CHAPTER XXV.

FINAL CONQUEST OF LUCKNOW: MARCH.

The month at length arrived which was to witness the great siege of

Lucknow, the capture of that important city, and the commencement of a

re-establishment of British influence in Oude. The city which, excepting

a small portion near and around the Residency, had been wholly in the

hands of the rebels since the beginning of July, was to revert to the

Company’s possession in March, by a series of military operations which

it is the purpose of this chapter to trace.

The extraordinary events in that city have been too frequently dwelt on

in past chapters to render any lengthened notice here necessary. The

reader will only have to bear in mind that Lawrence maintained the

Residency intact until his death early in July; that Inglis continued

the defence until September; that Outram and Havelock held the same

position until November; and that from thence to March the city was

wholly in the hands of the enemy—the Alum Bagh alone being held by

Outram. Concerning the buildings and general arrangement of Lucknow, it

may be useful here to freshen the recollection by a few descriptive

details. The city lies on the right bank of the river Goomtee, which

there runs nearly from northwest to southeast. All the buildings on the

opposite or left bank of the river are merely suburban. After winding

round the buildings called the Martinière and the Dil Koosha, the river

changes its course towards the south. The southeastern extremity of the

city is bounded by a canal, which enters the Goomtee near the

Martinière. There is no defined boundary on the southwest, west, or

northwest, the urban giving way to the rural in the same gradual way as

in most English towns. Between the crowded or commercial part of the

city, and the river, extends—or extended at the time of the Revolt (for

it will be convenient to adopt the past tense in this description)—a

long series of palaces and gardens, occupying collectively an immense

area, and known by the several names of the Taree Kothee, Fureed Buksh,

Pyne Bagh, Chuttur Munzil, Kaiser Bagh, Shah Munzil, Motee Mehal, Shah

Nujeef, Secunder Bagh, &c. Still further in the same line, were the

buildings once famous as the Residency, the Muchee Bhowan, the great

Emanbarra, and the Moosa Bagh. In short, for a distance of at least five

miles, there was a string of royal or governmental buildings along the

right bank of the river, forming a belt between it and the poorer or

denser streets of the city. There was a stone bridge beyond the Muchee

Bhowan, an iron bridge near the Residency, and—in peaceful times—a

bridge of boats near the Motee Mehal. As to the general aspect of the

city, when seen from a distance, writers have been at a loss for similes

applicable to it, owing chiefly to the vast space over which the

buildings are dotted. ‘If,’ in the quaint words of one writer, ‘Clapham

were overrun by a Mohammedan conqueror, who stuck up domes, cupolas, and

minarets on half the meeting-houses and mansions; and if that pleasant

suburb, when all the trees are green, were spread for eighteen or twenty

miles over a dead level surface—the aspect it would present might in

some degree give one a notion of Lucknow.’

The city, in the interval between November and March, had been fortified

by the rebels in great strength. Although not enclosed like Delhi by a

fortified wall, its many square miles of area, full of narrow streets

and high houses, and occupied by an enormous military force in addition

to the ordinary population, constituted a formidable stronghold in

itself. But the rebels did not neglect the usual precautions of

defensive warfare. Rightly judging that the English commander would

avoid a hand-to-hand contest in the streets, and would direct his attack

towards the southeastern suburb, they spared no labour in strengthening

that side of the city. In considering their plan of fortification, they

treated the courts and buildings of the Kaiser Bagh as a sort of

citadel, and interposed a triple series of obstacles between it and the

besiegers. First, exterior of the three, was a line of defence extending

from the river to a building known as Banks’s house, once occupied by

Major Banks; the canal formed the wet ditch of this line, and within the

canal was a rampart or elevated earthwork. The second defence consisted

of an earthwork beginning at the river-side near the Motee Mehal, the

Mess-house, and the Emanbarra. The third or interior defence was the

principal rampart of the Kaiser Bagh itself. All these lines consisted

of well-constructed earthen parapets or ridges, fronted by wide and deep

ditches, and strengthened at intervals by bastions. Not relying wholly

on these formidable lines, the enemy had loopholed and fortified almost

every house and enclosure, constructed strong counter-guards in front of

the gateways, and placed isolated bastions, stockades, and traverses

across the principal streets. The three lines of defence all abutted at

one end on the river Goomtee, and at the other on the great street or

road called the Huzrutgunje; which street was among the principal of

those loopholed and bastioned. It was estimated that the enemy defended

their works with nearly 100 guns and mortars. The insurgent troops were

variously computed at 40,000 to 80,000 in number; the estimate could not

be a precise one, because it was impossible to determine how many

peasants from the country or desperate characters from the city joined

the regular sepoys. There is, however, reason to believe that, at the

beginning of March, the city contained 30,000 revolted sepoys, 50,000

volunteers and armed retainers of chieftains, and an ordinary city

population of no less than 300,000 souls. It was a terrible thought that

a city should be bombarded containing so large a number of living

beings; but, as one of the stern necessities of the war, it was

imperative. The chieftains of Oude, and the revolted sepoys of the

Company’s army, were there in great number; and until they were subdued,

nothing could be effected towards the pacification of this part of

India.

It may not be out of place here to notice a few of the individuals who,

during the interregnum in Oude, assumed sovereign or governing power.

The newly set up king was a boy of eight or ten years old, a son of the

deposed king living at that time under surveillance at Calcutta. As a

boy, he was a puppet in the hands of others. The prime mover in all the

intrigues was his mother, the Begum Huzrut Mehal, who professed to be

regent during his minority, and to be assisted by a council of state.

She was a woman of much energy of character, and conducted public

affairs in an apartment of the Kaiser Bagh. Morally she was tainted in

full measure with oriental vices. Like Catherine of Russia she raised

one of her paramours, Mummoo Khan, to the office of chief judge, and did

not scruple openly to acknowledge her relations towards him. “While

executing the Begum’s commands in all that related to the management of

the newly formed government, he enriched himself at the expense of the

people generally. The chief minister was one Shirreff-u-Dowlah, and the

generalissimo Hissamut-u-Dowlah; but Mummoo Khan, held up by courtly

favour, had sources of power superior to both. Another notability was a

Moulvie or Mussulman fanatic who, though professing allegiance to the

boy-king of Oude, was suspected of aiming at the throne himself. Most of

the officers of the government purchased their places by large gifts to

the Begum or her favourite, knowing that they would obtain an ample

return during the anarchy of the period. The eunuchs of the royal

palaces held, nominally if not really, military commands. The whole city

of Lucknow, it is quite evident, was a hideous mass of intrigue, in

which the various members of the royal family sought how best they could

obtain power and wealth at the expense of the bulk of the people; while

their ministers and officers were parasitical just so far as might be

subservient to their own interests. The trading classes generally had

very little reason to rejoice at the temporary cessation of the British

‘raj.’ The Begum and the Moulvie leader were regarded as the chief

instruments in the opposition to the British. Every measure was resorted

to that could raise the fanaticism of the native population. The

English, and especially their Sikh allies, were represented as

systematically murdering all who fell into their hands. On one occasion,

shortly before the arrival of Sir Colin, the Begum rode through the

streets of the city on an elephant, as one might imagine our Elizabeth

appearing before her troops at Tilbury; and she used all her arts to

induce the several chieftains to make her cause theirs.

These preliminaries settled, the narrative may be proceeded with. How

the troops under the commander-in-chief approached Lucknow in February,

and what were the components of the army of Oude, in generals and

soldiers, the last chapter shewed.

When, on the 1st of March, Sir Colin Campbell was within a few miles of

Lucknow, in his camp at Buntara, he fully considered all the information

obtainable up to that time concerning the defences of the city. One

result of the inquiry, was to convince him that a necessity would arise

for operating from both sides of the Goomtee river, whenever the actual

assault should take place.[141] This would be necessary, or at least

desirable, because such a course would enable him to enfilade (that is,

attack laterally or at the extremities) many of the enemy’s newly

constructed works; and because he would thus be able to cut off the

enemy from their external sources of supply. It is true that he could

not hope wholly to surround a city which, with its fortified suburbs,

had a circuit of little less than twenty miles; still he would make an

important approach towards that condition by cannonading from both sides

of the river. One of his earliest preparations, therefore, had relation

to the means of crossing the river; and to this end his engineers were

busily engaged in fitting casks so that they might be placed across the

river as a floating-bridge. The former bridge of boats, opposite some of

the palaces, had been removed by the insurgents; while the iron and

stone bridges were well watched by them.

On the 2d, Sir Colin marched at daybreak from his camp at Buntara,

diverged from the road to the Alum Bagh, and took that which went near

the Jelalabad fort towards the eastern margin of the suburbs. With a

portion only of his army, he advanced to the Dil Koosha, the palace and

park at the easternmost extremity of the city. The chief officers with

him at the time of this advance were Generals Lugard, Adrian Hope, Hope

Grant, Little, and Archdale Wilson. His main object at first, with a

force of five or six thousand men, was to march to such a spot, near the

Dil Koosha, as would enable him to form a camp just beyond reach of the

enemy’s guns; and to protect his enormous siege-train as it gradually

arrived, until the time was come for commencing active operations. Not

only the siege-train, but the countless appendages of an Indian army,

would equally require protection during its passage from Buntara to the

Dil Koosha. Mr Russell, who accompanied this expedition in person, says

that no language can correctly convey an idea of the vastness in the

number of elephants, camels, oxen, horses, camp-followers, and vehicles

that daily demanded the commander-in-chief’s attention at this period.

‘Who really can bring before his mind’s eye a train of baggage-animals

twenty-five miles long, a string of sixteen thousand camels, a

siege-train park covering a space of four hundred by four hundred yards,

with twelve thousand oxen attached to it, and a following of sixty

thousand non-combatants?’ Even the doolies or litter-carriages for

wounded men constituted a formidable item. To each company of a regiment

there were ten doolies, and to each dooly were six coolies or native

porters: thus there were nearly five hundred dooly-carriers for each

average regiment; and even with this large supply, if the sick and

wounded in any one regiment exceeded eighty men, there would be more

than the coolies could properly attend to.

The force with which Sir Colin started from Buntara brought a few guns

only. These were dragged along the centre of the line of route; the

infantry were on either side of them, the cavalry and horse-artillery

outside all, and the baggage in the rear. Each soldier took a small

quantity of food with him. The march was through a flat well-cultivated

country, past the Jelalabad fort, but a mile or so distant from the Alum

Bagh. The skirmishers at the head of the column, as they approached the

Dil Koosha, found a body of insurgent troopers watching their progress.

When the column began to close on the advance-guard, the enemy opened

fire with several guns which were in position in strong bastions along

the line of canal—the outermost of the three lines of defence before

adverted to. This fire was heavy and well sustained. It was not

difficult to capture the Dil Koosha itself; but Sir Colin’s troops were

much annoyed by the enemy’s fire over the open country, until they could

secure the Dil Koosha and the Mahomed Bagh as advanced pickets, with

heavy guns placed in battery to oppose the enemy’s artillery. This once

effected, a secure base for further operations was obtained, with the

right resting on the river. It was a good day’s work, not in conquest,

but in the preparations for conquest.

When Sir Colin came to reconnoitre the enemy’s position, he found that

the new lines of defence, constructed since November, were vast and well

planned. He further saw that no immediate attack could be successfully

made upon them by infantry, without such a sacrifice of life as he had

determined if possible to avoid. To fight with artillery, before sending

in his foot-soldiers to fight, was his plan; and he now at once sent

back a messenger to the camp at Buntara, for the rest of the troops and

heavy siege-artillery to advance without delay. All during the following

night was the road from Buntara to the Dil Koosha filled with an

apparently endless train of soldiers, guns, commissariat-carts, beasts

of burden and of draught, and camp-followers—ready to swell the large

number already at the last-named place. This train was protected on

either side by cavalry and horse artillery, ready to dash out against

any of the enemy that should threaten interruption.

During the whole day on the 3d, the operations consisted chiefly in this

bringing forward of guns and bodies of troops to positions necessary to

be occupied when the regular siege began. When the remainder of the

siege-train had arrived, and also General Walpole’s division, Sir

Colin’s position embraced all the open ground on the southeastern margin

of the city, with his right flank resting on the Goomtee, and his left

in the direction of the Alum Bagh. The Alum Bagh and the Jelalabad fort

were both occupied by portions of his troops, and the country between

them was controlled by Hodson’s Irregular Horse; while a strong brigade

of cavalry, under Brigadier W. Campbell, swept the suburbs northwest of

the Alum Bagh. By this arrangement, almost the entire southern half of

the city was invested by his forces. The Dil Koosha was head-quarters,

surrounded by the tents in which the soldiers took their few brief hours

of repose. The palace, built in an Italian style, still retained much of

the splendour belonging to it in more peaceful days, when it was the

‘Heart’s Delight’ of the sensual monarch; but now it was well guarded by

42d Highlanders, ready to grapple with princelings and sepoys at any

moment. From the roof of this palace could be seen the chief buildings

of the city, as well as the vast defensive preparations which the enemy

had made. The sepoys in the Martinière maintained a rifle-fire against

such of the British as made their appearance on the flat roof of the Dil

Koosha; but the distance was too great to render the fire dangerous.

The operations of the 4th were a sequel to those of the 3d—not an actual

commencement of the siege, but a furtherance of the arrangements

necessary to render the siege successful. The camp was extended from the

Dil Koosha to Bibiapore, a house and enclosure a little further down the

right bank of the river. From the glimpses obtained by the skirmishers

and pickets, and from the information brought in by spies, it was

ascertained that many of the inhabitants, terrified at the formidable

preparations for the siege, were fleeing from the city on the opposite

side; and that the ‘authorities’ were endeavouring to check this flight,

wishing the inhabitants to fight for their property and their lives

within the city itself. There were intelligible reasons for this on both

sides. The citizens, whether their love for their native royal family

was great or small, had little inclination to sacrifice their own

personal interests to that sentiment; while, on the other hand, the

rebel leaders cared not how many townsmen were ruined, so long as the

privileges and profits of government remained with themselves, rather

than reverting to the British.

It was on the 5th that General Franks joined the commander-in-chief,

with that corps which now became the fourth division of the army of

Oude. He had fought his way half across the province, from the Jounpoor

frontier, defeating many bodies of rebels on the way, and arriving at

Lucknow precisely at the time which had been agreed on. Jung Bahadoor

and his large Nepaulese army did not arrive at the time specified: a

want of punctuality which disturbed both the plans and the equanimity of

Sir Colin. The components of the army of Oude, as laid down by the

commander-in-chief on the 10th of February, were enumerated in a note at

the end of the last chapter. At present, on the 5th of March, when

Franks had arrived, the army before Lucknow consisted approximately of

the following numbers of troops—First division of infantry, under

Outram, about 5000 strong; second, under Lugard, 5400; third, under

Walpole, 4300; fourth, under Franks, 4800; cavalry, under Hope Grant and

other commanders, distributed among the infantry divisions; artillery,

including the naval brigade, 1100; and engineers, 1700. The army of Oude

was often said to consist of 30,000 troops, of whom 18,000 were British

and the rest native; but such an estimate was worth little unless the

exact day be named to which it applied. The army varied both by arrivals

and departures.

The portion of the siege-plan connected with the left bank of the river

had never been lost sight of during the preparatory operations on the

right. While the infantry, cavalry, artillery, and commissariat were

busily engaged in camping near the Dil Koosha, the engineers were

collecting the casks, fascines of fagots, ropes, and timbers, necessary

for forming a bridge, or rather two bridges, across the Goomtee, at some

point below where the enemy were in greatest force. The spot selected

was near head-quarters at Bibiapore, where the river was about forty

yards wide. The enemy, uneasy at the proceedings of the engineers,

gradually assembled in considerable numbers on the opposite bank; but as

the British brought up guns to oppose them, the engineering works

proceeded without much molestation. These bridges exemplified some of

the contrivances which military commanders are accustomed to adopt, in

the course of their onerous duties. The groundwork of each was a

collection of empty beer-casks, lashed by ropes to timber cross-pieces,

and floated off one by one to their positions; a firm roadway of

planking was afterwards fixed on the top of the whole range from end to

end. Firm indeed must the construction necessarily have been; for

troopers on their horses, heavy guns and mortars, ammunition-wagons, and

commissariat carts, all would have to pass over these bridges, secure so

far as possible from accident to man or beast.

To Sir James Outram was intrusted the command of that portion of the

army which was to cross by these bridges of casks, and operate against

the city from the left bank of the Goomtee. This gallant officer had

been in and near the Alum Bagh for a period of just one hundred days,

from November to March, defending himself successfully against numerous

attacks made on him by the enemy, as narrated in former chapters. It was

right that he should now have the most important command under Sir

Colin. He took his departure from the Alum Bagh—leaving that important

post, which he had so long and so well defended, to the care of

Brigadier Franklyn and of the 5th and 78th Queen’s regiments of foot.

The force intrusted to him consisted of Walpole’s division of infantry,

together with regiments and detachments from other divisions.[142]

Franks with his division took Walpole’s place near the Dil Koosha. The

plan of attack agreed upon was, that Outram, after crossing the Goomtee,

should advance up the left bank; while the troops in position at the Dil

Koosha were to remain at rest until it should have become apparent that

the first line of the enemy’s works, or the rampart running along the

canal and abutting on the Goomtee, had been turned. Sir James, arriving

at the Dil Koosha from the Alum Bagh, effected his crossing safely on

the 6th, and pitched his camp for the night on the left bank of the

river, near the race-course. It was a formidable burden for the bridges

to bear, comprising, besides the infantry and cavalry, thirty guns, and

a large train of baggage and ammunition animals; nevertheless the

floating fabrics bore up well, and fully answered their intended

purpose. English troops of the line, Highlanders, lancers, hussars,

dragoons, artillery, engineers, commissariat, horses, oxen, camels,

elephants—all passed safely over, and speedily fell into orderly array

on the other side of the river. This was, of course, not done without a

little fighting. The enemy could not be blind to the proceeding, nor to

the consequences likely to result from it. There was skirmishing in

front of the Chukkur Walla Kothee, or Yellow House, a circular building

on the left bank of the river; and there was much prancing about of

leading personages who hastily came out of the city; but nothing

disturbed Sir James from securely encamping at night.

While Outram was thus crossing the river on the 6th, Sir Colin remained

simply on the defensive near the Dil Koosha, deferring all active

operations until the subsidiary force had got into fighting order on the

left bank. The enemy maintained a continuous fire from the Martinière;

but the gunnery was not good, and very little mischief was occasioned.

One of the most striking circumstances connected with the position and

proceedings of the commander-in-chief was that he _carried the electric

telegraph with him_ from camp to camp, from post to post. Chiefly

through the energy of Lieutenant Patrick Stewart, poles were set up and

wires extended wherever Sir Colin went. Calcutta, Allahabad, Cawnpore,

Buntara, and the Alum Bagh, could all communicate instantly; and now a

wire made its appearance through a drawing-room window at the Dil Koosha

itself, being stretched over a row of poles along the line of route

which the commander-in-chief and his troops had followed. Nay, the wires

even followed Outram over the river, and made their appearance—for the

first time in the history of Oude—on the left bank. No sooner did Sir

Colin advance a few miles, than Stewart followed him with poles and

wires, galvanic batteries and signalling apparatus—daring all dangers,

conquering all difficulties, and setting up a talking-machine close to

the very enemy themselves. It may almost literally be said that,

wherever he lay down his head at night, Sir Colin could touch a handle,

and converse with Lord Canning at Allahabad before he went to sleep. The

value of the electric telegraph was quite beyond all estimate during

these wars and movements: it was worth a large army in itself.

On the 7th, Sir James Outram, while making his arrangements on the

opposite side of the river, was attacked in great force by the enemy. On

the preceding day, he had baffled them in all their attempts, with a

loss of only 2 killed and 10 wounded; and he was not now likely to be

seriously affected even by four or five times his number. The enemy

occupied the race-course stand with infantry, and bodies of cavalry

galloped up to the same spot with the intention of disturbing Outram’s

camp. He resisted all the attacks, chased them to a distance with his

cavalry, and maintained his advantageous camping-ground.[143] The road

from Fyzabad and from the cantonment passed near his camp; and as all

that region had for many months been entirely in the hands of the

rebels, there was a liability at any moment of some sudden onslaught

being made on him. The commander-in-chief had foreseen this, when he

placed at the disposal of Outram a division strong enough to form a

compact little army in itself.

The result of a careful reconnaissance made on the 8th, by Sir Colin,

resulted in instructions to Outram to arrange his batteries during the

night, and on the following day to attack the enemy’s position, the key

to which was the Chukkur Walla Kothee. On the morning of the 9th,

accordingly, Sir James made the attack with excellent effect; the enemy

being driven out at all points, and the Yellow House seized. He advanced

his whole force for some distance through ground affording excellent

cover for the enemy. He was by that means enabled to bring his right

flank forward to occupy the Fyzabad road, which he crossed by a bridge

over a nullah, and to plant his batteries for the purpose of enfilading

the works upon the canal. During this day’s operations, much skirmishing

took place between his Sikhs and Rifles and the enemy; but the most

obstinate contest was maintained within the Yellow House itself, where a

few fanatics, shutting themselves up, resisted for several hours all

attempts to dislodge them. They were at length expelled, fighting

desperately to the last. Outram was then enabled to take the villages of

Jeamoor and Jijowly, and to advance to the Padishah Bagh or King’s

Garden, opposite the Fureed Buksh palace, and to commence an enfilade

fire on the lines of the Kaiser Bagh defences.

While Outram was engaged in these successful operations of the 9th on

the left bank of the Goomtee, a very heavy fire was kept up against the

Martinière, from mortars and guns placed in position on the Dil Koosha

plateau. Sir Colin had purposely deferred this assault until Outram had

captured the Yellow House, and commenced that flank attack which so

embarrassed the enemy. The sailors of the naval brigade were joyously

engaged on this day; for the thicker the fight, the better were they

pleased. They commanded four great guns on the road near the Dil Koosha;

and with these they battered away, not only against the Martinière, but

also against a cluster of small houses near that building. Captain Sir

William Peel managed to throw not only shot and shell, but also rockets,

into enclosures which contained numerous insurgent musketeers—a

visitation which necessarily prompted a hasty flight. It had well-nigh

been a bad day for the British, however; for Peel received a musket-ball

in the thigh while walking about fearlessly among his guns; the ball was

extracted under the influence of chloroform; but the wound nearly proved

fatal through the eagerness of the gallant man to return to the fray. He

was, however, spared for the present. The enemy resisted this day’s

attack with a good deal of resolution; for they fired shot right over

the Martinière towards the Dil Koosha, from guns in their bastions on

the canal line of defence. When the cannonading had proceeded to the

desired extent, a storming of the Martinière took place, by troops under

the command of Sir Edward Lugard and other able officers. The

instructions given by the commander-in-chief for this enterprise were

minute and complete,[144] and were carried out to the letter. The

infantry marched forward from their camp behind the Dil Koosha, their

bayonets glittering in the sun; and it was remarked that the sight of

these terrible bayonets appeared to throw the enemy into more

trepidation than all the guns and howitzers, mortars and rockets. A

bayonet-charge by the British was more than any of the ‘Pandies’ could

bear. Silently and swiftly the Highlanders and Punjaubees marched on,

the former towards the Martinière, and the latter towards the trenches

that flanked that building; while the other regiments of Lugard’s column

followed closely in the rear. Distracted by Outram’s enfilade fire from

the other side of the river, and by Lugard’s advance in front, the enemy

made but a feeble resistance. The 42d Highlanders and the Punjaubee

infantry climbed up the intrenchment abutting on the river, and rushed

along the whole line of works, till they got to the neighbourhood of

Banks’s house. Meanwhile, another body of infantry advanced to the

Martinière, and captured the building and the whole of the enclosure

surrounding it. All this was done with very little bloodshed on either

side; for Lugard’s men, in obedience to orders, did not fire; while the

enemy escaped from the walls and trenches without maintaining a

hand-to-hand contest. This abandonment of the defence-works would not

have taken place so speedily had not Outram’s flanking fire enfiladed

the whole line; but the insurgent artillerymen found it impossible to

withstand the ordeal to which they were now exposed. Sir Colin’s plan

had been so carefully made, and so admirably carried out, that this

capture of the enemy’s exterior line of defence was effected almost

without loss.

On the 10th, while Outram was engaged in strengthening the position

which he had taken up, he sent Hope Grant with the cavalry of the

division to patrol over the whole of the country between the left bank

of the Goomtee and the old cantonment. This was done with the view of

preventing any surprise by the approach of bodies of the rebels in that

quarter. An extensive system of patrolling or reconnaissance had formed

from the first a part of Sir Colin’s plan for the tactics of the siege.

Outram on this day brought his heavy guns into a position to rake the

enemy’s lines, to annoy the Kaiser Bagh with a vertical and direct fire,

to attack the suburbs in the vicinity of the iron and stone bridges, and

to command the iron bridge from the left bank; all of which operations

he carried out with great success. The enemy, however, still held the

right end of the iron bridge so pertinaciously, that it was not until

after a very heavy cannonading that the conquest was effected.

On the city side of the river, on this day, the operations consisted

mainly in securing the conquests effected on the 9th. At a very early

hour in the morning, while yet dusk, the rebel sepoys advanced in great

strength to reoccupy the defence-line of the canal, apparently not

knowing that the Highlanders and Punjaubees had maintained that position

during the night; they were speedily undeceived by a volley of musketry

which put them to flight. At sunrise a disposition of troops and heavy

guns was made by Lugard for an attack on Banks’s house; and this house,

captured about noon, was at once secured as a strong military post.

Thus did this remarkable siege go on day after day. Nothing was hurried,

nothing unforeseen. All the movements were made as if the city and its

environs formed a vast chess-board on which the commander-in-chief could

see the position of all the pieces and pawns. Nay, so fully had he

studied the matter, that he had some such command over the ground as is

maintained by a chess-player who conducts and wins a game without seeing

the board. Every force, every movement, was made conducive to one common

end—the conquest of the city without the loss of much British blood, and

without leaving any lurking-place in the hands of the enemy.

The conquest and fortifying of Banks’s house enabled Sir Colin to

commence the second part of his operations. Having captured the enemy’s

exterior line of defence, he had now to attack the second or middle

line, which (as has been already shewn) began at the river-side near the

Motee Mehal, the Mess-house, and the Emanbarra. The plan he formed was

to use the great block of houses and palaces extending from Banks’s

house to the Kaiser Bagh as an approach, instead of sapping up towards

the second line of works. ‘The operation,’ as he said in his dispatch,

‘had now become one of an engineering character; and the most earnest

endeavours were made to save the infantry from being hazarded before due

preparation had been made.’ The chief engineer, Brigadier Napier, placed

his batteries in such positions as to shell and breach a large block of

the palaces known as the Begum Kothee. This bombardment, on the 11th,

was long and severe; for the front of the palaces was screened by

outhouses, earthworks, and parapets, which required to be well battered

before the infantry could make the assault. The 8-inch guns of the naval

brigade were the chief instruments in this formidable cannonade. At

length, about four o’clock in the afternoon, Napier announced that the

breaches were practicable, and Lugard at once made arrangements for

storming the Begum Kothee. He had with him the 93d Highlanders, the 4th

Punjaub Rifles, and 1000 Goorkhas, and was aided in the assault by

Adrian Hope. His troops speedily secured the whole block of buildings,

and inflicted a very heavy loss on the enemy. The attack was one of a

desperate character, and was characterised by Sir Colin as ‘the sternest

struggle which occurred during the siege.’ From that point Napier pushed

his engineering approaches with great judgment through the enclosures,

by the aid of the sappers and the heavy guns; the troops immediately

occupying the ground as he advanced, and the mortars being moved from

one position to another as the ground was won on which they could be

placed. Outram was not idle during these operations. He obtained

possession of the iron bridge, leading over the river from the

cantonment to the city, and swept away the enemy from every part of the

left bank of the river between that bridge and the Padishah Bagh; thus

leaving him in a position to enfilade the central and inner lines of

defence established by the enemy among the palaces.

It was while these serious and important operations were in progress, on

the 11th of March, that the commander-in-chief was called upon to attend

to a ceremonial affair, from which he would doubtless have willingly

been spared. The preceding chapters have shewn how Jung Bahadoor,

descending from the Nepaulese mountains with an army of 9000 Goorkhas,

rendered a little service in the Goruckpore and Jounpoor districts, and

then advanced into Oude to assist in the operations against Lucknow. His

movements had been dilatory; and Sir Colin was forced to arrange all the

details of the siege as if no reliance could be placed in this ally. At

length, however, on the afternoon of the 11th, Jung Bahadoor appeared at

the Dil Koosha; he and Sir Colin met for the first time. The meeting was

a curious one. The Nepaul chieftain, thoroughly Asiatic in everything,

prepared for the interview as one on which he might lavish all his

splendour of gold, satin, pearls, and diamonds; the old Highland

officer, on the other hand, plain beyond the usual plainness of a

soldier in all that concerned personal indulgences,[145] was somewhat

tried even by the necessity for his full regimentals and decorative

appendages. A continuous battle was going on, in which he thought of his

soldiers’ lives, and of the tactics necessary to insure a victory; at

such a time, and in such a climate, he would gladly have dispensed with

the scarlet and the feathers of his rank, and of the oriental

compliments in which truth takes little part. A tasteful canopy was

prepared in front of Sir Colin’s mess-tent; and here were assembled the

commander-in-chief, Archdale Wilson, Hope Grant, a glittering group of

staff-officers and aids-de-camp, a Highland guard of honour, an escort

of Lancers, bands, pipers, drums, flags, and all the paraphernalia for a

military show. Sir Colin was punctual; Jung Bahadoor was not. Sir Colin,

his thoughts all the while directed towards Lugard’s operations at the

Begum Kothee, felt the approaching ceremony, and the delay in beginning

it, as a sore interruption. At length the Nepaulese chieftain appeared.

Jung Bahadoor had, as Nepaulese ambassador, made himself famous in

London a few years before, by his gorgeous dress and lavish expenditure;

and he now appeared in fully as great splendour. The presentations, the

greetings, the compliments, the speeches, were all of the wonted kind;

but when Captain Hope Johnstone, as one of the officers of the chief of

the staff, entered to announce that ‘the Begum Kothee is taken,’ Sir

Colin broke through all ceremony, expressed a soldier’s pleasure at the

news, and brought the interview to a termination. Jung Bahadoor returned

to his own camp; and the commander-in-chief instantly resumed his

ordinary military duties. Sir Colin was evidently somewhat puzzled to

know how best to employ his gorgeous colleague; although his courtesy

would not allow him to shew it. The Goorkhas moved close to the canal on

the 13th; and on the following day Sir Colin requested Jung Bahadoor to

cross the canal, and attack the suburbs to the left of Banks’s house. As

he was obliged, just at that critical time, to mass all the available

strength of his British troops in the double attack along the banks of

the Goomtee, the commander-in-chief had few to spare for his left wing;

and he speaks of the troops of the Nepaulese leader as being ‘most

advantageously employed for several days,’ in thus covering his left.

We return to the siege operations. So great had been the progress made

on the 11th, that the development of the commander-in-chief’s strategy

became every hour more and more clear. Outram’s heavy fire with guns and

mortars produced great effect on the Kaiser Bagh; while the Begum Kothee

became a post from which an attack could be made on the Emanbarra, a

large building situated between the Begum Kothee and the Kaiser

Bagh.[146] The Begum Kothee palace, when visited by the officers of the

staff on the morning of the 12th, astonished them by the strength which

the enemy had given to it. The walls were so loopholed for musketry, the

bastions and cannon were so numerous, the ditch around it was so deep,

and the earthen rampart so high, that all marvelled how it came to be so

easily captured on the preceding day. The enemy might have held it

against double of Lugard’s force, had they not been paralysed by the

bayonet. It was a strange sight, on the following morning, to see

Highlanders and Punjaubees roaming about gorgeous saloons and zenanas,

still containing many articles of dress and personal ornaments which the

ladies of the palace had not had time to carry away with them. Whither

the inmates had fled, the conquerors at that time did not know, and in

all probability did not care. It was a strange and unnatural sight;

splendour and blood appeared to have struggled for mastery in the

various courts and rooms of the palace, many contests having taken place

with small numbers of the enemy.[147] From this building, we have said,

Sir Colin determined that progress should be made towards the Emanbarra,

not by open assault, but by sapping through a mass of intermediate

buildings.

[Illustration:

Gateway of the Emanbarra at Lucknow.

]

The 12th was the day when the sapping commenced; but so many and so

intricate were the buildings, that three days were occupied in this

series of operations; seeing that it was necessary to destroy or at

least to render innoxious such houses as might have concealed large

bodies of the enemy. Lugard’s troops having been hotly engaged on the

11th, they were now relieved by others under Franks. The work was of

formidable character; for the flat roofs of many of the houses were

covered with two or three feet of earth, baked in the sun, and loopholed

for musketry. Every such house had to be well scrutinised, before a

further advance was made. The sappers made passages, either actually

underground, or through the lower portions of the walls and enclosures

surrounding the buildings. On the 13th these approaches were so far

completed that a large number of guns and mortars could be brought

forward, and placed in position for bombarding the Emanbarra. On this

day, too, Jung Bahadoor’s troops took possession of a mass of suburban

houses southward of the city, between Sir Colin’s camp and the Alum

Bagh; after which the commander-in-chief paid a return visit to the

Nepaulese chieftain, who strove to display still more magnificence than

at the former interview.

The 14th of March was one of the busy days of the siege. The sap was

carried on so successfully that the Emanbarra could be bombarded by

heavy guns and mortars, and then taken. Directly this was done,

Brasyer’s Sikhs, pressing forward in pursuit of the fleeing enemy,

entered the Kaiser Bagh—the third or inner line of defence having been

turned without a single gun being fired from it. Supports were quickly

thrown in, and the British troops found themselves speedily in a part of

the city already well known to Campbell and Outram during their

operations of November—surrounded by the Mess-house, the Taree Kothee,

the Motee Mehal, and the Chuttur Munzil. All these buildings were near

them, and all were occupied by them before night closed in. As fast as

the infantry seized these several positions, so did the engineers

proceed to secure the outposts towards the south and west. As in many

other cases when it was the lot of the English in India to fight their

greatest battles, or bear their greatest sufferings, on Sundays; so was

it on a Sunday that these busy operations of the 14th took place. The

front walls of the Kaiser Bagh and the Motee Mehal were extensively

mined; insomuch that when the artillery had effected its dread work, the

infantry could approach much more safely than if exposed to the sight of

sharpshooters and matchlockmen. It is true that neither English nor

Highlanders, neither Sikhs nor Goorkhas, would have hesitated to rush

forward and storm these buildings without a sap; but as Sir Colin was

well supplied with heavy guns, he acted steadily on the plan of

employing them as much as possible before sending on his men—feeling

that the loss of men would be more difficult to replace than that of

guns and missiles, at such a time and in such a country. In his dispatch

relating to the operations of the 14th of March, he said: ‘The day was

one of continued exertion; and every one felt that, although much

remained to be done before the final expulsion of the rebels, the most

difficult part of the undertaking had been overcome. This is not the

place for a description of the various buildings sapped into or stormed.

Suffice it to say that they formed a range of massive palaces and walled

courts of vast extent, equalled perhaps, but not surpassed, in any

capital of Europe. Every outlet had been covered by a work, and on every

side were prepared barricades and loopholed parapets. The extraordinary

industry evinced by the enemy in this respect has been really

unexampled. Hence the absolute necessity for holding the troops in hand,

till at each successive move forward the engineers reported to me that

all which could be effected by artillery and the sappers had been done,

before the troops were led to the assault.’

A little must here be said concerning the share which Sir James Outram

had in the operations of the 12th and two following days. All his

tactics, on the left bank of the river, were especially intended to

support those of the commander-in-chief on the right bank. On the 12th

his heavy guns, at and near the Padishah Bagh, poured forth a torrent of

shot, to dislodge the enemy from certain positions near the city. His

head-quarters were established under a small tope of trees near a ruined

mosque; and he, as well as Lugard and Walpole, lived as simply as

possible under tents. The Padishah Bagh itself—a suburban palace with

beautiful saloons, halls, terraces, orange-groves and fountains—was held

by H.M. 23d. The left bank of the river being occupied as far up as the

iron suspension bridge, Outram planted two or three guns to guard that

position from any hostile attack from the north; while two or three

regiments of his own infantry, in convenient spots near the bridge, kept

up a musketry-fire against such of the enemy as were visible and within

reach on the opposite or city side of the river. This musketry-fire was

continued all day on the 13th, while the batteries of heavy guns were

being brought further and further into position. On the 14th, the same

operations were continued; but the conquest of the Kaiser Bagh was so

sudden and unexpected on this day, that the proceedings on the left bank

of the river were relatively unimportant.

When the morning of the 15th arrived, Sir Colin Campbell felt that he

might call Lucknow his own; for although much remained to be done, the

conquests achieved were vast and important. The Mahomed Bagh, the Dil

Koosha, the Martinière, the Secunder Bagh, the Emanbarra, the

Mess-house, the Shah Munzil, the Motee Mehal, the Begum Kothee, and the

Kaiser Bagh, were all in his hands—constituting by far the strongest and

most important of the palatial buildings along the banks of the river.

Moreover, the natives were evidently dismayed; vast numbers were leaving

the city on the Rohilcund side; and spies brought information that the

rebel leaders encountered much difficulty in keeping the sepoys steadily

at the defence-works. The progress made by the British had surprised and

alarmed the insurgents, and tended to paralyse their exertions. Some of

the British officers had entertained a belief that the Kaiser Bagh was

the key to the enemy’s position, whereas others had looked rather to the

Begum Kothee. The latter proved to be right. The enemy had greatly

relied on the last-named building; insomuch that, when it was captured,

they rushed in wild confusion to the Kaiser Bagh, intent rather upon

flight than upon a stubborn resistance. The garrison of the Kaiser Bagh,

disconcerted by this irruption of their brother insurgents, were

rendered almost unable, even if willing, to make a manful resistance.

The British were almost as much surprised by the speedy capture of the

Kaiser Bagh, as the enemy were by the loss of the Begum Kothee. When the

great palace changed hands, the smoke and blood and cries of war were

strangely mingled with the magnificence of kiosks, mosques, corridors,

courts, gardens, terraces, saloons, mirrors, gilding, chandeliers,

tapestry, statues, pictures, and costly furniture, in this strange

jumble of oriental and European splendour.

A soldier loses all his heroism when the hour for prize and plunder

arrives. Those, whether officers or spectators, who have described the

scene which was presented when these Lucknow palaces were conquered,

tell plainly of a period of wild licence and absorbing greed. On the one

hand there were palaces containing vast stores of oriental and European

luxuries; on the other, there were bands of armed men, brave and

faithful, but at the same time poor and unlettered, who suddenly found

themselves masters of all these splendours, with very little check or

supervision on the part of their officers. At first, in a spirit of

triumphant revenge, costly articles were broken which were too large to

be carried away; glass chandeliers were hurled to the ground, mirrors

shattered into countless fragments, statues mutilated and overturned,

pictures stabbed and torn, doors of costly wood torn from their hinges.

But when this destruction had been wreaked, and when the troops had

forced their way through courts and corridors strewn with sepoys’ brass

lotas or drinking-vessels, charpoys, clothing, belts, ammunition,

muskets, matchlocks, swords, pistols, chupatties, and other evidences of

precipitate flight—when this had all occurred, then did the love of

plunder seize hold of the men. The Kaiser Bagh had been so quickly

conquered, that the subaltern officers had not yet received instructions

how to control the movements of the troops in this matter. Sikhs,

Highlanders, English, were soon busily engaged. In one splendid saloon

might be seen a party of Sikhs melting down gold and silver lace for the

sake of the precious metals; in another, a quantity of shawls, lace,

pearls, and embroidery of gold and silver, was being divided equally

among a group of soldiers. In a sort of treasure-room, apparently

belonging to some high personage, a few men of two British regiments

found caskets and boxes containing diamonds, emeralds, rubies, pearls,

opals, and other gems, made into necklaces, bracelets, earrings,

girdles, &c.; together with gold-mounted pistols, jewel-hilted swords,

saddle-cloths covered with gold and pearls, gold-handled riding-canes,

jewelled cups of agate and jade, japanned boxes filled with crystal and

jade vessels. And, as it appeared that every one felt himself permitted

or at least enabled to retain whatever he could capture, the

camp-followers rushed in and seized all that the soldiers had left.

Coolies, syces, khitmutgars, dooly-bearers, and grass-cutters, were seen

running hither and thither, laden with costly clothing, swords,

firelocks, brass pots, and other articles larger in bulk than the actual

soldiers could readily have disposed of. It was a saturnalia, during

which it is believed that some of the troops appropriated enough

treasure, if converted into its value in money, to render them

independent of labour for the rest of their lives. But each man kept, in

whole or in part, his own secret.

Let us on from this extraordinary scene. The 15th was chiefly employed

in securing what had been captured, removing powder, destroying mines,

and fixing mortars for the further bombardment of the positions still

held by the enemy, on the right bank of the Goomtee, and in the heart of

the city. As the infantry and artillery could fulfil this duty, without

the aid of horse, two bodies of cavalry, under Walpole and Hope Grant,

were sent out to prevent, if possible, the escape of the enemy on the

sides of the city not subject to immediate attack. One of these generals

proceeded towards the Sundeela road, and the other to that leading to

Seetapoor. Whether this flight of the enemy disappointed or not the

expectations of the commander-in-chief, was a question which he kept to

himself. The city, for all practical military purposes, was twenty miles

in circumference; and he could not have guarded all the outlets without

a very much larger army than that which was at his disposal. Like as at

Sebastopol, the siege was not aided by a complete investiture of the

place besieged. It is possible that the capture of the Kaiser Bagh, and

the consequent flight of the enemy, occurred too early for Sir Colin to

be enabled to put in operation certain manœuvres on the other side of

the city. Be this as it may, large numbers of rebel sepoys, and a still

larger of the regular inhabitants of the city escaped during the 14th

and 15th, mostly over the stone bridge—as if hopeful of safety in

Rohilcund and Upper Oude.

On the 16th Sir James Outram, after ten days of active operation on the

left bank of the Goomtee, crossed over by a bridge of casks opposite the

Secunder Bagh; and he then advanced through the Chuttur Munzil towards

the Residency. To lessen the chance of the enemy’s retreat as much as

possible, he marched right through the city, not only to the iron bridge

near the Residency, but to the stone bridge near the Muchee Bhowan. All

this was an enterprise of remarkable boldness, for the buildings to be

successively conquered and entered were very numerous. Outram shifted

his own head-quarters to Banks’s house, on the city side of the river;

and it was here that he received a letter from the Begum, or mother of

the young boy-king, containing some sort of proposition for compromise

or cessation of hostilities. Whatever it may have been, no successful

result attended this missive: the progress and conquest went on as

before. His troops, as they advanced to the Chuttur Munzil, the Pyne

Bagh, the Fureed Buksh, and the Taree Kothee, found all these buildings

abandoned by the enemy—who had been too much dismayed by the operations

of the 16th to make a bold stand. At length he approached the Residency,

the enclosed spot whose name will ever be imperishably associated with

Inglis’s defence of the British garrison, and in which Outram himself

had passed many anxious weeks between September and November. Hardly a

building remained standing within the enclosure; all had been riddled

and shattered during the long period from July to November, and most of

them subsequently destroyed by the enemy. Up to this time Outram’s march

of the 16th through the city had been almost unopposed; but he now

ascertained that the houses and palaces between the iron and stone

bridges were occupied by the enemy in considerable force. Hard fighting

at once commenced here, in which the 20th, 23d, and 79th regiments were

actively engaged. They advanced at a rapid pace from the Residency

towards the iron bridge. A 9-pounder, planted to command a road by the

way, fired grape into them; but it was speedily captured. By that time

the large guns were brought into position, to play upon the stone

bridge, the Emanbarra of Azof-u-Dowlah, and other structures northwest

of the iron bridge. At that time Grant and his troopers were near the

stone bridge on the left side of the river, while Outram’s guns were

firing on it from the right bank; as a consequence, no more escape was

permitted by that channel; and the fugitives therefore ran along the

right bank of the river, to a part of the open country northwest of

Lucknow, not yet controlled by the English. Many of the rebel sepoys

resolved to make a stand at the Moosa Bagh, a building at the extreme

limits of the city in this direction; but the day was too far advanced

to attack them at that spot; and the troops were glad to rest for the

night in the splendid saloons and courts of the Emanbarra—one of the

grandest among the many grand structures in Lucknow.

While Outram was engaged in these operations on the 16th, obtaining a

mastery along almost the whole right bank of the river, the enemy very

unexpectedly made an attack on the Alum Bagh, which was only held by a

small English force under Brigadier Franklyn. Sir Colin Campbell

immediately requested Jung Bahadoor to advance to his left up the canal,

and take in reverse the post from which the enemy was making the attack.

The Nepaulese chieftain performed this service successfully, capturing

the post and the guns, and expelling the enemy.

When the morning of the 17th arrived, the commander-in-chief found

himself so undoubtedly the master of Lucknow, that he was enabled to

dispense with the services of some of his gallant artillery officers,

whose aid was much wanted at Futteghur and elsewhere. Still, though the

great conquest was mainly effected, the minor details had yet to be

filled up. There were isolated buildings in which small knots of the

enemy had fortified themselves; these it would be necessary to capture.

It was also very desirable to check the camp-followers in their manifest

tendency for plundering the shops and private houses of the city. Sir

Colin did not wish the townsmen to regard him as an enemy; he encouraged

them, so far as they had not been in complicity with the rebels, to

return to their homes and occupations; and it was very essential that

those homes should, in the meantime, be spared from reckless _looting_.

In some of the streets, pickets of soldiers were placed, to compel the

camp-followers to disgorge the plunder which they had appropriated; and

thus was collected a strange medley of trinkets and utensils, which the

temporary holders gave up with sore unwillingness. Here and there, where

a soldier had a little leisure and opportunity, he would hold a kind of

mock-auction, at which not only camp-followers but officers would buy

treasures for a mere trifle; but these instances were few, for there was

not much ready cash among the conquerors. Sir Colin found it necessary

to issue an order concerning the plundering system.[148] Outram and Jung

Bahadoor took part in a series of operations, on the 17th, intended to

obtain control over the northwest section of the city. The one set forth

from the river, the other from the vicinity of the Alum Bagh; and during

the day they cleared out many nests of rebels. There was also an action

on the margin of the city, in which the enemy managed to bring together

a considerable force of horse, foot, and artillery; their guns were

captured, however, and themselves put to flight.

Sir Colin, responsible for many places besides Lucknow, and for many

troops besides those under his immediate command, now made daily changes

in the duties of his officers. Major (now Lieutenant-colonel) Vincent

Eyre and Major (now also Lieutenant-colonel) Turner, two of the most

distinguished artillery officers, departed for Futteghur and Idrapore;

and Franklyn went to Cawnpore. Inglis succeeded Franklyn at the Alum

Bagh. Sir Archdale Wilson and Brigadier Russell took their departure on

sick-leave.

A considerable force of the enemy still lingered around the Alum Bagh,

irresolute as to any actual attacks, but loath to quit the neighbourhood

until the last ray of hope was extinguished. With these rebels Jung

Bahadoor had many smart contests. He had been instructed by Sir Colin to

obtain secure possession of the suburbs of the city near the Char

Bagh—the bridge that carried the Cawnpore road over the canal.

It was on this day, the 17th, and partly in consequence of the success

attending the operations of the Goorkhas, that two English ladies, Mrs

Orr and Miss Jackson, were delivered from the hands of enemies who had

long held them in bondage. It will be remembered that on the night of

the 22d of November,[149] the insurgents in Lucknow, enraged at the safe

evacuation of the Residency by the British, put to death certain English

prisoners who had long been in confinement in the Kaiser Bagh. Among

them were Mr Orr and Sir Mountstuart Jackson. So far as any authentic

news could be obtained, it appeared that Mrs Orr and Miss Jackson had

been spared; partly, as some said, through the intervention of the

Begum. During the subsequent period of nearly four months, the fate of

those unhappy ladies remained unknown to their English friends. On the

day in question, however (the 17th of March), Captain M’Neil and

Lieutenant Bogle, both attached to the Goorkha force, while exploring

some of the deserted streets in the suburb, were accosted by a native

who asked their protection for his house and property. The man sought to

purchase this protection by a revelation concerning certain English

ladies, who, he declared, were in confinement in a place known to him.

Almost immediately another native brought a note from Mrs Orr and Miss

Jackson, begging earnestly for succour. M’Neil and Bogle instantly

obtained a guard of fifty Goorkhas, and, guided by the natives, went on

their errand of mercy. After walking through half a mile of narrow

streets, doubtful of an ambush at every turning, they came to a house

occupied by one Meer Wajeed Ali, who held, or had held, some office

under the court. After a little parleying, M’Neil and Bogle were led to

an obscure apartment, where were seated two ladies in oriental costume.

These were the prisoners, who had so long been excluded from every one

of their own country, and who were overwhelmed with tearful joy at this

happy deliverance. It was not clearly known whether this Meer Wajeed Ali

was endeavouring to buy off safety for himself by betraying a trust

imposed in him; but the two English officers deemed it best to lose no

time in securing their countrywomen’s safety, whether he were a

double-dealer or not; they procured a palanquin, put the ladies into it,

and marched off with their living treasure—proud enough with their

afternoon’s work. When these poor ladies came to tell their sad tale of

woe, with countenances on which marks of deep suffering were expressed,

it became known that, though not exposed to any actual barbarities or

atrocities, like so many of their countrywomen in other parts of India,

their lives had been made very miserable by the unfeeling conduct of

their jailers, who were permitted to use gross and insulting language in

their presence, and to harrow them with recitals of what Europeans were

and had been suffering. They had had food in moderate sufficiency, but

of other sources of solace they were almost wholly bereft. It was fully

believed that they would not have been restored alive, had the jailer

obeyed the orders issued to him by the Moulvie.

After a day of comparative repose on the 18th, a combined movement

against the Moosa Bagh was organised on the 19th. This was the last

position held by the enemy on the line of the Goomtee, somewhat beyond

the extreme northwest limit of the city. Outram moved forward directly

against the place; Hope Grant cannonaded it from the left bank; while

William Campbell, approaching on the remote side from the Alum Bagh,

prevented retreat in that direction. Some said the Begum was there, some

the Moulvie or fanatic chieftain; but on this point nothing was known.

All that was certain was that several thousand insurgents, driven from

other places, had congregated within the buildings and courts of the

Moosa Bagh. Outram’s troops started from the Emanbarra on this

expedition early in the morning; he himself joined them from Banks’s

house, while Sir Colin rode over to see in person how the work was

effected. Opposite the Moosa Bagh, which was a large structure

surrounded by an enclosed court, was the residence of Ali Nuckee Khan,

vizier or prime-minister to the deposed King of Oude; and in other parts

of the vicinity were numerous mansions and mosques. If the rebels had

held well together, they might have made a stout resistance here, for

the buildings contained many elements of strength; but discord reigned;

the Begum reproached the thalookdars, the thalookdars the sepoys; while

the Moulvie was suspected of an intention to set up as King of Oude on

his own account. Outram’s column was to make the direct attack; Hope

Grant’s cavalry and horse-artillery were to command certain roads of

approach and exit on the river-side; while William Campbell’s cavalry,

aided by two or three infantry regiments, were to command the opposite

side. The contest can hardly be called a battle or a siege; for as soon

as the rebels clearly ascertained that the British were approaching,

they abandoned court after court, house after house, and escaped towards

the northwest, by the only avenue available. Although they did not

fight, they escaped more successfully than Sir Colin had wished or

intended. Whether the three movements were not timed in unison, or

whether collateral objects engaged the attention of Brigadier Campbell,

certain it is that few of the enemy were killed, and that many thousands

safely marched or ran out. The open country, covered with enclosures and

cornfields, enabled the sepoys better to escape than the British to

pursue them. A regiment of Sikhs was sent to occupy the Moosa Bagh; and

now was Lucknow still more fully than before in the hands of the

commander-in-chief.

On the 20th, further measures were taken, by proclamation and otherwise,

to induce the peaceful portion of the inhabitants to return to their

homes. This was desirable in every sense. Until the ordinary relations

of society were re-introduced, anything like civil government was simply

impossible; while, so long as the houses, deserted by their proper

inhabitants, served as hiding-places for fanatics and budmashes, the

streets were never for an instant safe. Many officers and soldiers were

shot by concealed antagonists, long after the great buildings of the

city had been conquered. Moreover, the Sikhs and Goorkhas were becoming

very unruly. The plunder had acted upon them as an intoxicating

indulgence, shaking the steady obedience which they were wont to exhibit

when actively engaged against the enemy. Even at a time when Sir Colin

was planning which of his generals he could spare, for service elsewhere

or for sick-leave, and which regiments should form new columns for

active service in other districts—even at such a time it was discovered

that bodies of the enemy were lurking in houses near Outram’s

head-quarters, bent upon mischief or revenge; and there was much

musketry-fire necessary before they could be dislodged. The

‘sick-leave,’ just adverted to, was becoming largely applied for. Many

officers, so gallant and untiring as to be untouched by any suspicion of

their willingness to shirk danger and hard work, gave in; they had

become weakened in body and mind by laborious duties, and needed repose.

[Illustration:

MAJOR HODSON, Commandant of Hodson’s Horse.

]

The Moulvie, who had held great power within Lucknow, and whose

influence was even now not extinguished, commanded a stronghold in the

very heart of the city. Sir Edward Lugard was requested to dislodge him

on the 21st. This he did after a sharp contest; and Brigadier W.

Campbell, with his cavalry, placed himself in such a position, that he

was enabled to attack the enemy who were put to flight by Lugard, and to

inflict heavy loss on them during a pursuit of six miles. The conquest

of the Moulvie’s stronghold had this useful effect among others; that it

enabled Sir Colin to expedite the arrangements for the return of such of

the inhabitants as were not too deeply steeped in rebellion to render

return expedient. Among those who fell on this occasion, on the side of

the enemy, was Shirreff-u-Dowlah, the chief-minister of the rebel

boy-king, or rather of his mother the Begum; this man had been in

collision with the Moulvie, each envious of the other’s authority; and

there were those who thought it was by a treacherous blow that he now

fell. Even in this, the last contest within the city, the sappers had to

be employed; for the Moulvie had so intrenched himself, with many

hundred followers, that he could not be dislodged by the force at first

sent against him; the engineers were forced to sap under and through

some surrounding buildings, before the infantry could obtain command of

that in which the Moulvie was lodged.

This was the last day of those complicated scenes of tactics and

fighting which formed collectively the siege of Lucknow, and which had

lasted from the 2d to the 21st of March. Concerning the cavalry

expeditions, during the third week of this period, it is pretty evident

that they had been fruitless in great results. Sir Hope Grant had cut up

a few hundred fugitive rebels in one spot, and intercepted more in

another; Brigadier William Campbell had rendered useful service both in

and beyond the suburbs of the city; but the proofs were not to be

doubted that the mutinied sepoys and rebel volunteers had safely escaped

from the city, not merely by thousands, but by tens of thousands; and

that they still retained a sufficiency of military organisation to

render them annoying and even formidable. When this news reached

England, it damped considerably the pleasure afforded by the conquest of

Lucknow. The nation asked, but asked without the probability of

receiving a reply, whether the enemy had in this particular foiled a

part of the commander-in-chief’s plan; and whether the governor-general

shared the opinions of the commander concerning the plan of strategy,

and the consequences resulting from it?

The losses suffered by the British army during the operations at

Lucknow, though necessarily considerable, were small in comparison

with those which would have been borne if artillery had not been so

largely used. Sir Colin from the first determined that shells and

balls should do as much of the dread work as possible, clearing away

or breaching the enemy’s defence-works before he sent in his infantry

to close quarters. During the entire series of operations, from the 2d

to the 21st of March, he had 19 officers killed and 48 wounded. The

whole of the generals and brigadiers escaped untouched; and there were

only two officers among the wounded so high in military rank as

lieutenant-colonel. The killed and wounded among the troops generally

were about 1100. The enemy’s loss could hardly have been less than

4000. One of the deaths most regretted during these operations was

that of Major Hodson; who, as the commander of ‘Hodson’s Horse,’ and

as the captor of the King of Delhi, had been prominently engaged in

the Indian wars. It was on the day marked by the conquest of the Begum

Kothee that he fell. Having no especial duty on that day, and hearing

that Brigadier Napier was busily engaged in engineering operations

connected with the attack on that palace, he rode over to him, and

joined in that storming attack which Sir Colin characterised as ‘the

sternest struggle which occurred during the siege.’ Hodson, while

assisting in clearing the court-yards and buildings near the palace of

parties of the enemy lurking there, was shot by a sepoy. His orderly,

a large powerful Sikh, carried him in his arms to a spot beyond the

reach of shot, whence he was carried in a dooly to Banks’s house,

where surgical aid could be obtained. Some of his own irregular

troopers cried over him like children. The shot had passed through the

liver, and he died after a night of great agony. A spot was chosen for

his grave near a tope of bamboos behind the Martinière. Sir Colin and

his staff attended the funeral, at which the old chief was much

affected; he had highly valued Hodson, and did not allow many hours to

elapse before he wrote a graceful and feeling letter to the widow of

the deceased officer. As soon as possible a telegraphic message was

sent to bring down Captain Daly, the commandant of the famous corps of

Guides; he was every way fitted to command a similar body of irregular

cavalry, ‘Hodson’s Horse.’

No sooner was the city of Lucknow clearly and unequivocally in the hands

of Sir Colin Campbell, than he completely broke up the lately formidable

‘army of Oude.’ The troops had nothing more immediately to do at that

spot; while their services were urgently needed elsewhere. With regret

did the soldiers leave a place where such extraordinary gains had fallen

to the lot of some among their number; or, more correctly, this regret

endured only until the very stringent regulations put an effectual stop

to all plundering. The regiments were reorganised into brigades and

divisions; new brigadiers were appointed in lieu of those on

‘sick-leave;’ and a dispersion of the army commenced.

It is impossible to read Sir Colin Campbell’s mention of Jung Bahadoor

without feeling that he estimated at a small price the value of the

services yielded by the Nepaulese leader. Whether it was that the

arrival of the Goorkha army was delayed beyond the date when the

greatest services might have been rendered, or that Sir Colin found it

embarrassing to issue orders to one who was little less than a king, it

is plain that not much was effected by Jung Bahadoor during the

operations at Lucknow. He came when the siege was half over; he departed

a fortnight afterwards; and although the commander-in-chief said in a

courteous dispatch: ‘I found the utmost willingness on his part to

accede to any desire of mine during the progress of the siege; and from

the first his Highness was pleased to justify his words that he was

happy to be serving under my command’—although these were the words

used, there was an absence of any reference to special deeds of

conquest. It was a pretty general opinion among the officers that the

nine thousand soldiers of the Nepaulese army were far inferior in

military qualities to those Goorkhas who had for many years formed two

or three regiments in the Bengal army. When the looting in the city

began, Jung Bahadoor’s Goorkhas could scarcely be held in any control;

like the Sikhs, they were wild with oriental excitement, and Sir Colin

was more anxious concerning them than his own European troops. Viscount

Canning, who was in intimate correspondence with the commander-in-chief

through the medium of the electric telegraph, exchanged opinions with

him in terms known only to themselves; but the announcement made public

was to the effect that the governor-general solicited the aid of the

Goorkha troops in the neighbourhood of Allahabad, and invited Jung

Bahadoor to a personal conference with him at that city. It was during

the last week in March that the Nepaulese allies quitted Lucknow, and

marched off towards the Oude frontier.

Of the troops which remained at Lucknow, after the departure of some of

the brigades, it need only be said in this place that they began to

experience the heat of an Indian equinox, which, though much less than

that of summer, is nevertheless severely felt by Europeans. A letter

from an assistant-surgeon in the division lately commanded by Brigadier

Franks, conveyed a good impression of camp-troubles at such a time.[150]

When the governor-general wrote the usual thanks and compliments after

the conquest of Lucknow, he adverted very properly to the previous

operations, which, though not conquests in the ordinary sense of the

term, had won so much fame for Inglis, Havelock, Neill, Outram, and

Campbell; and then after mentioning some of the most obvious facts

connected with the siege,[151] praised all those whom Sir Colin had

pointed out as being worthy of praise. Concerning the proclamation which

Lord Canning issued, or proposed to issue, to the natives of Oude, it

will be convenient to defer notice of it to a future chapter; when

attention will be called to the important debates in the imperial

legislature relating to that subject.

Here this chapter may suitably end. It was designed as a medium for the

remarkable episode of the final conquest of Lucknow in the month of

March; and will be best kept free from all topics relating to other

parts of India.

Note.

_Lucknow Proclamations._—When Sir Colin Campbell had effectually

conquered Lucknow, and had gathered information concerning the

proceedings of the rebels since the preceding month of November, it

was found that no means had been left untried to madden the populace

into a death-struggle with the British. Among other methods, printed

proclamations were posted up in all the police stations, not only in

Lucknow, but in many other parts of Oude.

One of these proclamations, addressed to the Mohammedans, ran thus:

‘God says in the Koran: “Do not enter into the friendship of Jews

and Christians; those who are their friends are of them—that is, the

friends of Christians are Christians, and friends of Jews are Jews.

God never shews his way to infidels.”

‘By this it is evident that to befriend Christians, is irreligious.

Those who are their friends are not Mohammedans; therefore all the

Mohammedan fraternity should with all their hearts be deadly enemies

to the Christians, and never befriend them in any way; otherwise,

all will lose their religion, and become infidels.

‘Some people, weak in faith and worldly, think that if they offend

the Christians, they will fall their victims when their rule is

re-established. God says of these people: “Look in the hearts of

these unbelievers, who are anxious to seek the friendship of

Christians through fear of receiving injury,” to remove their doubts

and assure their wavering mind. It is also said that “God will

shortly give us victory, or will do something by which our enemies

will be ashamed of themselves.” The Mussulmans should therefore

always hope, and never believe that the Christians will be

victorious and injure them; but, on the contrary, should hope to

gain the victory and destroy all Christians.

‘If all the Mohammedans join and remain firm to their faith, they

would no doubt gain victory over the Christians, because God says

that the victory is due to the faithful from Him; but if they become

cowards and infirm to their religion, and do not sacrifice their

private interest for the public good, the Europeans will be

victorious, and, having subdued the Mohammedans, they will disarm,

hang, shoot, or blow them away, seize upon their women and children,

disgrace, dishonour, and christianise them, dig up their houses and

carry off their property; they will also burn religious and sacred

books, destroy the musjids, and efface the name of Islam from the

world.

‘If the Mohammedans have any shame, they should all join and prepare

themselves to kill the Christians without minding any one who says

to the contrary; they should also know that no one dies before his

time, and when the time comes, nothing can save them. Thousands of

men are carried off by cholera and other pestilence; but it is not

known whether they die in their senses, and be faithful to their own

religion.

‘To be killed in a war against Christians is a proof of obtaining

martyrdom. All good Mohammedans pray for such a death; therefore,

every one should sacrifice his life for such a reward. Every one is

to die assuredly, and those Mohammedans who would spare themselves

now will be sorry on their death for their neglect.

‘As it is the duty of all men and women to oppose, kill, and expel

the Europeans for deeds committed by them at Delhi, Jhujur, Rewaree,

and the Doab, all the Mohammedans should discharge their duty with a

willing heart; if they neglect, and the Europeans overpower them,

they will be disarmed, hung, and treated like the inhabitants of

other unfortunate countries, and will have nothing but regret and

sorrow for their lot. Wherefore this notice is given to warn the

public.’

Another proclamation, addressed principally to zemindars and Hindoos

in general, but to Mohammedans also, was couched in the following

terms:

‘All the Hindoos and Mohammedans know that man loves four things

most: 1, his religion and caste; 2, his honour; 3, his own and his

kinsmen’s lives; 4, his property. All these four are well protected

under native rulers; no one interferes with any one’s religion;

every one enjoys his respectability according to his caste and

wealth. All the respectable people—Syad, Shaikh, Mogul, and Patan,

among Mohammedans; and Brahmins, Chatrees, Bys, and Kaeths, among

the Hindoos—are respected according to their castes. No low-caste

people like chumars, dhanook, and passees, can be equal to and

address them disrespectfully. No one’s life or property is taken

unless for some heinous crime.

‘The British are quite against these four things—they want to spoil

every one’s caste, and wish both the Mohammedans and Hindoos to

become Christians. Thousands have turned renegades, and many will

become so yet; both the nobles and low caste are equal in their

eyes; they disgrace the nobles in the presence of the ignoble; they

arrest or summon to their courts the gentry, nawabs, and rajahs at

the instance of a chumar, and disgrace them; wherever they go they

hang the respectable people, kill their women and children; their

troops dishonour the women, and dig up and carry off their buried

property. They do not kill the mahajuns, but dishonour their women,

and carry off their money. They disarm the people wherever they go,

and when the people are disarmed, they hang, shoot, or blow them

away.

‘In some places, they deceive the landholders by promising them

remittance of revenue, or lessen the amount of their lease; their

object is that when their government is settled, and every one

becomes their subject, they can readily, according to their wish,

hang, disgrace, or christianise them. Some of the foolish

landholders have been deceived, but those who are wise and careful

do not fall into their snares.

‘Therefore, all the Hindoos and Mohammedans who wish to save their

religion, honour, life, and property, are warned to join the

government forces, and not to be deceived by the British.

‘The passees (low-caste servants) should also know that the

chowkeedaree (office of watchmen) is their hereditary right, but the

British appoint burkundauzes in their posts, and deprive them of

their rights; they should therefore kill and plunder the British and

their followers, and annoy them by committing robbery and thefts in

their camp.’

[Illustration:

HINDOO METALLIC ORNAMENTS.

_a_ Women’s Earrings. _b_ Parsee Women’s Neck-ring. _c_ Women’s

Nose-rings. _d_ Women’s Forehead Ornament. _f_ Men’s Earrings. _g_

Women’s Anklets. _h_ Women’s Armlets. _i_ Women’s Toe-rings. _k_

Women’s Finger-rings. _l_ Women’s Necklace. _m_ Men’s Necklace.

]

-----

Footnote 141:

The plans of Lucknow at pp. 321 and 362 will convey an idea of the

situation of the city relatively to the river.

Footnote 142:

23d Fusiliers.

79th Highlanders.

Rifle Brigade, two battalions.

1st Bengal Europeans.

3d Punjaub infantry.

2d Dragoon Guards.

9th Lancers.

1st, 2d, and 5th Punjaub cavalry, detachment.

D’Aguilar’s troop, horse-artillery.

Remington’s troop, royal artillery.

M’Kinnon’s troop, royal artillery.

Gibbon’s light field-battery.

Middleton’s light field-battery.

Head-quarters, field-artillery brigade.

Footnote 143:

Mr Russell, all day on the 6th and 7th, was watching the proceedings

from a position such as has seldom before been occupied by a newspaper

writer. He was on the roof of the Dil Koosha, taking his chance of

such shots as came from the Martinière, and viewing Outram’s marchings

and fightings by means of a telescope. Sometimes his resolution was

nearly baffled by heat and dust. ‘The wind was all but

intolerable—very hot and very high, and surcharged with dust. I had a

little camp-table and chair placed on the top of the building, and

tried to write; but the heat and the dust were intolerable. I tried to

look out, but the glasses were filled with dust; a fog would be just

as good a medium.’

Footnote 144:

‘He (Sir Edward Lugard) will employ for the purpose the 4th brigade,

with the 38th and 53d regiments of the 3d brigade in support.

‘The 42d Highlanders will lead the attack, and seize, as a first

measure, the huts and ruined houses to the left of the Martinière, as

viewed from the brigadier-general’s front.

‘While the movement is being made upon the huts in question, the wall

below the right heavy battery will be lined very thickly, with at

least the wing of a regiment, which will be flanked again by a troop

of R.A. The huts having been seized, this extended wing behind the

wall will advance right across the open on the building of the

Martinière, its place being taken immediately by a regiment in

support, which will also move rapidly forward on the building. But the

attack on the huts is not to stop there. As soon as they are in, the

Highlanders must turn sharp on the building of the Martinière, also

following up the retreating enemy. The heavy guns of the right

battery, as well as those belonging to the troop, will search the

intrenchments of the tank and the brushwood to the right while this

advance is going forward.

‘The whole line of the ruined huts, Martinière, &c., having been

seized, the engineers attached to the 2d division for the operation

will be set to work immediately by the brigadier-general to give cover

to the troops.

‘The men employed in the attack will use nothing but the bayonet. They

are absolutely forbidden to fire a shot till the position is won. This

must be thoroughly explained to the men, and they will be told also

that their advance is flanked on every side by heavy and light

artillery, as well as by the infantry fire on the right.

‘The brigadier-general will cause his whole division to dine at 12

o’clock. Inlying pickets will remain in camp. The 90th foot, now in

the Mahomed Bagh, will be relieved by a regiment from

Brigadier-general Franks’s division. The troops will not be allowed to

pass the lines of huts and the building without orders.’

Footnote 145:

When Sir Colin started from Buntara to the Dil Koosha on the 2d of

March, Mr Russell says of his personal appearance: ‘He wears a

serviceable air which bespeaks confidence and resolution, and gives

the notion of hard work and success. Everything about him is for

service, even down to the keen-edged sabre in a coarse leather sheath,

not dangling and clattering from his side and hitting the flanks of

his horse from gaudy sling-belts, but tucked up compactly by a stout

shoulder-belt just over his hip.... And so of his nether man; not

clothed in regulation with gold stripes, but in stout brown corduroy,

warranted to wear in any climate. The chief of the staff and the

officers of the staff for the most part follow the example of the

commander-in-chief.’

Footnote 146:

It is well to bear in mind the distinction between two great

Emanbarras at Lucknow; one, called the Emanbarra of Ghazee-u-deen

Hyder, just mentioned; and the other, the Emanbarra of Azof-u-Dowlah,

between the Muchee Bhowan and the Moosa Bagh.

Footnote 147:

The graphic writer to whom we have more than once adverted was among

those who hastened to the Begum Kothee as a spectator on this morning.

Among the scenes that met his view he said: ‘I saw one of the

fanatics, a fine old sepoy with a grizzled moustache, lying dead in

the court, a sword-cut across his temple, a bayonet-thrust through his

neck, his thigh broken by a bullet, and his stomach slashed open, in a

desperate attempt to escape. There had been five or six of these

fellows altogether, and they had either been surprised and unable to

escape, or had shut themselves up in desperation in a small room, one

of many looking out on the court. At first, attempts were made to

start them by throwing in live shell. A bag of gunpowder was more

successful; and out they charged, and, with the exception of one man,

were shot and bayoneted on the spot. The man who got away did so by a

desperate leap through a window, amid a shower of bullets and many

bayonet-thrusts. Such are the common incidents of this war. From court

to court of the huge pile of buildings we wandered through the same

scenes—dead sepoys—blood-splashed gardens—groups of eager Highlanders,

looking out for the enemy’s loopholes—more eager groups of plunderers

searching the dead, many of whom lay heaped on the top of each other,

amid the ruins of rooms brought down upon them by our cannon-shot. Two

of these were veritable chambers of horrors. It must be remembered

that the sepoys and matchlockmen wear cotton clothes, many at this

time of year using thickly quilted tunics; and in each room there is a

number of _resais_, or quilted cotton coverlets, which serve as beds

and quilts to the natives. The explosion of powder sets fire to this

cotton very readily, and it may be easily conceived how horrible are

the consequences where a number of these sepoys and Nujeebs get into a

place whence there is no escape, and where they fall in heaps by our

shot. The matches of the men and the discharges of their guns set fire

to their cotton clothing; it is fed by the very fat of the dead

bodies; the smell is pungent and overpowering, and nauseous to a

degree. I looked in at two such rooms, where, through the dense smoke,

I could see piles of bodies; and I was obliged to own that the horrors

of the hospital at Sebastopol were far exceeded by what I witnessed.

Upwards of 300 dead were found in the courts of the palace, and, if we

put the wounded carried off at 700, we may reckon that the capture of

the place cost the enemy 1000 men at least. The rooms of the building

round the numerous courts were for the most part small and dark,

compared with the great size of the corridors and garden enclosures.

The state-saloon, fitted up for durbars and entertainments, once

possessed some claims to magnificence, which were, however, now lying

under our feet in the shape of lustres, mirrors, pier-glasses, gilt

tables, damask, silk and satin, embroidered fragments of furniture,

and marble tables, over which one made his way from place to place

with difficulty. The camp-followers were busily engaged in selecting

and carrying away such articles as attracted their fancy—shawls,

_resais_, cushions, umbrellas, swords, matchlocks, tom-toms or drums,

pictures, looking-glasses, trumpets; but the more valuable plunder

disappeared last night. It will be long before a Begum can live here

in state again. Every room and wall and tower are battered and

breached by our shot.’

Footnote 148:

‘It having been understood that several small pieces of ordnance

captured in the city have been appropriated by individuals, all

persons having such in their possession are directed at once to make

them over to the commissary of ordnance in charge of the park.

‘It is reported to the commander-in-chief that the Sikhs and other

native soldiers are plundering in a most outrageous manner, and refuse

to give up their plunder to the guards told off for the express

purpose of checking such proceedings. His excellency desires that

strong parties, under the command of European officers, be immediately

sent out from each native regiment to put a stop to these excesses.

‘Commanding officers of native regiments are called upon to use their

best endeavours to restore order, and are held responsible that all

their men who are not on duty remain in camp, and that those who are

on duty do not quit their posts.

‘All native soldiers not on duty are to be confined to camp till

further orders, and all who may now be on duty in the city are to be

relieved and sent back to camp.

‘All commanding officers are enjoined to use their best endeavours to

prevent their followers quitting camp.’

Footnote 149:

Chap. xxi. p. 369.

Footnote 150:

‘Though we are all in the town, our camp and hospital are still in the

old place. While I write this in my tent in camp, the thermometer is

at 100 degrees; not a breath of wind, and the flies—I can pity the

Egyptians now—the tent is filled with them, and everything edible

covered with them. We drink and eat flies, and in our turn are eaten

by them. They nestle in your hair, and commit the most determined

suicides in your tea or soup. Old-fashioned looking crickets come out

of holes and stare at you; lizards run wildly across the tent; and

ants by the thousand ply their wonted avocations utterly unmindful of

your presence. When night arrives, it becomes a little cooler, the

candles are lit, all the flies (save the suicides) have gone to roost

upon the tent-poles, and you fancy that your troubles are over. Vain

hope! the tent-doors are open; in flies a locust, hops into some dish,

kicks himself out again, hitting you in the face, and finally bolts

out at the opposite door. Then comes a flock of moths, all sizes and

shapes, which dart madly at the lights. At last you put out your

candle, and get into bed, when a new sound commences. Hum, hum,

something soft and light settles on your face and hands: a sensation

of red-hot needles intimates that the mosquitoes are upon you. The

domestic flea and bug also abound; their appetites quite unimpaired by

the climate. Jackals and pariah dogs yell and howl all night. Day

dawns, and you have your flies down upon you lively as ever. This will

give you some idea of our tent comforts.’

Footnote 151:

‘From the 2d to the 16th of March a series of masterly operations took

place, by which the commander-in-chief, nobly supported in his

well-laid plans of attack by the ability and skill of the general

officers, and by the indomitable bravery and resolution of the

officers and men of all arms, drove the rebels successively from all

their strongly fortified posts, till the whole fell into the

possession of our troops. That this great success should have been

accomplished at so little cost of valuable lives, enhances the honour

due to the leader who has achieved it.’ After mentioning the

remarkable services rendered by Outram during more than five months in

the Residency and the Alum Bagh, Viscount Canning could not do other

than recognise the crowning service of that distinguished man, as the

second in command under Campbell during the great operations of March.

[Illustration:

BARRACKPORE.

]