THE REIGN OF VICTORIA (_continued_).
The State of Central India--Objects of Rose's Campaign--The
two Columns--Capture of Ratghur--Relief of Saugor--Capture of
Gurrakota--Annexation of the Rajah of Shahghur's Territory--Capture
of Chandaree--Rose arrives at Jhansi--The Ranee and Tantia
Topee--Bombardment of Jhansi--Tantia Topee beaten off--Jhansi
is stormed--Battles of Kooneh and Calpee--Tantia Topee
captures Gwalior--Smith and Rose rescue the Place--Lord
Elphinstone's Proceedings--Flight of Tantia Topee--Lawrence
in the Punjab--Banishment of the King of Delhi--Other Rewards
and Punishments--The Subjugation of Oude--Hope Grant's Flying
Column--Britain does her Duty--Transference of the Government to
the Crown--The Queen's Proclamation--Clyde enforces the Law--The
Hunt for Bainie Madho--Further Flights and Pursuits--An Accident
to Lord Clyde--His Last Action--Disappearance of the Begum and
Nana Sahib--The Country at Peace--The Last Adventures of Tantia
Topee--His Flight into Oodeypore--He is headed from Rohilcund--And
from the Deccan--He joins Feroze Shah--Disappearance of the latter
and Execution of Tantia Topee--Settlement of India--The Financial
Question--The Indian Army--Increase of European Troops--The Native
Levies--Abandonment of Dalhousie's Policy.
Sir Hugh Rose, it will be remembered, arrived at Indore on the 16th of
December, 1857, and assumed command of the Central India Field Force,
mustering 6,000 men, of whom nearly one half were Europeans. He had a
severe task to accomplish with these means. The whole country north of the
Vindhya range of mountains was in the hands of the enemy. The only British
post was Saugor, where several hundred Europeans were shut up in a fort,
but where, strange to state, the 31st Native Infantry and part of the 42nd
were faithful. Deeper in the country, towards the Jumna, the Ranee of
Jhansi held the town and district of that name, and kept up communication
with the disaffected subjects of Scindia, the remains of the Gwalior
Contingent reorganising itself at Calpee, and the rebel bands who wandered
up and down the Jumna, and made dashes into the Doab, from Allahabad to
Agra. Sir Hugh Rose was entrusted with the duty, first, of relieving
Saugor, then of capturing Jhansi, and finally of making his way to Calpee.
He was to be supported on his left by another column from Bombay, under
General Roberts, which was collected at Nusseerabad, in Rajpootana; and on
his right by a Madras column, under General Whitlock, whose starting-point
was Jubbulpore, on the higher waters of the Nerbudda. Thus, while Rose
swept the country between the Sinde and the Beas, and Whitlock marched on
his right between the Beas and the Sone, his object being Banda, Roberts
was to march eastward by Kotah, then in the hands of the rebels and
mutineers, into the Gwalior country.
Sir Hugh Rose divided his force into two columns or brigades. The first,
under Brigadier Stuart, was formed at Indore; the second was collected at
Sehore, about ninety miles to the north-east, on the road to Bhopal. The
first was ordered to march on Chandaree, a very strong place on the left
bank of the Betwa. The second, or right brigade, with which Rose himself
marched, was directed from Sehore upon Ratghur and Saugor. Stuart's
brigade was not to leave Indore until Rose had started for Bhopal, so
that the two columns, although separated by a wide interval, might march
in parallel lines, and then converge to a point north of Chandaree.
Stuart's course lay down the left bank of the Betwa, and he had no serious
hostility to apprehend until he approached Chandaree.
Rose's column was joined on the 15th of January, 1858, by the siege-train
from Sehore. After executing 149 mutineers of the Bhopal Contingent, Rose
started on the 16th. On the 21st the column entered Scindia's territory,
and encamped at Bilsah, famous for tobacco. Three more marches brought the
brigade in front of Ratghur, the first obstacle to be overcome on the road
to Saugor; for the enemy had occupied the fort, and showed a readiness to
bar the road. On the 24th Rose drove in the outposts of the enemy, and
invested the place. Having disposed his troops around the place, keeping
a good look-out towards Saugor, whence interruption might come, he pushed
his siege guns, under a sufficient escort, up the hill and through the
jungle, making a road for the heavy pieces as he advanced. All this time
the troops around the town were engaged in constant skirmishes against
irregular forces on the outside. By dint of perseverance these were driven
off, and the town was occupied. Then the heavy guns were mounted in a
battery, made by the Madras Sappers, most efficient soldiers, on the north
hill, within 300 yards of the north wall, and opened fire, while other
guns shelled the fort from the plain, and the Enfields were busy duelling
with the matchlock-men. The breach had been examined, and declared to be
practicable. It was supposed that it would be stormed on the 29th; but
when that day dawned, two enterprising officers, suspecting the quiet,
climbed up the breach, and found that the enemy had fled. The garrison
had scrambled down a precipice, women and all, and had got away through
the lines of the Bhopal Contingent, who were supposed to be guarding
that side. The cavalry went in pursuit, but were not able to catch the
fugitives: indeed, the latter halted eight miles distant. Sir Hugh went
out to attack them, and defeated them, yet could not take their guns. But
the effect of these actions was that the roads to Saugor and Indore were
freed from the enemy; and, on the 3rd of February, the Europeans shut up
so long in Saugor were liberated by the arrival of Sir Hugh. They drove
out to meet him, "looking pale and careworn," as it was natural they
should look after eight months' imprisonment.
The next obstacle to be removed was a body of mutineers, men of several
regiments, who had thrown themselves into the fort of Gurrakota, which
fifty years before had defied a European army. This fort lies over the
Beas, east of Saugor, and until it was taken Rose could not move on Jhansi
nor Whitlock on Banda. The Sepoys entrenched the road into the fort from
the south. But the troops advanced from the west. The horse artillery
ranged up and opened fire in this unexpected quarter. Whereupon the
Sepoys, greatly to their credit, sounded the advance and, moving boldly
out, seemed disposed to charge the guns. Upon this the 3rd Europeans came
into play and drove them back. Not satisfied yet, the enemy re-formed
and came up with great steadiness and obstinacy, and were not broken and
routed until they were close upon the guns. When they fled, the Hyderabad
horsemen were soon amongst them, and their charge split them in two,
one body hurrying into the fort, the other rushing off to the south and
suffering loss at every step. Batteries were at once erected to breach
the west face. The enemy worked their guns with vigour and coolness, but
they were soon silenced, all but one, and this one was finally knocked
over by Lieutenant Smith, of the Bombay Artillery. On the 13th of February
the enemy were seen escaping from the fort, and the infantry, hastening
in upon them, found that nearly all had gone. The fugitives were pursued
five-and-twenty miles by the Hyderabad Horse. In the fort were found great
stores of provisions, and quantities of plunder taken from Europeans in
the mutiny. Provided for a long siege, the Sepoys had been ousted in three
days, and such of the provisions as could not be carried away were given
to the starving villagers whom they had so long oppressed. Gurrakota was
blown up by the sappers. The troops returned to Saugor on the 17th, and
halted until they could be adequately furnished for a long march through
Central India.
The troops rested ten days, Sir Hugh Rose marching for Jhansi at two a.m.
on the 27th, the time when Sir Colin crossed the Ganges into Oude. There
were two means of access--the Pass of Malthon and the Pass of Mudanpore.
Malthon was the northern outlet and stood directly in front of the line of
march followed by the column. Here the enemy were supposed to be encamped,
and indeed it was soon found that they held the fort of Barodia as an
outpost. From this they were rapidly expelled by a few shells. This also
helped the purpose of Sir Hugh, which was to deceive the enemy and make
them believe that he intended to storm the Malthon Pass, while he really
turned it by Mudanpore. But the enemy were not wholly deceived, for they
occupied both passes. Leaving a small party of all arms to attack Malthon,
or rather keep the enemy occupied, Sir Hugh, with the bulk of the brigade,
went south along the foot of the hills through the pathless jungle. He
then turned toward the gorge and at once came under fire. The Rajah of
Shahghur, in whose territory the pass was situated, headed the enemy, and
his general, late a Sepoy sergeant, had occupied the hills on both sides
of the pass. Thence he opened such a storm of cannon shot and musketry
that he brought our men to a halt, and even obliged Sir Hugh, whose horse
was shot under him, to withdraw the guns farther to the rear. The check
was only momentary. Keeping up a hot fire, Sir Hugh directed his infantry
upon the flanks of the pass, and Europeans and Hyderabad natives went
with shouts into the jungle. This was more than the enemy could endure,
and without waiting for the assailants, they ran down the hills into the
pass and through it, carrying off their guns. Our troops followed towards
the town. The enemy endeavoured to stand once more, but his heart soon
failed him. Nevertheless, he got away with his guns. Encamping near the
fort of Soorai, the troops halted while this fort was destroyed. On the
6th of March the brigade moved on Murowa, seized the fort, and declared
the territory of the rebel rajah to be annexed to the British possessions.
While here the detachment sent against Malthon came into camp. They had
marched through with little opposition, as the men who were to hold it
grew alarmed when they heard the cannon at Mudanpore and, alarm becoming
panic, they ran away.
In order to protect the friendly ruler of Tehree, Sir Hugh sent thither
the Hyderabad Contingent and marched himself upon Baunpore, where he
came within hearing of the cannonade directed by his 1st Brigade against
Chandaree. This brigade had laid siege to the strong fort in due form,
and was reducing it with heavy guns. Quitting Baunpore, Sir Hugh, having
determined to clear his right effectually, marched upon Tal Behut, from
which the Hyderabad Contingent, that most active force, had driven the
enemy. He arrived on the 14th of March. The fort had been abandoned,
luckily for him, as it was a place of very great strength and might have
been defended for weeks. Having opened communication with the 1st Brigade,
and having learned that it was making good progress, Sir Hugh detached the
sappers and contingent to secure the fords of the Betwa; then, turning
westward, he marched the whole column to the river, and crossed it on the
17th of March. That day the 86th Foot and the 25th Bombay Infantry had
carried Chandaree by storm; the 86th, an Irish regiment, fighting none the
worse because it was St. Patrick's Day.
Having heard of the fall of Chandaree, Sir Hugh Rose marched at once
upon Jhansi. On the 19th the brigade halted, while cavalry and guns
reconnoitered Jhansi, and on the 21st the whole force set out and halted
before that place. Jhansi, the reader will remember, was the scene of
one of the bloodiest tragedies in India, the scene of a foul massacre,
accomplished by treachery, and only exceeded in magnitude by that at
Cawnpore. The brave but vicious Ranee was, like the Begum of Oude,
determined to hold her own. Since she had been in full possession she had
repaired the strong walls surrounding the city, mounted guns upon them
and on the flanking bastions, cleared out the ditches, erected outworks
well devised and well built, and even when the British encamped before her
stronghold, her willing subjects were still hard at work throwing up fresh
defences. She had been aided by Tantia Topee, a retainer of Nana Sahib.
This remarkable man had served in the Bengal Artillery. He was a weaver
by trade--hence his name, which means the "weaver artilleryman." After
leaving the British service he entered that of Nana Sahib at Bithoor, and
when the latter struck for empire, the talents of his artilleryman soon
came into play. Tantia Topee had the brain of a soldier without the heart.
He could plan, and scheme, and raise armies, and direct their movements,
but he could not lead them. An avowed coward, the natives regarded his
cowardice as an infirmity, and were willing to accept his services without
demanding from him qualities he did not possess. As Sir Hugh Rose appeared
before Jhansi, Tantia Topee rode off to Calpee, there to organise a
relieving army around the wreck of the famous Gwalior Contingent.
The British troops encamped on a plain without shelter of any kind, for,
with great judgment, the Ranee had caused the trees to be destroyed. As
soon as he encamped, Sir Hugh Rose surveyed the place thoroughly, riding
all day in the burning sun and seeing everything for himself. Thus he was
enabled to direct the investment of Jhansi with his cavalry, a work that
was completed on the 22nd. That night the first battery was constructed,
about 300 yards from the town wall. It was done silently and effectually.
But daylight disclosed the work and the enemy began to pound it, soon
getting the range, and to raise a counter-battery intended to enfilade
it. By the 24th four batteries were constructed and in action. Their shot
silenced several guns and demolished the works of the enemy and their
shells set fire to the town; while the infantry, spread out in front,
skirmished with the Sepoys in the cottages and enclosures. The force was
now strengthened by the arrival of the 1st Brigade from Chandaree, and Sir
Hugh immediately extended his front of attack and established batteries
on his left. For the next five days the bombardment continued. The enemy
fought his guns admirably, and showed great determination. Our troops grew
excited with the work. They were eager to storm and sack a city infamous
for the murder of so many of their countrymen and countrywomen, and they
laboured in the summer heat with a cheerfulness and constancy that must
have made glad the heart of Sir Hugh Rose.
[Illustration: SIR HUGH ROSE (AFTERWARDS LORD STRATHNAIRN).
(_From a Photograph by A. Bassano._)]
On the 31st a new danger, not wholly unforeseen, appeared. Sir Hugh,
anticipating a movement of the rebel army at Calpee, had established a
telegraph on the hills to the east, worked with flags. On the 31st the
flags waved saying, "Here come the enemy in great force from the north."
Sir Hugh was not at all disconcerted. He had expected that an effort
would be made to relieve the place and had meditated on the best mode
of thwarting it. As soon as he heard, therefore, that Tantia Topee had
brought 20,000 men from Calpee, and placed them on his right flank, close
to the city, he knew what to do. It was evening when the news came.
Knowing where the enemy was, the general prepared a surprise for them. He
determined to fight the enemy and continue the siege--one of the hardiest
resolutions ever taken by any general, especially when we consider the
fact that he had only 1,200 men available for battle. As soon as it was
dark he caused his 1st Brigade to strike tents, and then he marched them
silently into a position on the left flank of the foe. Then he reinforced
it by two 24-pounders, so placed that they swept the road to the city. The
enemy were the more elated because they saw but few tents in our camp,
and they halted at dusk close on the front of the 2nd Brigade and made
merry. But morning showed them another sight. At daylight we opened on
them with artillery, cutting up their left flank. The unexpected fire of
the 1st Brigade guns soon shook them; and, swiftly discerning symptoms of
unsteadiness, our cavalry went in with a crash, Rose leading one body,
Prettyjohn another. The flank was rolled up in a moment, and the infantry
following the cavalry, the enemy was driven back with great slaughter.
Then the infantry, moving across the battle field, fell upon the opposite
flank, cut the rebels off from the city and followed them up with vigour.
Tantia Topee had prepared a second line, but Rose left him no time to use
it. Bursting in on both flanks, our troops forced the enemy to retreat
upon the Betwa, and pursued so sharply that they drove the rebels over the
river with the loss of every gun brought into the field. Thus did 1,200
men, of whom only 500 were Europeans, defeat 20,000, while their comrades
carried on the siege with unrelenting vigour. This battle was fought
on the 1st of April; on the 3rd it was resolved that Jhansi should be
taken by storm. From the right batteries the walls were to be carried by
escalade; on the left the stormers were to sweep in through a breach; the
signal was to be the opening of guns on the west face, as though an attack
were to be made there.
The moon shone brightly as the columns marched out of their camps to
the appointed places. The Sappers, the 3rd Europeans, and the Hyderabad
Infantry were to scale the walls; the 86th Foot and the 25th Native
Infantry were to go in at the breach. The signal was given and the men
emerged from cover into the broad moonlight. The enemy were on the alert
and met the columns with a storm of shot. "We had upwards of 200 yards
to march through this fiendish fire," writes Mr. Lowe, who, as medical
officer to the Sappers, accompanied the right column, "and we did it.
The Sappers planted the ladders against the wall in three places for
the stormers to ascend; but the fire of the enemy waxed stronger, and
amid the chaos of sounds, of volleys of musketry, and roaring of cannon,
and hissing and bursting of rockets, stink-pots, infernal machines,
huge stones, blocks of wood, and trees, all hurled upon their devoted
heads--the men wavered for a moment, and sheltered themselves behind
stones. But the ladders were there, and there the Sappers, animated by the
heroism of their officers, keeping firm hold until a wound or death struck
them down beneath the walls. At this instant, on our right, three of the
ladders broke under the weight of men, and a bugle sounded on our right
also for the Europeans to retire. A brief pause, and again the stormers
rushed to the ladders, led on by the engineer officers," and carried the
position.
As soon as they were in, they heard the shouts of the left column, who
had broken in at the breach and came rushing along the ramparts. The
two columns joined and dashed into the town. No quarter was given. The
city and its people were held to be accursed. There were fights in every
street, almost in every house; and in the palace and stables, battle and
slaughter and conflagration. The Ranee, who had fled into the fort, kept
up a fire on the palace. The Sepoys and rebels were surrounded in the town
and out of it and very few escaped who stayed to bear the shock of fight.
This went on all the 3rd and 4th, and on the 5th Lieutenant Baigrie, of
the 3rd Europeans, found the fort had been abandoned. Our loss in this
storm of Jhansi was 300 killed and wounded.
The weather was now so hot, and the force so exhausted, that Sir Hugh
found himself obliged to give the troops some rest, and also to replenish
his stores. He halted three weeks, and then, after leaving a garrison in
the place, resumed active operations. The 1st Brigade marched for Calpee
on the 25th; the 2nd a few days afterwards. The sufferings of the troops
on the march were dreadful, chiefly from want of water--a want that the
transport animals, even the camels, felt keenly. On the 5th of May the
two brigades, reinforced by the 71st Highlanders, united. The enemy made
a stand at Koonch and was routed, with the loss of eight guns. The battle
of Koonch would have been more disastrous for the enemy had not Brigadier
Stuart held back his brigade. The sun killed more on our side than the
enemy and Sir Hugh Rose himself was prostrated three times with the heat.
The enemy, weakened and disheartened, drew up at Calpee. Here were the
Ranee of Jhansi, the Nawab of Banda--driven off by Whitlock's column,
which had slowly and without adventure worked its way as far as Banda--and
Tantia Topee. Here they drew up among the tombs and ravines on the south
side of Calpee. But Sir Hugh Rose swept round to the east, and encamping
on the Jumna, entered into communication with Colonel Maxwell, who held
his brigade on the opposite bank of the river. It was now the 15th of May.
The strong front of the enemy's position had been turned, but he found in
the ravines that ran between Sir Hugh's camp and Calpee endless facilities
for attack; and every day until the 22nd the enemy made repeated attacks.
On the 20th Maxwell sent over a few troops, and on the 21st his artillery
shelled the town. On the 22nd the enemy came out in great force, and
attacked Sir Hugh in position at Gowlowlee. This combat was, perhaps, the
sharpest in which Sir Hugh had been engaged. The enemy, in thousands, not
only attacked the front with great resolution, but repeatedly tried to
turn the left flank. Several times his infantry charged up to the guns.
For some time, so numerous were the assailants, it was with the greatest
difficulty that our soldiers held their ground; and had not the right
been promptly reinforced it must have been overpowered. But Sir Hugh
Rose, at the right moment, assaulted the enemy's right with a vigour that
was irresistible; and then, advancing the whole line, drove the enemy in
disorder from the field. He retired to Calpee; but on the 23rd of May he
was driven out without much trouble, pursued by the cavalry, and relieved
of all his guns.
Such seemed to be the natural termination of this astonishing campaign
in the hot season. The troops had traversed Central India from Indore to
Calpee, had been four months in the sun, and were literally exhausted. But
now came startling news. Gwalior was in the hands of the rebels, and the
Maharajah Scindia a fugitive at Agra. Defeated at Gowlowlee, driven out of
Calpee, Tantia Topee and his shattered troops hurried off towards Gwalior.
It was a bold stroke, worthy of the subtle brain of the ablest leader of
the Hindoos. Scindia had not befriended the rebel cause: nay, he and his
sagacious Minister, Dinkur Rao, had helped the Europeans in every way; yet
the Gwalior people were hostile to the British. Why not, then, dethrone
Scindia and, seizing Gwalior, hoist the Mahratta flag in the capital
of that great Mahratta State? Tantia Topee was equal to the emergency.
Preceding the army by forced marches, he secretly entered Gwalior and
began to intrigue with the leaders of the disaffected. The fruits were
soon seen. Hearing of the approach of the rebel force, Scindia marched
out to attack them on the 30th of May. But when the combat began, half
his army threw down their arms and fled. The Maharajah's body-guard of
horse alone fought, charging the enemy repeatedly, and only retiring when
two-thirds were slain. Then the faithful remnant hurried their chief out
of the field. They took the direction of Agra, and falling in with a troop
of British horse, Scindia entered Agra a fugitive on the 3rd of June.
Tantia Topee entered Gwalior in triumph and proclaimed Nana Sahib Peishwa
of the Mahrattas. It was the news of this that brought Sir Hugh Rose from
his sick bed and set his weary brigades in motion once more. They marched
at once, one from Calpee, the other from Jaloun, to unite at Indoorkee.
A great movement of concentration on Gwalior was in progress. A body
of Europeans marched out of Agra. Orders were sent to Brigadier Smith
operating in the heart of Scindia's country, to hasten on to Gwalior from
Goona. It was needful that a severe blow should be struck, and struck
at once, lest Tantia Topee should succeed in raising the whole country
south of the Jumna, and in spreading the contagion to the Deccan, where
the Nizam's Minister, Salar Jung, another able Hindoo, held down the
disaffected with difficulty; therefore the troops marched with rapidity
under the scorching sun. Sir Hugh pushed up close to Gwalior, and then
waited for Scindia, whose presence with the army gave it a moral weight
and, it was hoped, would save the city from plunder. On the 17th Brigadier
Smith, issuing from the Pass of Antree, south of the town, found himself
in front of the rebel army. It was led by the Ranee of Jhansi, who, it is
said, was dressed like a man and who fought like one. Brigadier Smith,
after surveying the enemy's position, drove off their cavalry by a charge
of the 8th Hussars, who had to ford a ravine full of water before they
could get at the enemy. Then the infantry went in and, fighting and
marching all day, expelled the enemy from his position and drove him back
upon Gwalior. Smith encamped within range of the enemy's guns, and they
pounded him at intervals, although the troops were not allowed to light
fires. The next day Sir Hugh Rose arrived and the two columns, united,
assailed the enemy with such fury, on the 19th, that, after a sharp combat
of five hours, they drove him away. Tantia Topee fled to the west pursued
by the British cavalry. The Ranee of Jhansi, mortally wounded on the 17th,
was carried from the field, and Rose wrote, "the best _man_ upon the side
of the enemy was the _woman_ found dead." All night the fort fired guns at
intervals; but in the morning, when the troops entered, it was found that
this was the work of eleven fanatics, only two of whom knew how to load
and fire a gun.
As soon as Gwalior fell, the Agra brigade came up, and Scindia was
ceremoniously restored to his throne by Sir Hugh Rose. Thus, within the
space of three weeks, the Mahratta prince had been worsted in battle and
driven from his capital by men of his own race and religion; and they in
turn had been routed from the field and he had been restored by the white
men from the Western world. A great danger had been met with energy and
overcome. The lesson was not lost on the native princes far and near. It
made our hold on the neighbouring Doab more secure, and it relieved the
mind of Sir Colin Campbell of any apprehension he might have felt touching
an irruption on his flank and rear from the south of the Jumna. On the
28th of June Sir Hugh Rose, having done his work and being really ill,
resigned his command and started for Bombay.
The reader will be naturally solicitous to know how Brigadier Smith came
to be at Goona and thus in a position to aid Rose in the vital operation
of recovering Gwalior. The brigadier's column had come from the west. Lord
Elphinstone's first care had been to recover Indore and reassure Holkar.
This was effected by the troops Rose had collected at Mhow and Indore
and by Stuart's campaign at Malwa. Lord Elphinstone's next care was to
assemble troops in Western Rajpootana, in order to recover that country,
keep the enemy out of Gujerat and, by a forward movement to the east,
defeat the mutineers and rebellious chieftains between the Sinde river
and the Chumbul. As reinforcements arrived from England, they were sent
into Rajpootana. Camps were formed in the winter of 1857-8, and when Rose
moved from Saugor, General Roberts, who commanded in Rajpootana, marched
upon Kotah. On the 30th of March, the day he attacked the place, he was
joined by 1,500 horsemen, who had marched from Cutch. Having dispersed
these rebels, the division under Roberts broke up and engaged in diverse
harassing expeditions during the whole of the year. Part of the force
(Smith's brigade) marched over the Chumbul into the Gwalior country. When
Sir Hugh Rose had captured Jhansi, the rebels, pressed from the west by
Roberts, assembled in detached bodies in Rose's rear, and Smith's brigade
was occupied in marching and fighting and dispersing the enemy. It was
thus that, in June, he was at Goona and was called up to drive Tantia
Topee out of Gwalior city.
After that defeat the rebel chief hurried westward, was defeated again,
with the loss of his remaining guns, and pursued by Sir Robert Napier,
who succeeded Rose in command of the Central India Field Force. But
although the weaver-artilleryman attracted towards himself a host
of enemies--Napier from Gwalior, Showers from Agra, Roberts from
Nusseerabad--he managed to slip through their hands; to raise fresh
armies as often as his soldiery were surprised and broken; to steal
artillery from native rajahs; to fight and fly, and fly and fight, and to
keep all the troops between the Jumna and Nerbudda constantly employed
for six months. His great object was to reach the Deccan or Candeish;
and to accomplish this he made incredible efforts. But the story of his
wanderings and adventures belongs to a later stage in the revolt.
While Campbell had been capturing Lucknow and Bareilly, and Rose had
marched and fought from Indore to Gwalior, by way of Calpee, the great
force that held down the North-West and made the Punjab a tower of
strength had not ceased to exert itself for the weal of the empire.
Mr. Montgomery had issued an order in the very midst of our troubles,
declaring that the system of caste could no longer be permitted to
rule in our service; that soldiers and Government servants should be
entertained irrespective of class, caste, or creed, and inviting native
Christians to seek our service, promising to appoint those who were
properly qualified. This was a great step; not taken before it was needed.
Moreover, the Punjab Government determined that all loyal natives who had
suffered in consequence of the acts of mutineers should be compensated
by contributions levied in the offending districts--thus rewarding the
faithful at the expense of the malcontents. Sir John Lawrence in the
summer of 1858 was able to organise a plan for relieving himself of
the huge army of disarmed Sepoys. He separated the faithful from the
faithless. He sent off all the latter to their homes, passing them on in
small batches of twenty a day, under escort, until they reached their
native States, and then turned them adrift. Only two regiments, those at
Mooltan, resisted and they met with terrible punishment. Three regiments
and one wing of a fourth were re-armed. Another body, faithful men from
several regiments, was formed into a new regiment, to be known in future
as the _Wuffadar Pultun_, or faithful regiment; while the 21st, which had
been armed all along, which had resisted every appeal from its fellows,
and the Khelat-i-Ghilzies, were all that remained untouched in any way
of the 41,000 Bengal Sepoys who in May, 1857, were in the Punjab and the
Upper Doab.
During the spring of 1858 the King of Delhi had been tried, convicted,
and sentenced to banishment. It was clearly proved that he was guilty of
rebellion and murder. The rebellion was patent: he had proclaimed himself
Emperor of India. The murders were proved: it was shown that he gave
express permission for the massacre of the forty-nine women and children
whom he had in confinement, and that one of his sons took an active part
in the foul work. The old man was fairly tried; had not Hodson, with the
sanction of General Wilson, promised him life, he would have been hanged.
As it was, he was banished to Burmah. Thus Mohamed Bahadoor Shah, the last
of the Moguls, terminated the dynasty of Timour; and in the words of the
Advocate-General, he was degraded by his crimes to a felon, and the long
glories of a dynasty were effaced in a day.
[Illustration: PROCLAMATION OF THE QUEEN AS SOVEREIGN OF INDIA. (_See p._
279.)]
Before the trial of the king had come to an end, the rebel Nawab of
Jhujhur and the rebel Rajah of Bulubgurh had been hanged; both having been
proved to be accomplices of the king and participators in the rebellion.
At the same time the Maharajah of Puttiala, the Rajahs of Jheend, Nabha,
and Kuppoorthulla--all of whom had given unhesitating aid in men, money,
and provisions, and who had taken the field in person--were amply rewarded
by an increase of dignity and territory. Besides these several minor
chiefs in the same district also received acknowledgments for their
services. Thus, justice and political equity and expediency were alike
satisfied. We showed those chiefs that in trusting to us they trusted not
only to the strong, but to the just. By able and judicious measures Sir
John Lawrence rapidly organised the territories over which he exercised
unquestioned sway, and turned all the strength at his disposal to the
promotion of the Imperial cause.
In another quarter the work to be done was of a different kind. The
presence of such large masses of rebels in Oude led to great disturbance
on the eastern frontier of that country. The marches and battles of
Franks, and the progress of Jung Bahadoor had not crushed opposition,
nor had the capture of Lucknow reduced Oude. It was in this extensive
district that Colonel Rowcroft, with a small force of European and Ghoorka
infantry, and Sotheby's Naval Brigade, chiefly sailors of the _Pearl_,
and a mere handful of Bengal yeomanry cavalry, made head against an enemy
who outnumbered them ten to one. It was to their exertions, aided by
detachments from Dinapore, that Sarun was saved from invasion, and that
the rebels could gain no footing in Azimghur and Goruckpore. Sometimes
acting together; sometimes working in detachments; now repelling with
heavy loss an attack; now beating up the enemy's quarters and shattering
his masses, this energetic and much-enduring force did most admirable
service. Throughout the year, and with unvarying fortune, our soldiers and
sailors continued the combat, shielding the eastern provinces of Bengal,
north of the Ganges.
During the hot months, also, Sir Hope Grant, justly styled indefatigable,
had moved about Oude with a flying column, to prevent the enemy from
establishing himself too strongly at any point. In June Sir Hope returned
to Lucknow from one of these expeditions. He had received information
that the Begum had collected an army at Nawabgunge Bara Bankee, the place
selected for a rendezvous by the Oude regiments at the outbreak of the
mutiny, and whence they advanced upon Chinhut and finally to Lucknow. Now
Sir Hope Grant determined to attack them. He had with him about 4,000 men
and eighteen guns. The enemy mustered 20,000 men and an unknown quantity
of guns. They were routed from the field with a loss of 600 killed. One
advantage of this action was seen in the great moral effect that it
produced in the country north of the Goomtee.
The cause of the Oude rebels had grown desperate. They had lost their
ablest leader, the famous Moulvie, who fell in a fight before a mean mud
fort; and now, their largest force beaten at Nawabgunge, they began to
see that they had little, indeed no, hope of winning the game. Yet, with
a good deal of fortitude, the Oude chiefs held out, and there was yet to
be a cold weather campaign before the conquest of Oude was complete. Hope
Grant marched from his camp at Nawabgunge in July to Fyzabad, and drove
off a body of the enemy who were besieging Maun Singh, the most powerful
talookdar in those parts, and who now unhesitatingly rallied to our
side. From Fyzabad he detached Brigadier Horsford, an excellent soldier,
to Sultanpore, where he defeated the enemy; and, being reinforced by
Grant himself, drove him from all his works and secured that part of the
country. Thus the summer campaign ended. There were only two Oude armies
of any strength at large. The Begum was on the north-east of the Gogra,
between that river and the Raptee; and Bainie Madho, of Amethie, held Roy
Bareilly and the country around south of the Goomtee, and between that
river and the Sye. The Begum had an open line of retreat to the hills.
Bainie Madho was supposed to be surrounded by our posts. When these two
were defeated, Oude would be again in our possession.
Britain had not forgotten India. In 1857 she sent out thousands of
troops, as in duty bound, to suppress the mutiny, and her patriot sons
and daughters subscribed tens of thousands of pounds to relieve the
sufferings of those who had fallen a prey to the merciless Sepoys. For
the dead nothing could be done; for the living much--and much was done.
Britain had been filled with horror, and her horror was succeeded by a
rage that, for a time, overpowered every other feeling. In 1858 she sent
more troops--nearly 30,000; but she did more. Her Legislature effected
a grand reform in the Government of India, and a measure undertaken by
Lord Palmerston was carried out, with great improvements, by Lord Derby.
An Act was passed that abolished the rule of the East India Company and
transferred the government of India to the Crown. Thenceforth, instead
of a Board of Directors and a Board of Control, there were to be a
Council of India, and a responsible Minister--a Secretary of State for
India--through whom and by whom all business was to be transacted. The
Company, which had endured so long and had been so mighty, ceased to have
any political power and continued to exist solely because its machinery
was required to look after certain pecuniary interests and distribute
dividends upon East India Stock. As a matter of course the local European
army was afterwards absorbed into and amalgamated with the Queen's army
and the civil and military servants in India became servants of the
Crown. This was an immense change, not only in name, but in principle;
for thus India became virtually a part of Britain, and directly under the
control of British Governments. On the passing of the Act a proclamation
by the Queen in Council was addressed to the princes, chiefs and people
of India, and sent to Lord Canning, who was appointed "first Viceroy
and Governor-General," to administer the Government in the name and on
behalf of Queen Victoria. This proclamation was received in the autumn
of 1858, when Oude alone remained to be reconquered; and when Colin
Campbell, then just raised to the peerage by the title of Lord Clyde, was
preparing to overthrow the rebel hosts of the Begum and Nana Sahib. It
was determined that before he marched into Oude the Queen's proclamation
should be published; and Lord Clyde, all being in readiness on his part
for action, went to Allahabad, at the end of October, to be present when
the Governor-General solemnly published the proclamation. This was done
on the 1st of November. A platform was erected near the fort. Lord Clyde
and General Mansfield accompanied Lord Canning to this appointed spot, and
there the first Viceroy read the document that created a revolution in the
fundamental principles of Indian government. The ceremony, we are told,
was tame and spiritless; but the fact behind it was one of the most solid
and substantial in India. The pith of the proclamation was the transfer
of power--the extinction of the Company Bahadoor. But it also went on to
describe the spirit in which the Queen, through her Viceroy, would rule in
the land.
"We hereby announce," said the Queen, "to the native princes of India,
that all treaties and engagements made with them by or under the authority
of the Honourable East India Company are by us accepted, and will be
scrupulously maintained; and we look for the like observance on their part.
"We desire no extension of our present territorial possessions; and
while we will permit no aggression upon our dominions or our rights to
be attempted with impunity, we shall sanction no encroachment on those
of others. We shall respect the rights, dignity, and honour of native
princes as our own, and we desire that they as well as our own subjects
should enjoy that prosperity and that social advancement which can only be
secured by internal peace and good government....
"Firmly relying ourselves on the truth of Christianity, and acknowledging
with gratitude the solace of religion, we disclaim alike the right and the
desire to impose our convictions on any of our subjects. We declare it to
be our royal will and pleasure that none be in any wise favoured, none be
molested or disquieted, by reason of their religious faith or observances;
but that all shall alike enjoy the equal and impartial protection of
the law; and we do strictly charge and enjoin all those who may be in
authority under us, that they abstain from all interference with the
religious belief or worship of any of our subjects, on pain of our highest
displeasure....
"Already in our province, with a view to stop the further effusion of
blood, and to hasten the pacification of our Indian dominions, our Viceroy
and Governor-General has held out the expectation of pardon on certain
terms to the great majority of those who in the late unhappy disturbances
have been guilty of offences against our Government, and has declared the
punishment which will be inflicted on those whose crimes place them beyond
the reach of forgiveness.
"We approve and confirm the said act of our Viceroy and Governor-General,
and do further announce and proclaim as follows:--
"Our clemency will be extended to all offenders, save and except those who
have been, or shall be, convicted of having directly taken part in the
murder of British subjects. With regard to such the demands of justice
forbid the exercise of mercy.
"To those who have willingly given asylum to murderers, knowing them
to be such, or who may have acted as leaders or instigators in revolt,
their lives alone can be guaranteed; but, in apportioning the penalty due
to such persons, full consideration will be given to the circumstances
under which they have been induced to throw off their allegiance, and
large indulgence will be shown to those whose crimes may appear to have
originated in too credulous acceptance of the false reports circulated by
designing men.
"To all others in arms against the Government we hereby promise
unconditional pardon, amnesty, and oblivion of all offence against
ourselves, our crown and dignity, on their return to their homes and
peaceful pursuits. It is our royal pleasure that these terms of grace and
amnesty should be extended to all those who comply with their conditions
before the first day of January next.
"When by the blessing of Providence internal tranquillity shall be
restored, it is our earnest desire to stimulate the peaceful industry
of India, to promote works of public utility and improvement, and to
administer its government for the benefit of all our subjects resident
therein. In their prosperity will be our strength, in their contentment
our security, and in their gratitude our best reward. And may the God of
all power grant to us and to those in authority under us strength to carry
out these our wishes for the good of our people." The last sentence was,
says Sir Theodore Martin, added by the Queen's own hand.
Such are the principles upon which the future government of India was
to rest. Armed with this proclamation, and one issued in his own name,
in which he promised protection to all who submitted, Lord Clyde, that
same night, crossed the Ganges and entered Oude to enforce the law and
reduce the last remaining rebels to obedience. We have already stated
that one great body of rebels, led by Bainie Mahdo, held the forts and
jungles between the Goomtee and the Ganges. It was against him that the
Commander-in-Chief directed his first efforts. His own camp was near
Pertabgurh on the Sye, and his troops formed the main central column.
On the right was Sir Hope Grant, near Sultanpore; on the left Colonel
Wetherall, near the Ganges. These columns were to sweep the country before
them, and concentrate on Amethie, a strong mud fort held by the rajah of
that ilk, and garrisoned by 20,000 men of all sorts with thirty guns. The
rajah, after much shuffling, surrendered.
Dismantling the fort, Lord Clyde despatched three columns in pursuit of
the fugitives; and conjecturing rightly that they would in the main make
for Shunkerpore, the stronghold of Bainie Madho, the columns marched
towards that place, halting at Oodeypore. But Bainie Madho had fled.
From Shunkerpore Lord Clyde continued the pursuit of the enemy; but, as
intelligence of the whereabouts of Bainie Madho was contradictory, he
halted a few hours near Roy Bareilly in order to obtain exact information.
It did not come, but some information came which warranted a move, and the
army defiled through Roy Bareilly and went up the Sye. Colonel Evelegh,
commanding a light column, was ordered to follow and not lose sight of
Bainie Madho, while the army crossed the Sye above Roy Bareilly. Then in
came a courier from Evelegh, with certain news that he had tracked the
foe to Dhondiakera, on the Ganges. Lord Clyde immediately marched on the
fort. A bridge was thrown over the Ganges below the rebel position, from
the opposite bank, and a force crossed over, while cavalry and guns from
Cawnpore patrolled the Doab shore. It was supposed that Bainie Madho had
about 8,000 Oude Sepoys and many thousands of irregular levies; and the
British brought up 6,000 men. For a brief space there was brisk exchange
of musketry, then the enemy opened with cannon, and our guns were ordered
up to the front, just as our line pushed on. From that time the British
advance was continuous, Lord Clyde still leading the eager skirmishers.
After a brief but heavy cannonade, our "advance became a run. The men
cheering, broke out into a double, at last into a regular race, Lord Clyde
himself leading them on." The ridge was crowned just in time to see the
enemy in full flight up and down the banks of the Ganges. In a moment the
cavalry and horse artillery and some of the foot went off in pursuit,
while another body, with two guns, opened upon a host of fugitives who
were trying to escape across the Ganges. But the rebel chief escaped with
his treasure, and lost only some hundreds killed and his stronghold.
Nevertheless the blow was in one sense effective. The rebel force was
broken up; its leaders were convinced that there was no safe place for
them south of the Goomtee, and they fled even beyond the Gogra.
Lord Clyde, directing his army from Lucknow, encamped there a short
time. More talookdars surrendered. Practically, Southern Oude was free
from organised revolt, and it now only remained to deal with the Begum,
reinforced by Bainie Madho, and with Nana Sahib, all of whom had been
driven to seek refuge in Beyratch, with their backs to a pestiferous belt
of forest land, called the Terai, that skirts the foot of the Himalayas.
The British forces were now widely distributed in posts all over the
country, and when in December Lord Clyde heard that the rebels were
assembling on the Gogra, not far from Nawabgunge, he had to collect a
column wherewith to attack them. He marched north from Lucknow on the 4th
of December. On the 6th he heard that the enemy were in force at Beyram
Ghat on the Gogra. Directing the infantry to follow, he made a forced
march with the cavalry and four guns, hoping to surprise the enemy and
drive them into the river before they could destroy their boats. But,
although he rode at speed all the way, he reached the river only to find
that the enemy had just fled.
[Illustration: GWALIOR, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.]
The army was next marched to Fyzabad, and thence it crossed the Gogra into
Beyratch. Maun Singh and his brother accompanied the force. Halting for
some days in the town of Beyratch to receive and answer letters from the
rebel leaders, some of whom were willing to come in on terms, Lord Clyde
would not listen to anything but unconditional surrender, and finding it
impossible to effect an arrangement, the army marched on Nanparah. A few
miles beyond, the troops came up with a body of the enemy in the jungle,
but the latter would not stand an attack. They fled in all directions
before the cavalry and the guns. Here it was that Lord Clyde met with a
severe accident. Galloping over the fields, his horse put one foot in a
hole, and coming down threw the Commander-in-Chief with such force that
his right shoulder was dislocated. This was soon remedied by the surgeons,
but Lord Clyde was much shaken and obliged to follow the troops in a
litter.
The operations were now rapidly coming to an end. On the 27th of December,
hearing that a body of the enemy had collected in the fort of Mejidiah,
Lord Clyde marched upon them, drove them out with his guns and then went
in and took their artillery. It was a very strong place and its easy
capture showed that the enemy had lost confidence. On the 30th Lord Clyde
was informed that Nana Sahib and Bainie Madho were at Bankee, twenty miles
north of Nanparah. He determined to march all night, and if possible,
surprise them. This was the last action of the war on this side and
resulted in a complete defeat of the enemy, who made hardly any stand.
Nana Sahib, unhappily, got away. He was in a wood, two miles in rear of
the position, when the guns opened. He gave orders for flight at once, and
with elephants, bearing himself and his treasure, dashed over the Raptee
into the Terai and Nepaul. Sir Hope Grant had followed his brother, Bala
Rao, into the jungle beyond Toolsepore, and had dispersed his soldiery,
taking fifteen guns. "Thus," says Lord Clyde, in his official report, "the
contest in Oude has been brought to an end, and the resistance of 150,000
armed men subdued with a very moderate loss to her Majesty's troops, and a
most merciful forbearance towards the misguided enemy." One after another
the chiefs surrendered, and Major Barrow held his court to receive these
rebels, who acknowledged that they had lost the game. The rebels, with
the Nana and the Begum, were held fast in the Terai, where they perished
one by one. The Nana and the Begum never reappeared. They may have found
shelter in Nepaul or Tibet, but the probability is that they were eaten
by wild beasts. All the other leaders, except Feroze Shah, of Delhi,
were either captured, killed in action, or surrendering, were punished
according to the nature of their crimes. Oude was disarmed, the forts of
the talookdars were demolished; Lucknow was fortified, and the province
was permanently occupied. Mr. Montgomery, and after him Mr. Wingfield,
were left to reorganise the government. Lord Clyde went to Simla to
restore his health, and Lord Canning returned to Calcutta to undertake the
gigantic task of reorganising the whole Government of India on the new
basis of Imperial rule, and as a fundamental step was obliged to take in
hand the finances, which the mutiny had so greatly disordered. After the
end of January, 1859, there were combats and skirmishes here and there
with bodies of turbulent men, the dregs of the native armies raised by the
rebellious chiefs; but they only measured the regular subsidence of the
great tempest which had swept over the land. With one exception, we have
now followed the track of every rebel leader to its close. That exception
is the career of Tantia Topee, who, with Kour Singh, was the only able man
thrown to the surface by these great events. His romantic course is worth
sketching, at least in outline.
Driven from Gwalior, Tantia rode off to the westward. Pursued and stricken
by Robert Napier, turned aside by the appearance of Brigadier Showers with
the Agra troops at Futtehpore Sikri, he made with all speed for Jeypore,
seizing camels, horses, elephants, carts, provisions, as he went. His
object was to seize some large town and plunder it, taking arms and cannon
and coin, and getting together as large a mass of mounted men as he could.
The native ruler of Jeypore was on our side and there was, therefore,
a double motive for saving him. Accordingly, General Roberts, as soon
as he learned that Tantia was marching on Jeypore, broke up his camp at
Nusseerabad and, by rapid forced marches, interposed just in time between
the rebel and his prey. Frustrated in his move upon Jeypore, Tantia
turned abruptly southward and rode straight for Tonk, a town and native
principality on one of the affluents of the Chumbul. Roberts now followed
and other columns closed from different quarters towards the rebel line
of march. Tantia was first at Tonk. The rajah shut himself up in his fort
and kept the enemy at bay, but he plundered the town and carried off
four guns. Colonel Holmes now took up the chase, but was soon stopped by
want of carriage. Then Roberts went on and by long marches overtook the
enemy, forced him to an action and routed him. The light-heeled rebels
rushed away towards Oodeypore. Roberts followed and overtook them again,
this time getting well among them with his horsemen, cutting them up and
retaking the Tonk guns. The enemy scattered to avoid the pursuing cavalry,
and then crossing the Chumbul, and being reinforced by the desperadoes
of the country-side, laid siege to and took the important town of Julra
Patun. Here they levied very heavy contributions and obtained a large
number of guns. This was Tantia's greatest triumph. He had sacked Julra
Patun in the teeth of our troops.
But he dared not halt. Roberts was following. Smith's troops on the Agra
trunk road were approaching him. The Mhow force, under General Michell,
was preparing to strike. Tantia's object was now the Bhopal State; his
ultimate design being to cross the Nerbudda and the Taptee, and breaking
into the Deccan or Nagpore, raise a mighty insurrection and gather the
Rohillas to his flag. This was a great danger, and it was necessary to
strain every nerve to ward it off. Smith detached Robertson, of the
25th Bombay Native Infantry, and Michell moved up from Mhow. Robertson
overtook part of the rebel force at Bajapore, mostly Sepoys, many wearing
medals. He came upon them as they were cooking, drove them into and over
a river, and killed many hundreds. Michell had even better fortune, for
he routed the main body on the 13th of September, and took nearly thirty
guns, the spoil of Julra Patun. Thus, headed off from Bhopal, Tantia
hastened to Seronge, on the Betwa, and halted to refit and recruit. But
he dared not stay long. His spies told him that columns were afoot, east,
west, north, and south. So he broke up from Seronge a few hours before
Captain Mayne rode in with part of Smith's force, and going northwards,
attacked and captured Esaughur, a fortress belonging to Scindia. Smith
and Mayne followed him, making a march on Esaughur in concert with troops
from Jhansi and Gwalior. Again the rebel rapidly retreated, striking
in between the advancing troops, and making eastward for the Betwa. He
crossed this river on the 9th of October, intending to seize and plunder
the friendly native State of Tehree. Here he had the aid of an ally.
The Nawab of Banda came up the river on the left bank to oppose Michell
advancing from Seronge, while Tantia sacked Tehree. But on the very day
when Tantia crossed the Betwa, Michell met the nawab and, fighting him
at once with characteristic vigour, routed him with great loss. In the
meantime Tantia had formed a column on the road to Tehree; and when, on
the 11th, he was moving back to the Betwa, Michell, who had crossed that
river at Mungrowlee, fell in with Tantia at Sindwah and took four of his
guns.
Thus frustrated and defeated, this persevering partisan fled first towards
the north, but doubling back, stole away between his pursuers, and made
for the Nerbudda, by way of Ratghur. He had not effected this movement
without suffering one more defeat at the hands of the energetic and
tireless Michell. In spite of these defeats Tantia was now apparently
nearer than ever to the object of his endless manœuvres; for, at the end
of October, he actually crossed the upper waters of the Nerbudda, east
of Hoosingabad. He had but to pass one line of posts, and he would be in
Nagpore, or the Deccan. This was the one moment of great peril for us.
If Tantia, with even a broken force of 7,000 men, entered the Deccan,
he would in a week have been at the head of 100,000 men. The Government
was really alarmed; but as the danger was greater, so were the means
of parrying it greater, since Lord Elphinstone had pushed up a large
force of European and native cavalry to render the hunt after Tantia
more effective; while, from Kamptee, in Nagpore, to the Gulf of Cambay,
there was a great stir of troops, and a readiness to move at the shortest
notice to guard the passes, and fords, and great roads southwards. And
the measures adopted proved to be effective. Tantia found he could not
get farther than the hills of Sindwarra. Out of these he was forced by
Lieutenant Kerr. Flying by devious routes, he sought the Nerbudda again;
but, being headed, he turned westward, and traversed the hills between
the Taptee and Nerbudda at racing speed. It is assumed that his aim
was Candeish. Moving into Nimar, he actually prevailed on 1,000 men of
Holkar's Horse to desert and join him, and with this reinforcement rode
off to Burwanna, evading our troops. Finding it impossible to remain in
the valley of the Nerbudda, or to break into Candeish, he once more
crossed the great river and hurried into Malwa; not, however, before he
had been hit very hard by a new enemy--the Camel Corps; that is, infantry
mounted on camels. It was this force that drove Tantia over the river.
Brigadier Parke now came up. He formed a flying column, all horsemen,
except 100 Highlanders. With these he crossed the river, and marched 241
miles in nine days; he caught Tantia near Chota Oodeypore. Forced to
fight, the rebel chief showed his usual judgment in the selection of a
position on broken ground. Parke put his handful of Highlanders in the
centre, and placed horse on the flanks, and formed a reserve wholly of
cavalry. Then, although overlapped on both flanks, he charged in upon the
foe, drove him from his strong ground, and pursued him for miles. He fled
deeper into Malwa.
In the meantime Feroze Shah, who had been fighting in Oude, found a gap
in Lord Clyde's line, and crossing the Goomtee, he made his way over the
Ganges into the Doab. Here Brigadier Percy Herbert marched upon him, and,
wresting from him his only gun, drove him over the Jumna. Feroze Shah made
for the west. Robert Napier, hearing at Gwalior of the advent of this new
foe, took with him 300 men, horse and foot, and marching 140 miles in four
days, came up with the rebels at Runnode, smote them heavily and forced
them to turn towards Kotah. Met at various points, Feroze Shah wound in
and out and at length succeeded in crossing the Chumbul near Inderghur.
Tantia Topee, smarting under the rough punishment inflicted by Parke, now
sought to join the Delhi Shazadah. In spite of numerous defeats, he made
for the Chumbul again, crossed it, and joined Feroze Shah somewhere in the
Jeypore country. The whole of these operations were performed at racing
speed between the 20th and 30th of December. Brigadier Showers got wind of
their whereabouts, and marching ninety-four miles in three days, overtook
the two worthies on the 16th of January, 1859, and slew some of their
followers, but failed to catch chiefs who were so prone to fly at the
sound of the cannon. Thus reduced to extremities, Feroze Shah disappeared
and was never captured. Tantia Topee, making a fruitless effort to break
into Bikaneer, doubled back again to Central India and, his fightings and
flyings over, took to the jungle. Beset on all sides, having made many
enemies, he dared not venture abroad, and his very life now depended on
the fidelity of those who knew his secret. In April a native betrayed
him; he was captured in the jungle near Seronge, tried by court martial,
and hanged at Sepree, having furnished for ten months ample occupation to
all the troops in Central India. With the capture and execution of Tantia
Topee the war came to an end.
The struggle was over then, but now a new one arose. The stupendous
exertions required to suppress the mutiny had created great confusion.
Order, in another sense, had to be restored. The mutinous Sepoys, the
rebellious rajahs and their followers, had been exterminated or quelled.
Now it became of the last consequence to revive public confidence,
to bring back order and solidity to the finances of the country, to
re-establish the principles of government, and to reorganise the army.
This gigantic task Lord Canning, aided by the Home Government, had to
undertake and accomplish; a task not so exciting as that of suppressing
a mutiny backed by insurrection, but perhaps even more laborious and
exhausting, because more tedious.
A very few figures will serve to prove the magnitude of the financial
undertaking. Just before the mutiny the Indian Budget showed a small
surplus--contrary to the rule, which was that it should show a deficit.
But the mutiny, as a matter of course, rapidly restored, in an aggravated
form, the normal state of the finances. With a revenue of nearly
£32,000,000, the Budget of 1857-8 showed a deficit of nearly £9,000,000,
which in the next year rose at a bound to nearly £15,000,000, making
a total deficit in two years of £24,000,000. The revenue, by dint of
taxation, had actually increased during the first year of the mutiny; a
fact that testified to the wonderful elasticity of the resources of India.
The great deficit was provided for by loans, nearly one-half of which
were raised in India itself, showing that public confidence in British
power and good fortune had not been impaired, although the debt rose in
two years to £81,500,000, and in three to £95,000,000. The question for
Lord Canning and the Home Government to solve was, how to balance revenue
and expenditure. In order to effect this, Sir Charles Wood determined
to present India with a Chancellor of the Exchequer. In England, as all
know, the Chancellor who has to meet the expenditure has also to provide
the ways and means, and has, of course, considerable power and influence
in the Government which decides on the policy, and, as a consequence, the
expenses to be incurred. But in India the department that provided the
money had no connection with the department that spent it. There were
consequently carelessness, extravagance, and confused accounts. The first
remedy, then, was to send out Mr. James Wilson, the well-known economist,
a statesman familiar with our mode of keeping accounts, to take charge
of the Indian department, with power and authority sufficient to combat
and overcome the tendency to delay and obstruct but too common among
the servants of both the great branches of the Government. Mr. Wilson
went, restored order to the finances, and died in his duty; a great loss
to India and to England. In addition to the gain we looked for by the
adoption of a sound system worked out with vigilant superintendence, the
Indian Government was obliged to have recourse to extra taxation. These
labours began as soon as the insurrection was suppressed; and within
five years of the end of these great troubles not only had the revenue
increased, but the expenditure was appreciably diminished, and the
Government of India was even able to reduce taxation and secure a small
surplus.
The army presented difficulties as great as the finances. No sooner was
one mutiny at an end than Government was threatened with another. We
have already recorded the transfer of authority from the Company to the
Crown. Under that Act the army became, of course, the Queen's army. Here,
however, arose a serious difficulty. There were nearly 20,000 European
soldiers who had enlisted to serve, not the Queen, but the Company.
Technically, no doubt, they had all along been servants of the Queen,
whose agent the Company was. But soldiers do not understand these refined
distinctions; and when the men were simply told that they would in future
be Queen's soldiers, they first murmured and then mutinied. The act of
mutiny is always indefensible. In this case, however, it admits of some
excuse; for, as the men said, the Government had no right to transfer them
from one service to another, "like cattle." It was true: they had no moral
and only a barely legal right. If, instead of dealing with the soldiers
as if they were cattle, the Government had told them of the transfer,
and given them a small bounty, the men would have been pleased with the
consideration displayed; as it was, every one sympathised with the men who
were punished, and even the Queen's troops betrayed a strong inclination
to take their part, and gave unmistakable signs of their anger. And,
after all, the Government had to do with an ill grace what it should have
done at first with a good grace. And at great cost; for a bounty of £2
sterling per man would have amounted to only £40,000; whereas the course
adopted--that of giving every man the option of taking his discharge--cost
nearly a million; and many of the men, when brought home, re-enlisted.
[Illustration: CAPTURE OF TANTIA TOPEE. (_See p._ 283.)]
This European mutiny had a very important political consequence. At
first, after the abolition of the Company, the Home Government seemed
disposed to increase rather than diminish, much less abolish, the army
raised for local service in India. Many were of opinion that we should
have a separate army for service in India, China, the Cape, Australia,
New Zealand, and the islands we hold in the Indian Ocean. The mutiny
of the Company's Europeans, mild though it was, turned the scale in
favour of abolishing them altogether. The consequence was an Act that
amalgamated the Company's European troops with the Queen's army, and thus
the European infantry became regiments of the line. In order to prevent
that abstraction of officers from their regiments to do staff duty, civil
as well as military, so common under the Company's _régime_, a Staff
Corps was organised, admission to which was obtained by undergoing an
examination. For a long time, of course, it was difficult to pronounce any
opinion on the working of these extensive changes, but on the whole it was
thought that they worked well.
The result of the mutiny was to bring about an enormous increase in the
number of European troops in India. The number of Europeans, including
officers of native regiments, was, before the mutiny, only 45,522; the
number of native troops was 249,153, giving a total of 294,675. But at
the end of 1859 there were in India no fewer than 110,320 Europeans--an
enormous drain upon our resources in men. There were of native troops
207,765, one-half of whom were new levies, enlisted during the fight. So
that of regular soldiers there were 318,085, and if we add to these the
Military Police, a thoroughly military body, there was a total of 407,914.
Here, then, was the field for reduction, and a fine rich field it was. By
dint of great resolution and an unsparing pen in 1864 there were 30,000
fewer European, and perhaps 100,000 fewer native troops. Still it was a
subject of serious reflection to statesmen that India should require and
receive from us 70,000 or 80,000 British soldiers to hold a land that we
once held with 50,000 at the outside. It was obvious that from this point
of view our Indian Empire weakened our force and diminished our weight in
Europe; and that so long as we felt it needful to keep 80,000 soldiers
in India, we could not again take that part in European questions which
we had taken up to that time. As to the native army, which, after all,
we could not do without, it was composed mainly of Sikhs and Punjabees,
and it was believed to be organised on sounder principles than the rotten
Bengal machine which exploded in 1857. But there were not wanting those
who anticipated a Sikh mutiny.
One other great change must not be forgotten. In 1858-9 Lord Canning
made a royal progress throughout the North-West, even into the farthest
Punjab. He held durbars, and rewarded the faithful native princes, some
with gifts of honour, some with fair speeches, others with more solid
gifts of territory. During this progress he hinted here and there at the
coming change of policy--the concession of the right of adoption to all
the princes of India. At a later period this momentous concession was made
in a formal shape. What did it mean? It meant the renunciation of the
policy of annexation, nothing more nor less, and it gave assurance that
the native States would in future be maintained as a part of our internal
policy. Lord Dalhousie had made annexation a system. He had annexed four
kingdoms and five territories. It is assumed that, had he remained to
carry out his policy, India would have been one homogeneous military
monarchy. This is doubtful; but it is not doubtful, it is certain,
that when he retired the whole fabric fell with a crash. The mutiny and
insurrection rooted up the fundamental principle of the Dalhousie system
of foreign policy. The native States allowed to survive broke the force
of the revolt. The Cis-Sutlej States enabled Sir John Lawrence to retake
Delhi. Bikaneer and Bhawlpore and Jeypore were stumbling-blocks in the way
of the enemy. The loyalty of Scindia, Holkar, and the Nizam saved Bombay
and Madras from the fate of the North-West. Rewah served to curb Kour
Singh. The minor rajahs and ranees, in many places, furnished material
support and aid. It is to Lord Canning's credit that he perceived not
only the changed position of affairs, but the mode in which that change
might tend to consolidate the supremacy of the Crown. A diplomatist of
less acumen would have guaranteed the States as independent powers. Lord
Canning took from them the last vestige of independence; called them
openly feudatory princes; compelled the proudest to retire backwards from
the chair of the Viceroy, and _then_ guaranteed their rights as barons
of the empire. The concession was accepted with delight. The concession
was the right to adopt an heir when they had no issue, a privilege that
secured the continuance of the State as an entity. Thus we have gone back
to the period before Lord Dalhousie ruled, or rather we have adopted, with
considerable emphasis, a new principle--that native States are desirable.
The working of this principle is the more easy in India because there
the princes have never claimed independence in the European sense. They
have always been taught to look up to a paramount power, and the British
Viceroy, far more effectually than the Great Mogul ever played that part,
is, indeed, a paramount lord.
[Illustration: THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE.
"IT MIGHT BE DONE, AND ENGLAND SHOULD DO IT."
FROM THE PAINTING BY SIR J. E. MILLAIS. BART., P.R.A., D.C.L., &C. IN
THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF BRITISH ART.]