive action. On the

morning of the 12th of January he marched from Loah Tibbah to Dingee.

The sirdar was represented by the British commander-in-chief in his

despatch as holding with his right the village of Lukhneewalla and

Futteh Shah-ke-Chuck, having the great body of his force at the village

of Lollianwalla, with his left at Eussool, on the Jhelum. This position

lay on the southern extremity of a low range of hills, intersected by

ravines, and difficult of access to assailants. The post was well chosen

by the sirdar, who showed a subtle generalship throughout the war. The

information furnished by Lord Gough’s spies was not always faithful, and

his lordship, therefore, was not accurately in possession of the forces

of the sirdar, nor of the topographical peculiarities of his position.

The British commander directed his march upon the village of Bussool,

and there reconnoitred.

The advance to the ground chosen by the sirdar was impeded by a jungle,

to avoid which, and to distract the enemy’s attention, Lord Gough took

a considerable _détour_ to the right. He succeeded in avoiding the

intricacies of the jungle, but not in distracting the attention of

Shere Singh. That general moved from his encampment, and took ground in

advance, a manouvre calculated to hide the strength of his position, and

to disconcert any previous arrangements of the British commander.

About noon on the 13th, Lord Gough was before the village of Bussool,

and finding a very strong picket of the enemy on a mound close to that

place, his lordship, after some fighting, dislodged it. Ascending the

mound, the general and his staff beheld the Khalsa army ranged along the

furrowed hills in all the majestic array of war. The British officers

gazed with admiration and professional ardour upon the long lines of

compact infantry and the well-marshalled cavalry, mustered in their

relative proportions and positions with scientific exactness. The

sirdar’s batteries were chiefly masked by jungle. The scene was striking

in its aspect, from the magnitude of the events associated with it, and

the excitement it stirred up within the hearts of the brave. Alas, how

many noble hearts were necessarily to bleed before victory crowned the

arms of England, and that fine Khalsa army succumbed to the destiny of

England’s Asiatic foes!

Lord Gough found that he could not turn the flanks of the sirdar’s

army, they were so protected by jungle, unless he detached a portion of

his army to a considerable distance, which he deemed unsafe. The day

was too far advanced to begin any operations. The engineer officers were

ordered to examine the country in front, and the quartermaster-general

was about to take up ground for the encampment, when the enemy advanced

some horse artillery, and opened a fire upon the skirmishers in front

of Bussool. Lord Gough ordered his heavy guns to open upon the enemy’s

artillery, and for this purpose they were advanced to an open space

in front of the village. Shere Singh did not act with his usual good

strategy, in exposing the positions of so many of his cannon, which

the jungle had concealed, and which might have remained hidden until

an attack upon his line would have afforded him opportunity to use them

with sudden and terrible advantage, as he afterwards was enabled to use

those on his right. As it was, he replied to the British cannonade with

such a powerful field-artillery as constrained Lord Gough to draw up

in order of battle, lest in the night the sirdar’s guns should be moved

still more forward, and open on his camp. His lordship, keeping the

heavy guns on his centre, placed Sir Walter Gilbert’s division on his

right, flanked by Brigadier Pope’s brigade of cavalry, strengthened by

her majesty’s 14th Light Dragoons, and three troops of horse artillery,

under Colonel Grant. This arrangement was necessitated by the large

force of cavalry observed upon the enemy’s left. On the left of the

British line, Brigadier-general Campbell’s division was formed, flanked

by Brigadier White’s cavalry, and three troops of horse artillery under

Colonel Brind.

The demonstrations of the enemy were such that, late as was the hour,

and weary as the troops were with marching, Lord Gough determined to

attack at once. His lordship’s critics, influenced by the events

which followed, have severely censured him for attacking under such

circumstances, more especially as the ground was unknown to his

lordship. It was true that sufficient time had not been obtained to

reconnoitre the enemy’s positions, but it was not correct to allege

that Lord Gough was entirely unacquainted with the ground, as he had

previously known it, especially the country to the left of the enemy. It

was generally supposed by his lordship’s censors that the attack was a

wanton waste of life, and arose from the brave, rash, and unreflecting

temperament of the general, and the irritation caused by the sudden and

severe artillery fire opened upon him. On the other hand, the Duke of

Wellington declared that he would, in Lord Gough’s place, have acted as

he had done; and so full of confidence were the Sikhs in their numbers

and resolution, that had not the general given battle, he would have

been obliged to defend himself from a desperate night attack under

circumstances far less favourable. There can be no doubt, on the part of

any who know the noble old soldier, that he acted from his sense of duty

to his army and his country, and not from personal irritation.

The battle began, or, it may be said, was resumed, by a heavy cannonade

which lasted for more than an hour when Lord Gough ordered his left to

advance, making a flank movement. In executing this manouvre, the troops

exposed their own flank to a galling fire from heavy guns, the positions

of which had remained covered by jungle, and the Sikh batteries were so

placed as to pour a most destructive cross-fire upon the British. When

the 3rd and 4th brigades reached the enemy’s guns, they were received by

a cannonade so overwhelming that they were obliged to retire. As soon

as it was known that these two brigades were engaged, the 5th, under

Brigadier Mountain, was ordered to storm the centre. They were received

with round-shot the moment they moved; with grape and canister as they

advanced through the jungle; and, finally, with musketry within close

and deadly range. Many of the Sikh soldiers, at the cost of their own

life, advanced and shot down the British officers. Brigadier Mountain

had distinguished himself in China, and had the entire confidence of

Lord Gough, under whom he had served there. Under his able guidance, the

British stormed the batteries and spiked the guns, under a flank fire

from other guns which they also spiked, while the enemy, without

giving way, poured upon them musket balls thick as hail. Detachments of

musketeers took them on each flank, and some getting to their rear

among the jungle, fired upon them with deadly aim. The British were

thus compelled to cut their way back to their own lines through hosts

of encircling foes. While this was going on upon the centre, Sir Walter

Gilbert advanced against the enemy’s left. That general occupied the

extreme right of his division, and Brigadier Godby the extreme left.

They marched through a dense jungle almost unmolested, and then were

confronted by infantry. Had the British at once charged with the

bayonet, the result might for them have been less sanguinary; they,

however, opened fire, and the Sikhs, more numerous, returned the fire

and outflanked them. Two companies of the 2nd (or Queen’s) British

regiment charged with the bayonet, but were surrounded. These gallant

and skilful soldiers immediately faced about, and after some file-firing

charged, rear-rank in front. At this critical moment, Deane’s battery

arrived, and drove back the enemy by the precision of their fire.

Several guns were here captured by the British. The heroism and losses

of the 2nd regiment were very great. While the infantry had thus been

engaged in close and deadly battle, the cavalry also were occupied both

on the left and right. On the former flank of the British, Brigadier

White’s brigade charged the enemy, covering the retreat of the infantry.

On the extreme right Brigadier Pope’s brigade, strengthened, as has been

already shown, by the temporary attachment of the 14th Light Dragoons of

the Queen’s army, was ordered to charge a body of the enemy’s cavalry,

the numbers of which were much superior. Instead of obeying the orders

given, they wheeled right about, and galloped off the field, breaking

through the artillery, upsetting artillerymen, drivers, and waggons in

their course, until they reached the field hospital. According to some

narrations of this transaction, the men galloped away under a mistake of

orders; other accounts represent this to have been impossible, because

their own officers and officers of the artillery endeavoured to stop

and rally them without success, except so far as a portion of the 9th

Lancers was concerned. The enemy was not slow to take advantage of

this extraordinary flight; they pursued—dashed in among the horse

artillery—cut down seventy-five gunners, and took six guns. The arrival

of artillery reserves, the rallying of a portion of the 9th Lancers, and

the steadiness of the infantry, prevented the destruction of the whole

right wing. The fresh artillery which came up opened upon the Sikh

cavalry with grape and canister, with such precision and fury that they

retreated. Two of the captured guns were recovered in the retreat. The

Sikhs gradually withdrew, leaving the field of battle in possession of

the British, who, on this account, claimed the victory. The enemy, in

the night, carried away all the guns which the British had spiked during

the action, the four pieces of horse artillery which they took on the

British right, and five stand of colours, and on these grounds also

claimed the victory; and a salute of twenty-one guns in honour of the

triumph was, as the English thought, most impudently fired. This was

also done at Attock, in the capital of Chuttur Singh, and wherever the

Sikh troops held a position. The Sikhs also claimed the victory for the

same reason as the English did—being left in possession of the field.

It was, in truth, a drawn battle. The Sikhs having began the engagement,

and the English having retained the ground on which they fought, while

the former retired their line, the battle may more correctly be said to

have been won by the British; but the advantages gained were altogether

on the part of the Sikhs, who continued to occupy for a month positions

from which the British did not attempt to dislodge them. During that

time Lord Gough waited for reinforcements, and felt the tardy arrival of

some of the troops whose presence had been detained before Mooltan, as

has already been shown.

The loss sustained by the Sikhs it is impossible to calculate; according

to themselves it was much less than that of the English; and this is

credible when the strength of their position is considered, and the

losses to which the unaccountable flight of Pope’s brigade exposed the

British light. The English loss, according to the official returns,

was three thousand men in killed and wounded, nearly one-third of whom

belonged to the former class; this, however, did not comprehend all

the slain, for many were so horribly wounded by the close discharge of

artillery that they died in a few days. The proportion of the wounded

who were hit mortally was beyond that which usually occurs in battle.

There were also many desertions of Sepoy soldiers to Shere Singh, but

more especially of Sikh soldiery under Lord Gough’s command.

The flight of the large body of cavalry under Brigadier Pope was the

subject of much investigation and of shame. The brigadier was too old

for the duties imposed upon him; he had no experience in war, and was

placed in the command from seniority. This gave occasion, in England,

to denounce the substitution of seniority for fitness, so common in the

British army. Unhappily, the officer himself who was so much concerned

in the responsibility of the event, and who had been much respected

by his brother officers and his commander, was placed beyond all human

accountability, for he fell in front of his fugitive soldiers. Colonel

King, of the 14th Light Dragoons, who succeeded Colonel Havelock, who

fell at Rumnugger, was also much censured. His defence was, that he

did his utmost to rally his men in vain; that they were generally

light small men, mounted upon light small horses; whereas the cavalry

immediately opposed to them were not only much more numerous, but

cuirassiers—powerful, heavy men, with long and superior swords, and

admirably mounted. The colonel complained of the bad manufacture of the

English weapons, which bent or broke against the swords and cuirasses of

the Sikh cavalry, When Sir Charles Napier arrived to command the forces

in India late in the spring, he inspected the 14th, and addressed them,

referring to the allegations of their colonel, and telling them that

they were fine, stalwart, broad-chested fellows, that would follow

anywhere that they were led. Colonel King took this so much to heart,

that he retired from the field of inspection and shot himself. Sir

William Napier (brother to Sir Charles) afterwards denied in the London

newspapers that his brother intended to cast any reflection upon Colonel

King. It was, however, generally believed in the army, that Sir Charles

levelled a censure at the unfortunate officer, whose sensitive honour

could not endure such a reflection from so high an authority. His

fate excited deep commisseration, and the address of Sir Charles was

disapproved of indignantly by the whole army.

The generalship of Lord Gough became the subject of anonymous criticism

in India, and open attack in England; but the brave and skilful general

proved at the subsequent battle of Goojerat that he knew how to gain

victory at as little cost of blood as it was possible for military

knowledge to ensure. The late drawn battle—if such it may be

called—was designated the battle of Chillianwallah, after a village in

the immediate neighbourhood of which the British had encamped. The Sikhs

know it as the battle of Russool, the more appropriate name to give it,

as it was in its vicinity the chief strength of the Sikh position was

found.

Leaving the movements of the two armies confronting one another to

the narrative of another chapter, it is now necessary to turn to other

scenes of interest.

CANADA.

This fine colony continued prosperous and powerful, yet the

dissatisfaction of previous years with the imperial administration

was not removed. On the 28th of February the first session of the new

parliament was opened by the governor-general, who delivered a speech

which was intended to be concilatory, but which did not accomplish its

purpose. An amendment was proposed to the address, which was carried

against the government by a majority of fifty-four to twenty. In this

amendment the legislature plainly declared its want of confidence in the

governor’s advisers; the ministry therefore resigned.

THE WEST INDIES.

During this year the West India colonists were discontented, and

complained of distress, while at home they were regarded with suspicion

by the religious and anti-slavery public, as designing, if possible, to

restore slavery.

The immigration of hill Coolies from India into several of the colonies,

which was promoted by the West India legislative bodies at the public

expense, increased this jealousy towards the planters. The taxes to meet

the expenses incidental to the immigration were levied in such a manner

as to fall especially upon the emancipated negro, to compete with whose

labour the Coolie was imported. This irritated the classes in England

whose dispositions were unfavourable to the planter. The press, the

pulpit, and missionary meetings denounced the Coolie trade and traders,

and, in terms of eloquent indignation, represented the negro inhabitants

of the West Indies as still subjected to the plunder and persecution

of a tyrant race. The Coolie immigration was depicted as rivaling the

slave-trade in atrocity, and its failure was boldly predicted on every

religious platform. These predictions certainly were fulfilled—the

Coolie speculation was a failure. A writer of that date, well acquainted

with the facts of the case, thus noticed them:—“One of the most recent

efforts made to substitute free for slave labour in the West Indies, it

will be recollected, was the bringing of a number of hill Coolies

from India for this purpose. The experiment has miserably failed, as

acknowledged by the chancellor of the exchequer in his speech on

the introduction of the sugar duties bill, now in progress through

parliament. The Coolies were conveyed to Demerara from Madras in

ship-loads to supply the labour market in British Guiana, at the expense

of that colony; and, as our correspondent learned, at a rate which

even reached the Negro himself, against whom they came to compete.

Many agents were employed in their importation, and large bounties were

given; such temptations led parties to crowd the colony with numbers of

miserable persons, quite unable to perform any laborious employment. It

was the general opinion that, owing to physical inability, scarcely one

in a hundred of these Coolies was fit for manual labour; and whilst our

correspondent was at Demerara a law was issued by the governor granting

permission for labourers to enter Guiana from certain countries only,

omitting the East Indies. The wretchedness of these immigrant Coolies

was truly distressing; numbers of them might be seen wandering about,

and living in the open air on charity, in George Town, congregating

about the market-house and elsewhere, many of them covered with sores,

and all but naked. Hospitals were subsequently provided for them in

different places, in which they were maintained at the public expense;

and by this means they were removed from about the town and frontier of

the colony. Mr. Stocqueler, in his very useful ‘Oriental Interpreter,’

refers to the Coolies in connection with the Bheels, a race of people

who inhabit the northern part of the chain of Ghauts, running inland

parallel with the coast of Malabar. On one side they are bordered by the

Coolies, and on another by the Goands of Goandwana. They are considered

to have been the aborigines of Central India, and, with the

Coolies, Goands, and Ramooses, are bold, daring, and predatory

marauders—occasionally mercenaries, but invariably plunderers.

There are, however, many shades of difference in the extent of the

depredations of these several people, in which the balance of enormity

is said to be considerably on the side of the Bheels. They are,

nevertheless, described as faithful when employed and trusted; and the

travellers who pay them their _choute_, or tribute, may leave untold

treasure in their hands, and may consider themselves as safe with

them as in the streets of London. Their word is sacred, their promise

unimpeachable.’”

There was another class of immigrants who were found more useful,

the Portuguese, from Madeira. They were highly prized by the Demerara

planters; but even among them the mortality was very considerable.

FOREIGN RELATIONS.

In the East the only hostile acts required from the British government,

during the year 1848, was the suppression of Chinese piracy. During

the year, also, the Rif pirates gave trouble on the shores of northern

Africa. Employment was also given to British cruisers in various other

parts of the world in the suppression of piracy and the protection of

British commerce.

THE UNITED STATES.

The measures of Sir Robert Peel’s late government in the disputes which

arose between England and the United States, whatever their demerits,

had the effect of preserving peace between the two countries, which,

during the tumults of continental Europe, the disturbances in Ireland,

and the agitations in England during 1848, was of the utmost consequence

to Great Britain. The discovery of gold in California, although an

American event, exercised much influence upon the commerce and monetary

affairs of the British Isles, and tended still more to draw the bonds of

amity close between the two great British nations.

SPAIN: DIPLOMATIC DISAGREEMENT WITH THAT COUNTRY; DISMISSION OF THE

ENGLISH AMBASSADOR.

Spain, ever fruitful of internal discord, was not less so in 1848. The

history of the court was one of scandal, and of the government one of

weakness, fickleness, and incapacity. The year 1847 closed by a change

of ministry, when the infamous Narvaez was in the ascendant, and his

creatures were gathered around him in the guise of a cabinet. The

queen-mother, it was declared, had been married in December, 1833, to

her paramour, Munoz, within three months of the decease of the king her

husband, and this was kept secret for fifteen years from the Spanish

people, until, under the auspices of the new government of Narvaez, it

was at last brought to light, for purposes at once venal and revolting.

This disclosure incensed the Spanish people, and revived the hopes of

both the republican and Carlist parties. The corrupt practices of Senor

Salamanca also coming before the public, disgusted the nation with

its public men. As will be seen on another page, France effected a new

revolution in February. Louis Philipp was dethroned, and the republic

was once more proclaimed. From the immediate contiguity of the two

countries it was feared that the French republic would find some cause

of quarrel with the imprudent and despotic government of Spain. England,

alarmed lest she should be once more involved in a war with France for

the protection of the Iberian peninsula, looked with concern upon the

tyrannical and profligate conduct of the Spanish court and government;

and Lord Palmerston, therefore, addressed a note to Sir H. Bulwer,

the British representative at Madrid, requesting him to make such

representations to the government, and offer such advice as would tend

to consolidate the independence and preserve the peace of Spain. This

Sir H. Bulwer performed; but the Spanish minister, the Duc de Soto

Mayer, resented this interference as an insult to Spain, and the British

minister was dismissed from Madrid. In England Lord Palmerston was

denounced as a meddler, and a minister whose policy was provocative of

foreign discord. The course of policy, however, adopted by the noble

viscount was customary with all British ministers, did not exceed the

right which one friendly nation has to advise another, and was based

upon the actual and recognised relations of Spain and Great Britain. It

afforded, however, an opportunity to ignorant declaimers, in and out

of parliament, to oppose the astute yet direct and manly policy of the

great English foreign minister. The interruption of diplomatic relations

between the two countries continued throughout the year.

THE CONTINENTAL REVOLUTIONS.

Although not strictly forming a portion of the history of England,

it would be impossible to relate the events in which the interests of

England were involved, without some extended reference to the mighty

moral earthquakes of continental Europe. France was the centre of these

terrible upheavings of human passion and power. Her government, under

the base king Louis Philippe, whom the revolution of 1830 had placed

upon the throne, was the most corrupt which France had ever known.

Tyranny infinitely more oppressive than that which he was permitted to

wield had often cursed France, but never before were such efforts made

as by him to corrupt the whole people. The unprincipled conduct of every

department of the government directed by Guizot, the treacherous and

subservient tool of his bad master, utterly disgusted all honourable

men; and even those who were willing to sell themselves and their

country, despised and hated the purchasers. Even the correct manners of

Louis Philippe’s court, and the strict domestic morality observed there,

at last increased the public indignation and contempt, for it left the

universal impression that he was a cold and heartless hypocrite. During

1847 a desire for electoral reform, which had existed for many years

among the more thoughtful politicians of France, became more thoroughly

developed among most classes of citizens, and agitations to accomplish

this object were set on foot. The tyrant king opposed this feeling and

these movements, at first by corrupt means, and, ultimately, by the

hands of his unscrupulous minister, he resorted to coercion. Public

meetings were suppressed, and the liberty of the press was invaded. The

insulted citizens of Paris rose in arms, barricades were erected, and

the king, as cowardly as he was corrupt, had not the manhood to stand

by his own measures, but fled, with craven spirit, to take refuge in the

country whose queen and people he had betrayed. Under the common English

name of Smith this proud prince found means of escaping from the country

he had deceived, pillaged, and oppressed, and which allowed him to

pass away without pursuit, and without malediction, because of its own

magnanimity and the contempt with which it regarded him. Louis Philippe

found a home in England, at first at Claremont, and then in Abingdon

House, Kensington, where he lived for some time in apparently tranquil

enjoyment, the delightful and salubrious vicinity affording to his

family means of retired and pleasurable recreation.

The expulsion of the nefarious old man, who had for eighteen years ruled

France on a system of false pretences, was followed by the appointment

of a provisional government, consisting of Dupont (de l’Eure),

Lamartine, Arago, Marie, Armand Marrast, Garnier Pages, Albert, Ledru

Rollin, Ferdinand Flocon, Louis Blanc, Cremieux. No sooner was the

provisional government appointed, than it was discovered that harmony

among its members was impossible. The republican party was divided into

two great sections—the old republicans and the “reds.” The former, like

those of the United States of America, contended for self-government

and equal political rights, for civil and religious liberty. The latter

declared for what they called “a republic, democratic, and social,” and

their aim was to establish socialism by subverting all rights, civil and

religious, fusing all interests in a communal equality, no longer being

subject to individual claims. The unknown of Paris were ignorant, and

many of them suffered much from low wages and irregular employment;

these madly grasped at a theory which promised to them a maintenance at

the public expense. The state ought, in their opinion, to provide them

with wages sufficient for their support, they being themselves the

judges of the requisite amount, and the state should find employment,

if it could, for those who were so requited, the amount of labour to

be rendered was also to be decided by the workers. The theory was

substantially that which prevailed among the English Chartists. The

whole subject of this division of feeling and opinion in the provisional

government and in the nation, with the practical results, was thus

clearly set forth by a writer of that day:—“In this conflict of opinion

upon the question of labour, or of communism, is the _resumé_ of all the

great events that have taken place in France since the declaration of

the republic on the 24th of February last. This key unlocks them all,

and the efforts of this principle to establish itself, and to overthrow

its opponents, explain events otherwise inexplicable, and show us in the

clearest possible manner what are and what are not the great opposing

forces that have since been at feud. All other forces in France have

been as nothing compared with these two. The friends of monarchy,

whether of the Orleans or the old Bourbon dynasty, and the friends of

Napoleon, have, it is true, endeavoured to make themselves heard; but

their voices have been mere whispers in comparison with the shouts

and hubbub of the communists and anti-communists—of the tricolor

republicans and the republicans of the _drapeau rouge_. Without this

clue to the character of the revolution, the remark of Milton that the

wars of the Saxon heptarchy were as unintelligible as those of kites in

a neighbouring wood, would apply to the proceedings of the Parisians.

Almost each day, after the 24th of February, brought tidings of change

in all the relations betwixt man and man. There was fighting one

day, embracing the next; every rotation of the hand brought to view

a wonderful and unexpected change of figures in the political

kaleidoscope. Day after day, in endless succession, there were mouthings

of tumid, florid, and often unintelligible speeches, and of still more

unintelligible and mysterious theories for the regeneration of mankind.

Every speech and newspaper article breathed only peace and goodwill

towards all men, yet almost every ordinance of the government was

directed towards the organisation of armed men. There were assemblings

of the people, reviews, marchings, and counter-marchings, hasty

summonings at all hours, the beating of the _rappel_, and the

sounding of the tocsin, in the dead of night and the early dawn. The

‘Marseillaise Hymn’ and the ‘Mourir pour la Patrie,’ were sung in

every street, court, and alley, and were heard on the pillow of every

recumbent citizen. Journalism became a power of tremendous magnitude and

extent. People read leading articles by torchlight, and shouted out to

the moon apostrophes to liberty, ay, ‘liberty, equality, fraternity.’

These three talismanic words, too often devoid of meaning in the

apprehension of those who shouted them with a fervour sufficient to

split the ears of the groundlings. Liberty? every man doing what he

deemed best, seemed to be the interpretation of the mob. Equality?

every man trying to get above every other man, seemed its natural

consequences. Fraternity? every man knocking down every other man who

happened to be of a different way of thinking from himself, was the

manner in which the men of the _faubourgs_ seemed to construe it. Such

seemed to be the epitome of the French revolution; but it was not so.

There was order amid disorder; two principles were at work; and the

revolution—so frivolous in its details, so momentous in its results;

exhibiting so much talent and energy, so much vanity and folly, so much

honesty and treachery, such kind feelings and such malignant passions,

such planting of trees and cutting of throats, such recommendations

of order, such instances of disorder, so much wisdom producing so much

folly, so much goodness mingled with so much wickedness, so much

gravity combined with so much levity, such long speeches and such brief

epigrams—was quite explainable wherever the mind was able to grasp

it as a whole, and see the operation of the two great and all pervading

principles which we have mentioned.”

The party of the communists in the provisional government comprised

three members—Ledru Rollin, Louis Blanc, and Albert. This number, being

small in proportion to the whole, offended the socialists; but Lamartine

and Arago possessed such influence with the three “reds,” that they were

for a time induced to co-operate with the rest for the general good, and

in a system of rational government. To those two great men France was

deeply indebted; their appearance was at times sufficient to still a

tumult.

The three communist members of the government gradually became more

exacting, and at last the influence of the philosophical republicans and

statesmen, who were associated with them, failed to keep within bounds

the communist sympathies of these hot-headed and imprudent men. In an

evil hour, Lamartine and some of his colleagues, who, like him, had

just notions of state affairs, and correct views of political economy,

conceded to Ledru Roll in and his brothers of the _drapeau rouge_ a

certain organisation for the employment of labour. From that hour the

doom of the new republic was sealed—it was the beginning of the end.

Men of property and sagacity stood aloof. M. Goodcheaux resigned, and

many official persons of eminent knowledge and experience followed his

example. Meanwhile Paris was kept in continual apprehension by popular

demonstrations, and commercial failures shook the public credit. The

working population became more and more dissatisfied, and menaced public

order and the existence of all rational government.

The provisional government called a constituent assembly, and the

representatives of the people were to assemble in Paris on a certain day

in April, but the assemblage was afterwards deferred to the 4th of May.

Ledru Rollin addressed a circular to the prefects and other departmental

and commercial authorities, urging upon them the support of republican

candidates at the elections. This measure Ledru Rollin and some of his

colleagues justified on the ground that there were already parties

whose reactionary efforts might be successful in returning Orleanist,

Buonapartist, or ultramontane representatives, who might form a majority

in the assembly, or, at all events, a minority large enough to embarrass

the republic. By republican members, however, Rollin and Louis Blanc

meant socialists, and this effort on their part to influence by official

means the returns of the constituent assembly, destroyed all confidence

in their justice, impartiality, and toleration. Rollin defended the

measures he had adopted in terms, if possible, more imprudent than the

measures themselves, and Albert and Blanc went still further in their

indiscreet words, as well as excited zeal. The result was that moderate

men not only lost confidence in them personally, but became apprehensive

of the designs and tendency of their party, and the elections were

much less favourable to the views and wishes of the “reds” than would

otherwise have been the case. While Ledru Rollin and his communist

colleagues in office were mismanaging everything connected with home

interests, Lamartine was conducting the foreign affairs of France

with surpassing judgment. At first all European governments saw the

proclamation of a French republic with awe, and their thoughts were

only how most effectually to arm and combine against French republic

propagandism. Lamartine soothed this alarm. He addressed a diplomatic

circular to all the agents of France through Europe, expounding the

principles upon which the French republic was founded. His policy might

be summed up in a single sentence of this manifesto,—“The republic is

the will of a great people; it derives its title from itself. Its policy

is peace.”

The government adopted the plan of large workshops, and workmen were

employed at the rate of a million and a half sterling a year. Louis

Blanc admitted that unless the work produced should prove remunerative

in the market, it would be impossible for the government to continue

so enormous an outlay. The operatives, perceiving the hesitation of the

government, prepared to carry their communistic views into operation

themselves, without having the trouble of using the provisional

government for their execution.

On the appointed day the assembly met, and the republic was proclaimed.

The real feelings and opinions of the assembly were soon seen; they were

elicited by the ministerial reports. The following description of the

scene presented on the occasion is quoted from the contemporary press:—

“All the preliminaries having been gone through, powers verified, a

president (M. Buchez) and vice-presidents, secretaries, &c, appointed,

the members of the government proceed to lay before the assembly an

account of their ministries since the establishment of the republic.

“On Saturday, May 6, the president announced that the citizen minister,

Lamartine, was about to make a communication from the government, when

that gentleman ascended the tribune, and proceeded to read a document,

which purported to be a report of the acts of the provisional government

in their _ensemble_—the restoration of order, organisation of the

national guard, _mobile garde_, the army, &c.—enumerating what had been

done in the midst of two months of a crisis during which not a drop of

blood had been shed. Many portions of this report were much applauded,

and at the close there was great enthusiasm.

“He was succeeded by Ledru Rollin, the minister of the interior, who

read a report of the acts of his administration, which he read with

great vehemence, but without exciting applause, except of a very partial

kind from a small minority.

“The minister of justice (M. Crémieux) next ascended the tribune, and

proceeded to read a report of his official acts, in which he recounted

all the ameliorations applied to the administration of justice, the

abolition of capital punishment for capital offences, abolition of the

pillory, &c.

“The next member of the government who ascended the tribune was M. Louis

Blanc, who excited a smile by his first act, which was to stoop and

arrange a _tabouret_, or footstool, on which to raise himself high

enough to be seen. The voice that came from this small form was firm,

clear, and loud; and he, instead of reading, delivered an extempore

oration in favour of his _Organisation du Travail_, to which he said

the government stood committed by its promises to the people assembled

before the Hôtel de Ville the day after the revolution. The assembly

received his oration with a coldness which augured ill.

“M. Carnot, the minister of public instruction, was afterwards heard,

and was succeeded by M. Bethmont, the minister of commerce, who

deposited on the table the _exposé_ of the state of his department. M.

Gamier Pages, minister of finance, concluded his report on the financial

condition of the country.

“M. Arago, the minister of war and marine, and M. Marie, the minister

of public works, next presented the situation of their departments; and

were succeeded by M. Lamartine, minister for foreign affairs, who took

a short review of the aspect of affairs throughout Europe. The general

tone of his remarks was pacific, and in accordance with the principles

of his address some time before to the diplomatic agents of France.

“In the course of the sitting a note from Béranger, the poet, resigning

his seat for Paris, was read; but the assembly unanimously refused to

accept the resignation.

“A stormy discussion then arose on the motion of M. Domes, offering the

thanks of the assembly to the provisional government for their conduct

in the administration of affairs, and nominating a committee of five to

act as a government _ad interim_, until the permanent government of the

country had been constituted. Subsequently, after fearful uproar, the

motion was modified by the withdrawal of the latter part of it, and the

assembly voted that the provisional government had deserved well of

the country. The vote was almost unanimous, M. Barbes, M. Durrien, and

another rising alone against it.

“On Tuesday, at eleven o’clock, M. Buchez, the president, took the

chair.

“Some apprehensions were entertained that the result of this sitting

would occasion disturbances. The workmen met in several quarters of

Paris, and in the wood of Boulogne, and were understood to have declared

that if M. Ledru Rollin was excluded from the government, they would

take arms. Extraordinary precautions had accordingly been adopted around

the hall. A large force was stationed in the adjoining garden, and

invitations had been sent to the national guards to hold themselves in

readiness to march at the first signal.

“On the following Wednesday, the appointment of an executive committee,

in lieu of the provisional government, was announced. The result of the

ballot was—

Arago....................................... 725

Gamier Pages................................ 715

Marie ..................................... 702

Lamartine .................................. 643

Ledru Rollin..........,..................... 598

“Those five members having obtained the required majority, were

proclaimed members of the executive committee. M. Louis Blanc, M.

Albert, and M. Flocon were entirely excluded—a fact which the _peuple_

and the ‘communists’ cherished in vindictive remembrance. M. Ledru

Rollin, whose violence had alarmed the majority, though not excluded,

was at the bottom of the list; and M. de Lamartine, who had lent his

high name and great popularity to support M. Ledru Rollin, was placed

next lowest—all of them being most significant facts to show the

spirit of the assembly, and the probable policy to be hereafter expected

from it.”

The discontent of the _ouvriers_ gathered strength, and on the 15th of

May they rose in insurrection. After much severe fighting the insurgents

were defeated, the loyalty of the troops, national guards, and _garde

mobile_ to the republic sustaining the cause of order. The _garde

mobile_ had been organised from the very lowest classes in Paris—

classes below the workmen—and was composed of mere youths, who

distinguished themselves beyond all other forces by their heroic

courage throughout that eventful day. The result to the leaders of

the socialists was that many of them, such as Albert, Barbes, Blanqui,

Raspail, and Sobrier were consigned to prison. Louis Blanc had a very

narrow escape of being numbered among them.

The suppression of the clubs and of the _atteliers nationaux_, followed

this success on the part of the government, but still more exasperated

the workmen. In this condition of affairs Prince Louis Napoleon was

elected for Paris, as representative in the room of one of the double

returns made in the general election. He was also elected for three

departmental vacancies, caused also by double returns in the general

election. It at once became the fashion to laud the prince. All

parties, except the “republicans pure and simple,” seemed to think that

Napoleonism offered a refuge from anarchy. The “reds” favoured him from

hatred to the party of the executive committee, or rather the majority

of that party; but in reality no faction hated Louis Napoleon at heart

so much as they. At all events, his name became a rallying word for

nearly all the lovers of order, who were not believers in the theory of

philosophical republicanism. The most ominous thing connected with

these demonstrations was the appearance of a journal entitled _Le

Napoléonien_. Placards also appeared with the words “_Louis Napoleon!

Vive l’Empereur! A bas la République!_” and crowds, shouting the name of

Buonaparte, collected in various parts of Paris, the _générale_ and the

_rappel_ were beaten, troops assembled, and the guards, _sédentaires_

and _mobile_, were frequently assembled to protect the government and

the representatives. Shots were fired, some lives were lost, and the

panic became general throughout Paris. Lamartine took advantage of this,

and proposed to the assembly that the laws of 1816 and 1832 should be

enforced, forbidding the entrance of any of the Buonaparte family into

France. This motion was received by the assembly with loud shouts of

“_Vive la République!_” Many who joined in that shout would have shouted

still more cordially for Louis Philippe or the representative of the

older branch of the Bourbon family. The cry of the republic answered

their present purpose of committing the executive committee to imprudent

measures, and of excluding the Buonapartists, who were regarded as more

formidable rivals to the Bourbons than the republicans, old or new. The

assembly was not able to carry out its own resolution; after coquetting

with public opinion and persisting for a time, the exclusion of the

Buonapartes was given up as impracticable; and the prince, again

elected for Corsica and other electoral districts, took his place in the

legislative assembly, accepted the oaths to the republic, and before

the year expired was president. Before that was accomplished France

was doomed to undergo fresh trials, and Paris to witness still more

sanguinary scenes.

The question of labour-regulation continued, under every improvement and

modification that was devised, to embarrass the government; and it was

at last resolved to remove from Paris great numbers of the workmen to

distant parts of the country, to be engaged there on various public

works. This the men determined to resist, and to subvert a government

which dared to suggest such a measure. The government was, however,

forced to adopt at once some plan to rid itself of the peril and

imminent ruin of the _atteliers_. In the National Assembly, Victor Hugo,

M. Léon Faucher, and others, denounced the connivance of the executive

committee with a state of things that must speedily destroy France. The

number of workmen then engaged in the government workshops of Paris was

one hundred and twenty thousand. On the night of the 22nd of June,

cries of “Down with the Assembly!” were raised by the _ouvriers_ in the

streets. In the morning, signs of disturbance were indicated in many

quarters. In the course of a few hours the workmen began to erect

barricades. Fighting began between the national guards and the

constructors of the barricades at the Porte Saint-Denis. Throughout

the day barricades were demolished by the national guards and _gardes

mobiles_, but only after fierce and deadly conflict. During the night of

the 23rd new barricades were raised as if by magic, and on the morning

of the 24th, a system of ingenious and powerful defences existed through

a large extent of Paris, behind which and commanding which, from the

windows and house-tops, well-armed and determined men were placed.

Happily the government consigned to General Cavaignac, minister of

war, all the functions of a dictator. He was ably seconded by General

Lamoricière, and other officers of rank, several of whom sealed their

fidelity in death. During the 24th, terrible battle raged in the streets

of Paris, but the troops and civic soldiery stormed the barricades

and conquered. Mortars were used, from which showers of shells were

discharged, which bursting behind the barricades shattered these

defences, ponderous although they were, scattering them, and the bodies

of the brave men who defended them to the last. Shells also were thrown

into the houses, whence a fire was kept up upon the military in the

streets: many of these houses were torn to pieces, burying the defenders

in their ruins. In some streets the troops had to cut their way from

house to house, the sappers knocking down the party-walls: the contest

in these directions resembled that at Saragossa, where, amidst crumbling

walls and blazing roofs, men fought foot to foot, in the agonies of

valour, fanaticism, and despair. Throughout the 25th and 26th the

conflict raged, but was terminated on the evening of that day. Twenty

thousand men were killed or wounded. General Cavaignac was elected by

the assembly president of the council. The gallant general conducted his

administration with justice and wisdom.

During the month of June, a committee appointed by the assembly was

engaged in drawing up a constitution; they presented a report to the

following effect:—They proposed that there should be a president

elected by universal suffrage for a period of four years; he was to be

a French citizen, not less than thirty years of age. The legislature

to consist of one chamber; that chamber to consist of seven hundred

and thirty members. The ministers to be appointed and dismissed at the

pleasure of the president. A council of state to be appointed out of the

assembly, forty in number, and chosen by the assembly itself; that body

to draw up the projects of law which the government might think fit

to bring in. The punishment of death for political offences was

interdicted. Slavery to be abolished in all French colonies. The press

to be free. All religions to be allowed, and their ministers to be

paid by the state. Public instruction to be free, subject to the

superintendence of the state. Substitutes for the army and navy to be

disallowed. The national debt to be deemed sacred. Property inviolable.

Algeria, and all other French colonies, to be integral parts of the

French soil, but to be governed by laws peculiar to themselves. Trials

to be public, and the office of judge to be permanent.

This project of constitution was accepted as a base for further

consideration. Subsequently it was modified, but not in any way

essentially to alter its principles. The resolution regarding colonial

slavery roused the whole colonial interest of France against the

republic. That which forbid substitutes for the army and navy created

wide-spread dissatisfaction. The former of these provisions of the

constitution was so just and humane, that it deserved to be carried out

at any cost; the other was impolitic, as it deprived large numbers who

would not serve in the army or navy of the opportunity of avoiding

that service, if they fell under the ballot, by nominating a substitute

willing to serve if remunerated.

The question of the adoption of the constitution was finally put on

the 4th of November, and carried, thirty voices being dissident. In the

evening of the same day, one hundred and one cannon shots announced to

Paris and its environs that the work of preparing the constitution had

been completed. The public made no manifestation of feeling. Only the

old republican party valued so free a constitution. The _ouvriers_ cared

not for it, nor for anything short of socialism. The Absolutists hated

liberty in every form. The Buonapartists regarded it as an instrument

that might be made available for reconstituting the empire. The

Orleanists received it with more malignant hostility than any other

class. They professed the theory of a constitutional monarchy; but

the free and just and noble constitution of the republic contrasted so

advantageously with the corrupt practices and _doctrinaire_ theories of

Louis Philippe and his favourites, that the Orleans party betrayed the

most malevolent feelings to the republican leaders, such as Cavaignac

and Lamartine, and the uttermost repugnance to the republic itself.

Louis Philippe, in England, entertained his friends with garrulous

accounts of his own wisdom in all the measures he had adopted,

predicting that France, enamoured of the glory of his reign, would

repent and return to him again! His queen, equally incapable of

appreciating France, dwelt only upon the injury inflicted upon religion

by the conduct of the French people in dethroning their king, and

making an indiscriminate establishment of all churches a feature of the

constitution. Her silence, gravity, and the religious view she took

of the event were strangely in contrast to the vanity, levity, and

self-gratulation with which the king talked of his temporarily humbled

fortunes.

The proclamation of the constitution failed in quieting enemies,

restoring public confidence in the state of affairs, or reviving

material prosperity, notwithstanding all that so many eloquent orators

of the old republican party predicted to that effect. The _Presse_ at

this juncture gave a most melancholy account of the sufferings of the

poor, and the distress of the commercial classes:—“It will be necessary

to feed at the public expense two hundred and sixty-three thousand

persons during the present month, two hundred and eighty thousand

during the month of December, three hundred thousand during the month

of January, three hundred thousand during the month of February, three

hundred thousand during the month of March, and two hundred and eighty

thousand during the month of April next; and the sum granted by the

assembly will not afford each individual more than 12 centimes (1d. and

⅖ths) per day each to exist upon. At the same time the revenue of

the city of Paris has fallen off by a sum of 16,000,000 fr. (£640,000),

which must be made good by an addition to the assessed taxes of more

than 50 per cent.”

The Socialists were not without hope that matters would turn to their

account; and although they did not dare to defy the republic in action,

they became more resentful in language than ever. They continued to

hold meetings, in which opinions at variance with all morality and civil

order were expressed, and which would have alarmed every government

in Europe, had not recent events been of a character to confine the

attention of these governments to domestic affairs. A banquet, under the

title of “The Confederation of the People of Europe,” was held, at

which eight hundred men, French, Poles, Belgians, Germans, and Italians

assembled; the most furious threats to kings, governments, persons of

property, and to all persons everywhere not favourable to communistic

projects, were uttered. One blasphemous toast will show the _animus_

of the assembly, and of its orators. It was delivered by M. Saint

Just:—“To the men strong, courageous, and valiant in the cause of

humanity. To those whose names serve as a guide, a support, and an

example to the degenerate beings—to all those whom history calls

heroes!... To Brutus, to Catiline, to Jesus Christ, to Julian the

Apostate, to Attila!... To all the thinkers of the middle age....

To unfortunate thinkers!... To Jean Jacques Rousseau, and his pupil,

Maximilian Robespierre!” This enumeration of names was received with a

triple salvo of applause, and was encored, with which request M. Saint

Just complied. The banquet concluded with the “Marseillaise” and the

“Chant du Départ” sung by the entire company.

The great work of electing a president proceeded without interruption or

disturbance, and the result was the election of Prince Louis Napoleon

by an overwhelming majority. The following, by an eye-witness, is a

condensed account of the transactions in the assembly upon the occasion

of formally announcing this result. The letter was dated November 20th,

and referred to the previous Wednesday, as selected for the ceremony by

the executive government, instead of Thursday, which had been publicly

announced; the change of the day arising from the apprehension of

disturbances consequent upon an attempt which was expected to be made

to greet Napoleon as emperor. The prince himself acquiesced in the

arrangement, to prevent unnecessary bloodshed:—

“At two o’clock orders were forwarded by the government to the colonels

of the 24th regiment of infantry and of two regiments of dragoons to

march their corps towards the National Assembly. At three o’clock two

battalions of the former, and a battalion of _garde mobile_, preceded

by a detachment of national guards, entered the Garden of the Tuileries,

and advanced to the gate of the Place de la Concorde, a general,

accompanied by his aide-de-camp, and escorted by a few lancers, taking

his station close to the obelisk. In the meantime, the quays adjoining

the palace were lined with dragoons. The presence of these troops, which

nobody could account for, created much uneasiness, though in some

groups a report circulated that the assembly was about to proclaim the

president of the republic.

“At half-past three o’clock M. Marrast, president, took the chair. The

assembly was extremely numerous, and animated groups were to be seen

here and there through the hall. Prince Louis Napoleon was not present

at the opening of the sitting, but his cousin, Jerome Buonaparte,

occupied his seat. The public galleries were crowded. In one of them we

remarked Princess Mathilda, sister of Jerome, and next to her M. Emile

de Girardin. Two aides-de-camp appointed in the morning by the prince,

M. Edgar Ney, and a son of General Pajol, were also present. No serious

discussion could take place in the state of excitement of the assembly,

and most of the orders of the day were adjourned. Two applications for

leave to prosecute Messrs. Caussidière and Turk, representatives of the

people, were rejected.

“The committee charged with examining the electoral returns for the

presidency entered the chamber at four o’clock, when the president

immediately called to the tribune M. Waldeck Rousseau, the reporter of

the committee, who read the report. It stated that seven million three

hundred and forty-nine thousand citizens of the republic had voted at

the presidential election, and that the votes had been divided in the

following proportion over the surface of the country:—

M. Louis Napoloen had obtained ... 5,434,226 suffrages.

General Cavaignac ............... 1,448,107 „

M. Ledru-Rollin ................. 370,119 „

M. Raspail........................ 36,900 „

M. Lamartine ................... 17,910 „

General Changamier ............. 4,790 „

Votes lost........................ 12,600 „

Among the latter were many containing unconstitutional denominations,

and the committee had besides denounced to the minister of the interior

for prosecution a few individuals guilty of acts of violence. At

Grenoble, in particular, public tranquillity was slightly disturbed.

The committee had, moreover, examined several protests addressed to it

against the election of M. Buonaparte. In one of them he was declared

ineligible, because he had forfeited his rights as a Frenchman by his

naturalisation in Switzerland. The members of the committee however

had, by a unanimous decision, passed to the order of the day on that

difficulty. By the number of the votes, and the regularity of the

operation, M. Louis Napoleon was the real elect of the nation, and the

assembly had only to order that the executive power be transferred to

his hands. After paying a tribute of praise and gratitude to General

Cavaignac, which was ratified by the loud acclamations of the entire

assembly, M. Rousseau concluded by calling upon it to proclaim the

president, and exclaimed, ‘Have confidence, God protects France.’

“General Cavaignac, having then ascended the tribune, said, ‘I have

the honour of informing the National Assembly that the members of the

cabinet have just sent me their collective resignation; and I now come

forward to surrender the powers with which it had invested me. You will

understand, better than I can express, the sentiments of gratitude which

the recollection of the confidence placed in me by the assembly, and

of its kindness to me, will leave in my heart.’ This short address was

received with deafening cries of ‘Vive la République!’

“M. Marrast then rose and said, ‘In the name of the French people!

Whereas Citizen Charles Louis Napoleon Buonaparte, born in Paris,

possesses all the qualifications of eligibility required by the 44th

article of the constitution; whereas the ballot gave him the absolute

majority of suffrages for the presidency: by virtue of the powers

conferred on the assembly by the 47th and 48th articles of the

constitution, I proclaim him President of the French Republic, from this

day until the second Sunday of May, 1852, and I now invite him to ascend

the tribune and take the oath required by the constitution.’

“M. Louis Napoleon, who was seated near M. Odilon Barrot, then rose

and advanced towards the tribune. He was dressed in black; on his left

breast was a _crachat_ set with diamonds, and under his coat he wore the

grand cordon of the Legion of Honour. Having mounted the tribune, the

president read to him the oath of fidelity to the constitution, to which

M. Louis Napoleon replied, ‘Je le jure.’ He then asked leave to address

a few words to the assembly. The suffrages of the nation and his

personal sentiments, he said, commanded his future conduct, and imposed

upon him duties which he would fulfil as a man of honour. He would

treat as enemies of the country whoever should attempt to subvert the

constitution, and between him and the assembly would exist the most

perfect harmony of views. He would exert himself to place society on its

real basis, and to relieve the sufferings of a people who had borne such

generous and intelligent testimony. He would endeavour to restore to the

government the moral force of which it stood in need, and to maintain

peace and order. He had called around him men distinguished for talent

and patriotism, who, notwithstanding the differences of their political

origin, would assist him in consolidating the new institutions of the

country. He then eulogised the becoming conduct and loyalty of which

General Cavaignac had given so many and such signal proofs, and pledged

himself strenuously to labour to accomplish the great mission of

founding the republic, without recurring to reactionary or Utopian

means; and, with the assistance of God, he trusted to achieve useful if

not great things.