The Punjaub lies between the Indus and the Sutlej, with the river Chenab
in the centre. In the southern part is the province of Mooltan,
governed in 1848 by Dewan Moolraj. The chief city of the province, a
strongly fortified place, is also called Mooltan. A Sikh force in the
Company's service was sent into the Punjaub in 1847, and Lieutenant
Herbert Edwardes was attached to it as political agent, and invested
with a very considerable amount of authority. Young as he then was, and
with little experience, either of fighting or diplomatising, he never
failed to act with judgment and courage. He had soon ample exercise for
both qualities. The Government determined to supersede the
above-mentioned Moolraj, and to place a new Nazim, Sirdar Khan Singh, as
Governor of Mooltan. This latter personage was accompanied to Mooltan
by two officers--Mr Vans Agnew, of the Civil Service, and Lieutenant
Anderson, of the 1st Bombay European Fusiliers--and a considerable body
of troops. Moolraj, however, had no intention of losing his government,
and either prompted by his own ambition, or instigated by evil
counsellors, he resolved to rebel. By bribes he won over the native
troops who had accompanied the commissioners, and whom, there can be
little doubt, he instigated his followers to murder. Both Mr Agnew and
Lieutenant Anderson were set upon and cruelly cut to pieces; not,
however, till they had written to Lieutenant Edwardes to warn him of
their danger. Lieutenant Edwardes was at that time with a small force
at the distance of five days' march from Mooltan. He sent a messenger
to say that he would instantly set out with all the men he could collect
to their assistance, while he directed Lieutenant Taylor, who was with
General Courtlandt, to join him. The heat was intense; but he pushed
on, though he learned too soon that the lives of his countrymen had
already been sacrificed. Moolraj was in open rebellion, collecting
troops from all sides. Edwardes set to work to raise an army to oppose
him, and recruiting went on actively on both sides. Edwardes did his
utmost to persuade the people that it would be to their true interest to
join the British. By May he had raised a force of between 5000 and 6000
men, to which were united about 1500 Sikhs, under General Courtlandt,
while he was ably supported by Bhawal Khan, Nawab of Bhawulpoor, with
nearly 12,000 followers. With this force, having crossed the Chenab on
the 19th of June, he encountered the army of Moolraj, some 18,000 to
20,000 strong, horse and foot, and twenty guns, near the village of
Kineyree. The battle began at a little after seven a.m., and was not
decided till half-past four p.m. It was hotly contested, and both
parties fought with desperation. Out of ten guns, the enemy succeeded
in carrying only two into Mooltan, to which place they retreated,
leaving 500 men dead on the field of battle. It was an important
victory; but as Lieutenants Edwardes and Taylor were the only British
officers present, I will not further describe it. The warning uttered
to Moolraj by the murdered officers, that their countrymen would amply
avenge their deaths, was about to be fulfilled.
Soon after this, Lieutenant Edwardes' force was joined by Lieutenant
Lake, and other British officers. On the 1st of July was fought the
battle of Suddoosam, where Dewan Moolraj, in spite of the assurances of
his soothsayers that it would be an auspicious day to him, was again
completely beaten, and driven up to the very walls of his capital. In
this battle fell a gallant soldier, Captain Macpherson, in the service
of the Nawab of Bhawulpoor, under Lieutenant Lake. The next day a
serious accident happened to Lieutenant Edwardes. His pistol exploded
as he was putting it into his belt, and the ball passing through his
right hand, deprived him for ever of the use of it. His sufferings were
great till the arrival of Dr Cole, a young and excellent English
surgeon, who won the affection of all the wounded natives he attended.
The four chief leaders in these actions received the thanks of the
Governor in Council, and all the credit they so fully deserved; nor was
a brave Irishman, Mr Quin, who volunteered to serve under Lieutenant
Edwardes, and rendered him most efficient aid, overlooked.
There can be little doubt that, from the ill-defended condition of
Mooltan, these successes might have been followed up by the capture of
the city itself, had the victorious army been allowed at once to attack
it; but the higher authorities decided otherwise, and Lieutenant
Edwardes' force was directed to wait for the arrival of a regular army
to commence the siege.
Moolraj, consequently, was allowed time to complete the defences of
Mooltan, which he rendered very formidable.
No sooner had Sir Frederick Currie, the resident at Lahore, received
information that Moolraj had shut himself up in Mooltan, than he
despatched General Whish, with a train of heavy siege-guns, to invest
it. Meantime the fort was surrounded and closely invested by the troops
under Lieutenant Edwardes and the Nawab of Bhawulpoor, and had thus at
their command the revenues and resources of the whole district.
Lieutenant Edwardes was now joined by Lieutenant Lumsden and a young
lad, Hugo James, who had come out to seek for a cadetship--a gallant
boy. As he had come out to learn the art of fighting, his chief
afforded him every opportunity of doing so, and "used to give him a few
hundred men to take into any ugly place that wanted stopping up."
Steamers had found their way up the mighty Indus into the Chenab, and
two of their officers, Captain Christopher and Mr McLawrin, frequently
joined their mess. The steamers were employed in capturing the boats,
and otherwise harassing the enemy. The English leader had a great cause
of anxiety from the approach of a large Sikh force, under Rajah Sher
Singh, whose fidelity he had every reason to doubt. The Sikhs advanced,
however, and encamped before the city, and Moolraj lost no time in
endeavouring to corrupt both their leaders and common soldiers. With
the latter he succeeded but too well, as the sequel will show.
Meantime, Moolraj was actively recruiting, and numbers from the Sikh
country flocked to his standard. Thus matters went on till the arrival
of General Whish, under whom the right column of the British army
encamped at Seetul-Ke-Maree, on the 18th of August 1848. Moolraj,
hearing of his approach, resolved to attempt surprising him before he
reached the city. Accordingly, on the night of the 16th, he sent out a
strong force, accompanied by artillery horses ready harnessed, to bring
away the guns they expected to capture. Now it happened that on that
very day Lieutenant Edwardes, not wishing to have the Sikh force between
him and General Whish, had exchanged positions with it, and both armies,
according to custom, had in the evening fired a _feu de joie_ on the
occasion, prolonged by General Courtlandt's gunners in honour of their
approaching friends. This heavy cannonade put the British camp on the
_qui vive_, and the General ordered all the tents to be struck, and the
troops to get under arms, in case it should be necessary to march to
Mooltan, and assist in the supposed engagement with the enemy. Scarcely
had this been done than the rebel detachment reached the British camp;
and instead of finding all plunged in sleep, except the usual sentries,
they were received with such a rattling fire, that, after fruitlessly
assailing the pickets, they fled in confusion, as many as possible
mounting the artillery horses, which they had brought for so different a
purpose. In the affair the British had only six men and two horses
wounded, and none killed; while the enemy lost forty killed, many more
wounded, and some taken prisoners. It is one of the numberless examples
to be brought forward of the importance of being on the alert in the
neighbourhood of an enemy. How disastrous might have been the
consequences had General Whish's army not been aroused and prepared for
an enemy on that occasion!
Moolraj made every attempt to destroy his enemies; and contriving to
send three traitors into the camp of the irregulars, who got employed as
cooks, Lieutenant Edwardes, Lake, Lumsden, Courtlandt, Hugo James, and
Cole, who were dining together, were very nearly all poisoned. The
wretches were shaved, flogged, and turned out of the camp, when they
fled to Mooltan as fast as their legs could carry them.