Chapter XV: THE REIGN OF VICTORIA (continued) (2)

The eloquent report of Brigadier Inglis contains at once the most authentic and most touching account of the sufferings and endurance of this illustrious garrison, and we cannot do better than quote it. After a description of the mining operations, he says--"The whole of the officers and men have been on duty night and day during the eighty-seven days which the siege had lasted up to the arrival of Sir J. Outram, G.C.B. In addition to this incessant military duty, the force has been nightly employed in repairing defences, in moving guns, in burying dead animals, in conveying ammunition and commissariat stores from one place to another, and in fatigue duties too numerous and too trivial to enumerate here. I feel, however, that any words of mine will fail to convey any adequate idea of what our fatigues and labours have been--labours in which all ranks and all classes, civilians, officers, and soldiers, have all borne an equally noble part. All have together descended into the mine; all have together handled the shovel for the interment of the putrid bullock; and all, accoutred with musket and bayonet, have relieved each other on sentry without regard to the distinctions of rank, civil or military. Notwithstanding all these hardships, the garrison has made no less than five sorties, in which they spiked two of the enemy's heaviest guns, and blew up several of the houses from which they had kept up the most harassing fire. Owing to the extreme paucity of our numbers, each man was taught to feel that on his own individual efforts alone depended in no small measure the safety of the entire position. This consciousness incited every officer, soldier, and man to defend the post assigned to him with such desperate tenacity, and fight for the lives which Providence had entrusted to his care with such dauntless determination, that the enemy, despite their constant attacks, their heavy mines, their overwhelming numbers, and their incessant fire, could never succeed in gaining one inch of ground within the bounds of this straggling position, which was so feebly fortified that had they once obtained a footing in any of the outposts, the whole place must inevitably have fallen. If further proof be wanting of the desperate nature of the struggle which we have, under God's blessing, so long and so successfully waged, I would point to the roofless and ruined houses, to the crumbled walls, to the exploded mines, to the open breaches, to the shattered and disabled guns and defences, and lastly to the long and melancholy list of the brave and devoted officers and men who have fallen. These silent witnesses bear sad and solemn testimony to the way in which this feeble position has been defended. During the early part of these vicissitudes we were left without any information whatever regarding the posture of affairs outside. An occasional spy did, indeed, come in, with the object of inducing our Sepoys and native servants to desert; but the intelligence derived from such sources was, of course, entirely untrustworthy. We sent messengers daily, calling for aid and asking for information, none of whom ever returned, until the twenty-sixth day of the siege, when a pensioner, named Ungud, came back, with a letter from General Havelock's camp, informing us that they were advancing with a force sufficient to bear down all opposition, and would be with us in five or six days. A messenger was immediately despatched, requesting that on the evening of their arrival on the outskirts of the city, two rockets might be sent up, in order that we might take the necessary measures for assisting them in forcing their way in. The sixth day, however, expired, and they came not; but for many evenings after officers and men watched for the ascension of the expected rockets, with hopes such as make the heart sick. We knew not then, nor did we learn until the 29th of August, or thirty-five days later, that the relieving force, after having fought most nobly to effect our deliverance, had been obliged to fall back for reinforcements; and this was the last communication we received until two days before the arrival of Sir James Outram on September 25th. Besides heavy visitations of cholera and small-pox, we have also had to contend against a sickness which has almost universally pervaded the garrison. Commencing with a very painful eruption, it has merged into a low fever, combined with diarrhœa; and although few or no men have actually died from its effects, it leaves behind a weakness and lassitude which, in the absence of all material sustenance, save coarse beef and still coarser flour, none have been entirely able to get over.... I cannot refrain from bringing to the prominent notice of his Lordship in Council the patient endurance and the Christian resignation which have been evinced by the women of this garrison. They have animated us by their example. Many, alas! have been made widows, and their children fatherless, in this cruel struggle. But all such seemed resigned to the will of Providence, and many--among whom may be mentioned the honoured names of Birch, of Polehampton, of Barbor, and of Gall--have, after the example of Miss Nightingale, constituted themselves the tender and solicitous nurses of the wounded and dying soldiers in the hospital."

Sir Colin Campbell had just arrived in Calcutta. When the news of General Anson's death reached London, the name of only one man occurred to the Duke of Cambridge, as that of a soldier fit to restore to us an empire in the East. By a sort of instinct, in moments of real peril, nations select their commanders; and when the Duke of Cambridge sent for Sir Colin Campbell, he only anticipated the national choice of a fit leader. The scene at the Horse Guards was characteristic. The Duke offered the command of the Indian army to the veteran who but a few months before was simply a colonel. Sir Colin accepted the appointment, and when he was asked how soon he would be ready to start, he replied--in four-and-twenty hours. He was as good as his word, and embarking for India at once, arrived in Calcutta on the 13th of August, two months and a half after the death of Anson. But the army he was to command was slowly steaming and sailing round the Cape of Good Hope. The French Emperor had offered to our Government free passage for troops through France, but we had not become so humiliated as a nation as to be in a position to accept that offer, and for the same reason Lord Palmerston rejected the proffered assistance of Belgium from full confidence that Britain "could win off her own bat." Many persons urged the Government to send the Indian reinforcements through Egypt as if Egypt were our own. Had the Government done so, a doubtful precedent would have been set, one that might have provoked unpleasant relations with certain Continental Powers. Therefore the Government wisely sent the troops by the sea route, even though in doubling the Cape an amount of time would be inevitably consumed that could hardly be spared.

As soon as he heard of Sir Colin's arrival, Havelock reported to him, and begged that he might be reinforced. The Indian Government, however, had taken the unusual step of superseding Havelock by Sir James Outram, and left the former to learn his supersession from the columns of the _Calcutta Gazette_. Havelock felt this keenly, but he was a good soldier, and did not complain. His friends supplied the required amount of indignation, and his biographers, from excusable motives, have not failed to censure the Government. It cannot, however, be contended that there was anything unfit in placing over Havelock the man under whom he had so recently served in Persia.

The position of Havelock at Cawnpore was one of great peril; enemies were accumulating all around him. There was a mutinous force at Futtehpore; the Gwalior Contingent, kept inactive by the skill of Scindia and his able Minister, Dinkur Rao, nevertheless threatened to move on Calpee. The Oude insurgents had occupied the abandoned position at Mungulwar, and scouring the left bank of the Ganges, threatened to strike at his line of communications with Allahabad. Agra, it must be remembered, was beset. Delhi, it should be borne in mind, had not been taken; indeed, Nicholson had only just entered the camp with the movable column. Central India was ablaze with mutiny. To hold Cawnpore we had not more than 1,000 men. Deducting the force required to guard an entrenched position covering the point of passage over the river, and a hundred men sent down the Ganges in a steamer to destroy the boats collected on the Oude bank for an inroad into the Doab at Futtehpore, Havelock could only muster 685 Europeans. Thus it was impossible that he could act in the field. Indeed, at the end of August he was forced to contemplate the fatal step of retreating on Allahabad, unless he were speedily reinforced.

But these reinforcements did not arrive very quickly. As soon as he assumed command, Sir Colin Campbell requested General Outram to push on the 5th and 90th from Behar to Allahabad, together with all the detachments available, as fast as possible. The 90th had no sooner started than the civilians called them back. Then Koer Singh reappeared in the field, and part of the troops destined for Cawnpore had to be detained to watch and counteract him. Moreover, Sir James Outram conceived a new plan of campaign--a march up the Gogra or Goomtee, combined with the advance of Havelock from Cawnpore, instead of the dash of a single column from Cawnpore on Lucknow. To this both Sir Colin and Lord Canning were opposed. And when Sir James Outram heard that Havelock could not hold Cawnpore unless reinforced he gave up his own views at once, and set his face towards Cawnpore. At the same time he apprised Havelock of his approach, and told his old comrade in arms that he would not supersede him. "I shall join you with reinforcements," so ran his message; "but to you shall be left the glory of relieving Lucknow, for which you have already struggled so much. I shall accompany you as civil commissioner, placing my military service at your disposal, should you please, serving under you as a volunteer." Well might Sir Colin Campbell say, "Seldom, perhaps never, has it occurred to a Commander-in-Chief to publish and confirm such an order."

Outram's column had reached Aong, the scene of one of Havelock's victories, when news arrived that a force from Oude had crossed the Ganges, the forerunner of a regular irruption, intent on interrupting our communications. Sir James saw at once how necessary it would be to put a stop to that, and he detached Major Eyre at the head of 150 men, two guns, and forty native troopers, under Captain Johnson and Lieutenant Charles Havelock, to attack the invaders. Eyre put his infantry on elephants, and, making a rapid march, came upon the enemy at daybreak. Detaching his horsemen, to keep them in play, and urging on his elephants, he found that the enemy had fled to his boats, and that the cavalry were gallantly engaging him and holding him to the shore. The infantry went briskly into action and the guns were brought to bear. The Oude men were smitten with terror, and bundling into the river tried to escape by swimming. So deadly was the fire of grape and musketry that only three men out of the host succeeded in recrossing the Ganges. This was a deadly blow and left a deep impression. Another body had come over, four miles above, and Eyre at once turned upon them; but they had got news of the slaughter of their comrades, and before Eyre could strike them, they had swept back into Oude. Eyre then made a forced march and joined Sir James at Futtehpore.

To this swift and sharp blow the Lower Doab was indebted for future security. The Oude borderers did not again get within reach by attempting to molest the roads in our rear. Sir James Outram reached Cawnpore on the evening of the 15th, and with him came the last of the reinforcements. The two chiefs now had all the men they could possibly obtain. Brigadier Inglis had named the 21st of September as the day he could hold out to. There was no time to be lost. Indeed, Havelock had already begun to take measures for the reconstruction of his bridge of boats. The bridge was established in three days, the enemy watching the operation supinely from Mungulwar. Leaving 400 men to guard the entrenchment at Cawnpore, Havelock on the 19th crossed the Ganges with 3,179 men and 18 guns, confident that, if he arrived in time, he should save the noble Lucknow garrison. The heavy guns and stores for thirteen days were carried over the bridge on the 20th, and on the 21st the army began its march in two brigades, the first under General Neill, the second under Colonel Hamilton, of the 78th.

The progress of the force was far more rapid than that of Havelock when he first crossed into Oude. Moving upon Mungulwar, he found the enemy posted there with six guns. Mindful of former defeats, the enemy made no stand, and being started from cover by the infantry and guns, were chased by Outram with the Volunteer Horse as far as Busserutgunge, where two guns, much ammunition, and a standard were captured. The whole force came up the same night, and slept on the scene of Havelock's three brilliant combats. The next day the troops marched fifteen miles. They found the bridge over the Sye unbroken and they encamped on the opposite bank. On the 23rd, ten miles from the Sye, they found the enemy in position at the Alumbagh. This was a large park or garden, devised as a pleasaunce for one of the favourite wives of a former King of Oude. The park was enclosed by a wall, with turrets at each angle; it was entered by a handsome gateway and contained a large palace.

The enemy had brought up 10,000 men, including 1,500 horse from Lucknow, and supported them with many guns. Part of his front was covered by a morass, his centre stood across the road, and his left was in the Alumbagh. In order to get at him, the whole column had to move along his front under fire, having the water of the swamp between it and the foe. But when once this obstacle was surmounted, and it became possible to open with heavy guns, both artillery and cavalry fell away to the rear in confusion. One gun alone remained. Its gunners were gallant well-trained regulars, and they went through their work without flinching. Suddenly a little band of horse swept down upon them and, closing in, cut them down. It was Lieutenant Johnson and his native irregulars. He was now more than half a mile in front of our line, and of course could not keep the gun, but the enemy did not go near it again. However he put two pieces into the Alumbagh, making holes in the wall, to serve as embrasures. This stood the foe in no stead, for the 5th Foot charged him, and drove him out of the garden and palace. We captured five guns, and pressed the enemy back upon Lucknow, with the Volunteer Horse at his heels.

Havelock was now in actual contact with the assailants of the garrison in Lucknow. He was within sight of the goal he had done so much to reach. It had been comparatively easy to defeat the enemy in the open field. The task of breaking into Lucknow, through its tortuous lanes and mighty buildings, was far more arduous. It had to be undertaken with resolution, but also very circumspectly: it was needful to temper daring with craft.

The 24th was spent by the generals in devising a plan of attack. First, it was wisely proposed to hold the Alumbagh, which thus served as an intermediate base of operations. It was highly defensible, and plentifully supplied with water. All the baggage was to be deposited here, and a garrison of 250 men, under Colonel M'Intyre, was entrusted with the defence. The next step--the choice of a route into Lucknow--was more difficult. One plan was to force the Charbagh Bridge, and to cut a passage to the Residency along the Cawnpore road. This plan was at once abandoned because the route which the column would have to take lay through the heart of the city, and because every yard presented an obstacle. Another plan was to move the whole column to the right, seize the Delkoosha Palace and park, and, under cover of its excellent defences, bridge the Goomtee, throw the column over, and sweeping up the left bank of the river, capture the iron bridge, and so release the garrison.

The actual plan adopted was a compromise between the two. It was resolved that the Charbagh Bridge should be carried, but that, instead of pushing forward into the city, the column should wheel to the right, and fight its way through the palaces and large houses lying to the east of the Residency. There is reason to believe that the second plan would have been adopted, as the safer and less costly in life, but it would have taken some days to execute it, and the latest communications from Brigadier Inglis painted the dangers of the garrison from mines, and the possible defection of the native troops, in such colours, that the idea was abandoned and the deadlier project adopted. Havelock determined to take with him his heavy guns, and well it was that he did so. Therefore, leaving in Alumbagh, including the sick and wounded, about 400 men, the force paraded on the 25th to fight its way into Lucknow.

The troops moved off between eight and nine. First went a brigade of infantry, followed by the guns, under Sir James Outram; then the remainder of the infantry, under Havelock himself. As soon as the skirmishers had passed the picket the column came under fire. But, in spite of this fire, on it swept; and, led by Captain Maude, the artillery got through, but with a loss of a third of the men. On the right was a large garden called the Charbagh, on the left clusters of enclosures, in front the bridge over the canal. The enemy had planted a battery of six guns to defend the bridge, and had filled all the neighbouring houses with infantry. Meeting the storm of shot at a turn in the road, the troops were ordered to lie down until the guns could be got into position. But the narrowness of the road did not enable our artillery captains to place more than two upon it, and with these two Maude contended with six. In order to bring a flank fire to bear on the bridge, Outram led a body of infantry into the Charbagh. The unequal artillery combat continued. Maude's gunners fell rapidly; infantry soldiers replaced them. General Neill, now leading the first brigade, listened anxiously for the sound of Outram's musketry. All was silent in the Charbagh. Feeling that this protracted artillery duel would not help them into Lucknow, Neill resolved to carry the bridge with the bayonet. The word had scarcely been given ere Lieutenant Arnold and a few of the Madras Fusiliers charged on to the bridge. With them went Colonel Tytler and Lieutenant Henry Havelock. The first blast of the enemy's grape swept them all down, Havelock excepted. For a moment he was seen standing alone on the bridge, a target for scores of muskets, waving his sword, and calling to the Madras Fusiliers. The next moment they were with him. With a loud cheer the Fusiliers dashed over the bridge, and bayoneted the gunners at their pieces before they had time to load again. Thus was the bridge of the Charbagh won. Sir James Outram and his men appeared on the bank of the canal just as the guns were captured.

Now the whole column rolled over the bridge. As if they were about to storm along the Cawnpore road, the 78th moved up the street, contending with the enemy in the houses, and occupied its outlet. But this was only a feint. To the surprise of the Sepoys the main column wheeled to the right, and disappeared from view. The baggage followed in a steady stream. Enraged at being thus foiled, the enemy, seeing the Highlanders without support, turned upon them. For three hours the gallant 78th kept the street against all odds. They held the houses at a point where two roads met. When the enemy became too audacious, they sallied out and scared him away. When he brought up two guns, the 78th dashed out of the houses and captured the guns, a feat which won for Captain Macpherson the Victoria Cross. The surgeon of the regiment, Macmaster, was to be seen nobly doing his duties under the hottest fire, and a Cross was granted to him also. At length the last waggon passed over the bridge. Young Havelock, who had been charged with the safety of the convoy, was now shot in the arm, just as he had ordered the 78th to withdraw.

Once through that fiery passage of the Charbagh Bridge, the column went on between the canal and the city with comparative ease, for the enemy's defences had been turned. The interval of comparative quiet was the hour occupied by the march of the main column from the bridge through the tortuous lanes as far as the building known as the Motee Munzil. On approaching this, the column moved to the left, facing westward towards the Residency; and the enemy, massed in the Kaiserbagh, a vast palace of the Kings of Oude, and in the houses, catching sight of our troops, opened a tremendous fire. Eyre brought his heavy guns to bear on the enemy's battery at the gate of the Kaiserbagh, and twice compelled the gunners to flee within the gate; while our troops and trains got under cover in the walled passages and buildings. Halting for a time, to wait for the 78th and the Volunteer Horse, the force moved once more, and crossing a narrow bridge partially under fire, they plunged into the Chutter Munzil and Furhut Buksh Palaces, out of the storm.

In the meantime the 78th and the horsemen, guided by the sound of the guns, had, on reaching a point where two roads met, quitted the track of the main body, and boldly advanced along a cross lane leading directly to the gate of the Kaiserbagh. Here they came suddenly on the flank of the enemy's battery, which they stormed at once, driving the foe into the palace. Spiking the largest gun, they pressed on and came up with the main body in the palaces above-mentioned. Here they found the whole body in great confusion, and here for a moment there was a pause.

For the generals were debating the important question whether they should rest there for the night, or push on. Outram was for halting; Havelock for completing the work that night. Little more than a quarter of a mile intervened between the troops and the Bailey Guard. The garrison were eagerly expecting them, for the watchers had seen officers in shooting-jackets and men in sun helmets, and European soldiers coming towards them, and trembled with the near prospect of deliverance. The distance, though so short, was every inch under fire. But at length Outram consented. The troops formed up, the generals rode forth at their head, the Highlanders and Sikhs leading the column; and giving a loud cheer, they dashed through an archway into the main street which led to the Bailey Guard Gate. The enemy occupied the windows and roofs of the houses on each side, and poured forth a torrent of fire. The road was cut by deep trenches, so that the artillery had to seek another road, but neither musketry nor trenches could stop that column. It was while seeing that the rear was properly brought up that Neill was shot by a party of the enemy through the ceiling of the archway under which the whole column had passed. No man who fell was more regretted. But the work had been done. Lucknow was relieved.

The garrison had seen the advance of that noble column; seen the Highlanders and Sikhs charge up the main street at a rapid pace, loading, shouting, firing as they stormed along; and almost before a cheer could be raised, Outram rode up, and dismounted at the embrasure of Aitken's Battery, near the Bailey Guard Gate. "Nothing," writes Mr. Gubbins, "could exceed their [the soldiers'] enthusiasm. The Highlanders stopped every one they met, and with repeated questions and exclamations of 'Are you one of them?'--'God bless you!'--'We thought to have found only your bones,' bore them back towards Dr. Fayrer's house, into which the general had entered. Here a scene of thrilling interest presented itself. The ladies of that garrison, with their children, had assembled in the most intense anxiety and excitement under the porch outside, when the Highlanders approached. Rushing forward, the rough and bearded warriors shook the ladies by the hand, amidst loud and repeated gratulations. They took the children up in their arms, and fondly caressing them, passed them from one to another to be caressed in turn; and then, when the first burst of enthusiasm and excitement was over, they mournfully turned to speak among themselves of the heavy loss which they had suffered, and to inquire the names of the numerous comrades who had fallen on the way. It is quite impossible to describe the scene within the entrenchment that evening. We had received no post, nor any but the smallest scrap of news, for 113 days since the date of the outbreak at Cawnpore. All had relatives and friends to inquire after, whose fate they were ignorant of, and were eager to learn. Many had brothers, friends, or relatives in the relieving force, whom they were anxiously seeking. Every one wished for news of the outer world, of Delhi, Agra, Calcutta, and of England. Everybody was on foot. All the thoroughfares were thronged; and new faces were every moment appearing of friends which one had least expected to see."

It was the Sikhs and Highlanders who had carved out a road to the Residency by the main street. The remainder of the column, with all the guns except two, were guided by Lieutenant Moorsom--a brave and accomplished young soldier--along streets and lanes that turned some of the Sepoy defences, and brought them to the place with little loss. At the same time, Lieutenant Aitken, with some of the faithful Sepoys of the 13th Native Infantry, sallying forth, materially aided the progress of the guns, and secured a parallel route to the Chutter Munzil. The loss of Havelock's force, since it crossed the Ganges on the 19th of September, was 535 killed and wounded. Thus Lucknow was relieved at the cost of a sixth of the little band that had started from Cawnpore.

It was anticipated that Sir James Outram, who now assumed command, would carry off the garrison. This was not found to be practicable, except at great risk and heavy cost of life. On making due inquiry, it was found that, with the supplies brought in, there was abundance of provisions for several weeks. Sir James, therefore, determined to remain. He divided his force into two parts. Colonel Inglis was left in command of the lines he had so long defended. Havelock was directed to take the remaining troops, and establish himself in the palaces and buildings to the east, on the road through which the troops had come in. This was done in three days. The soldiers now made themselves at home in the luxurious palaces of Lucknow. They were in comparative comfort and safety, but shut out from the rest of India: comparative, for the enemy renewed his mining operations; directing them now against the buildings under Havelock's charge. But at this work he was foiled by the skill and science of Colonel Robert Napier and Captain Crommelin. Guarding against these tricks of the enemy, enduring a fire of guns and musketry less severe and less deadly, and poorly fed, our men, without a murmur, held on for eight more weeks, when the Commander-in-Chief himself arrived, and snatched them, as it were, from the jaws of death.

The Government of India had now become fully aware of the character of the mutiny, which in Oude, Rohilcund, and Central India, had been supplemented by an insurrection. In Oude a strong spirit of hostility was manifested; and although many talookdars held aloof from the rebels, they did not join the Europeans. In Rohilcund and Central India the insurrectionary forces were masters of the field from the Ganges to the frontiers of Oude, from the Nerbudda to the Jumna. In Bombay there were intermittent signs of disaffection, and sharp remedies had to be promptly applied. Lord Elphinstone ruled with an iron hand--clad in a velvet glove, it is true, but none the less effective for that. He had his own difficulties to contend against--hostility in Kolapore, and Sattara, and Candeish; mutiny also in some recently-raised regiments--but all these he overcame. Madras was quiet, and as Bombay sent troops to the Nerbudda Valley and Rajpootana, so Madras sent a column to cover the frontier of Nagpore, and reinforcements to Bengal--European infantry, who took part in several battles, and native infantry and native guns, which did good service.

Except during the spring, neither the Indian nor the Home Government underrated the magnitude of the struggle, and the thousands of troops embarked in the summer began to pour into Calcutta by battalions at the end of September. The China troops had all been intercepted before that time, and had been sent up the country. The sailors of the _Pearl_ and the _Shannon_ had been landed with some of their heavy guns, and had been sent up the Ganges, with Captain William Peel and a sailor brigade, forming a part of the army rapidly gathering at Allahabad and Cawnpore. For as soon as it became certain that Outram and Havelock could not bring off the Lucknow garrison, treasure, women and children, guns and ammunition, Sir Colin began to organise a force for their relief and rescue. Throughout the month of October this force was being collected at Cawnpore. Except the China regiments, all the troops employed were those already in India. The whole strength was about 4,550 men, with forty-nine guns, including Peel's eight heavy pieces, manned by his gallant tars. This force, gradually collected, was completed by the arrival of Greathed's force from Delhi, which, we have already stated, arrived at Cawnpore on the 26th of October.

As soon as he heard of Greathed's arrival, Sir Colin Campbell quitted Calcutta, and "travelling like a courier," reached Cawnpore on the 5th of November. Part of the troops had already gone on, with large convoys, to the Alumbagh, which, it will be remembered, was held by part of Outram's force, now under the orders of Brigadier Hope Grant, who arrived in time to repel a smart attack made by the enemy. The troops had commenced the passage on the 30th of October, and the bulk of the troops were near Alumbagh by the 5th of November. On the 9th Sir Colin reached that place, and on the 11th he reviewed his army. As the Gwalior Contingent--a force of all arms, the nucleus of a large native army--had come up to Calpee, it was not without some apprehensions that Sir Colin left General Windham, of Redan renown, with about 500 men, to guard the small entrenchment that protected the bridge over the Ganges. Nevertheless, as he knew Windham would be reinforced by the troops coming daily up the Ganges from Calcutta, and as it was imperative that Lucknow should be relieved, he left Windham to do his best, and gathered up his strength for a deadly blow at the Oude insurrection.

As soon as General Outram was informed of the early approach of Sir Colin Campbell, he sent plans of the city and its approaches to the Alumbagh, and arranged with Brigadier Grant a code of signals to be worked by means of the old semaphore. The garrison also sent a guide. Fired with the desire of winning the Victoria Cross, Mr. Kavanagh, of the uncovenanted service, volunteered to join the Commander-in-Chief. The offer was accepted. Staining his face, shoulders, and hands with lampblack, putting on the gay dress, and carrying the simple arms of an irregular mutineer, Kavanagh, guided by a native scout, forded the Goomtee at night, dressed on the opposite bank, walked up the river, and recrossing at the iron bridge, made his way through the heart of the city of Lucknow. Emerging in the open country through the enemy's pickets, he pushed on and reached Sir Colin's camp. This is one of the most daring acts ever done in India, since James Outram made his way from Afghanistan to Bombay disguised as a groom. And Kavanagh had his reward, obtaining not only the Victoria Cross in due time, but a reward of £2,000 and admission into the regular civil service. The telegraph soon told not only that Kavanagh had come in safely, but that on the 14th Sir Colin would march on Lucknow.

At nine o'clock on the 14th the army was in motion. Passing to the rear of the Alumbagh, Sir Colin directed his columns upon the Delkoosha Palace and Park, and a fantastic building a little to the west of it, called the Martinière. This side of Lucknow was a mass of groves, gardens, enclosures, and palaces, with stretches of green-sward and cultivated patches between. By sweeping so far to the eastward Sir Colin avoided the defences which the Sepoy mutineers and their allies had accumulated on the canal, and about the bridge stormed by Havelock. They had dammed the canal, in order to deepen the water above, and thus outwitted themselves, for they left it dry below, and easy of passage even for heavy guns. After a brief march, the skirmishers came under fire, but pressing on, they chased the enemy through and out of the park, and entered the palace. Then, turning half left, the troops made for the Martinière. Here there was a smarter defence, for the enemy had begun to comprehend the drift of Sir Colin's manœuvre. A number of guns opened on both sides, and the rattle of musketry shook the air; but the infantry leaped over the wall, and with the bayonet soon cleared the building and the enclosure, while the horsemen, dashing through, hunted the enemy over the canal into the suburb on the other side. The troops were now in position from the canal on the right to the Delkoosha Park wall on the left. To cover that flank and protect the road to the Alumbagh, Brigadier Russell seized two villages in front of the left and garrisoned them with Sikhs. Thus posted, the troops prepared to pass the night, when suddenly the enemy assailed the whole position. The troops turned out rapidly and drove them back with great slaughter, and to guard against a similar occurrence, a strong force of all arms bivouacked on the canal. The next day the troops rested in position, and completed the arrangements essential for the safety of the baggage and the line of communications. The garrison of Lucknow were disappointed, and looked on with apprehension; but on the evening of the 15th they were rejoiced to see the telegraph at work, and to read off the signal, "advance tomorrow." For they had prepared the means of making a diversion in favour of the assailants, and the powder in the mines was getting damp during this delay.

Early on the 16th the guns and infantry, except the Sikhs, were withdrawn from the left, and the columns were formed to attack the enemy's position. This consisted of the Secunderbagh across the canal, and near to the Goomtee. Sweeping to the right, the troops moved on, and about mid-day reached the front of the enemy's lines. The Secunderbagh was surrounded by a high wall, loopholed on all sides, and flanked by towers. The whole formed a formidable front, as each group of buildings was supported by another. Nevertheless, the exterior defences were rapidly carried. The guns dashed up under a cross fire and opened on the villages, and the infantry, in open order, closing with the defenders, expelled them. The bulk of the leading brigade then turned upon the Secunderbagh, while the skirmishers stretched away to the left, sweeping the foe before them, and seizing each post of vantage. In the meantime two 18-pounders had been engaged in breaching the main wall of the garden. They had broken down a part of the wall, a small hole through which three or four men could enter abreast. Sir Colin thought his men could carry it, and he started the 93rd and 53rd and 4th Punjabees at the place. They bounded in with a cheer. The houses and the garden were full of Sepoys. Four regiments, upwards of 3,000 men, were caught in this trap. Burning with rage, our troops plied the bayonet with such good will that the enclosure, 120 yards square, became a mere pile of carcases. "There never was a bolder feat of arms," wrote Sir Colin; and rarely, perhaps never, such a horrible slaughter. Still on went the column. The work was not over. Several strong places intervened between the assailants and their friends inside. A little farther on was the Shah Nujeef. Here was another feat of arms. "Captain Peel," says Sir Colin, "led up his guns, with extraordinary gallantry, within a few yards of the building, to batter the massive stone walls. The withering fire of the Highlanders effectually covered the naval brigade from great loss. But it was an action almost unexampled in war; Captain Peel behaved very much as if he had been laying the _Shannon_ alongside an enemy's frigate." This terminated the operations of the day. Indeed, the closing scenes were acted in darkness, illumined only by the fire of the guns, the rockets, and the shells. Thus far had Sir Colin penetrated towards the Chutter Munzil. Between him and it lay the Motee Munzil, to reach which he must come under the guns and musketry of the Kaiserbagh. During this contest outside, Havelock and Outram had not been idle. By dint of mine and battery they had so wrought that, not only had they cleared a part of the road between them and their friends, but had materially assisted in engaging the Kaiserbagh and other buildings full of men and guns. They had made a desperate sortie, and wrought a passage by powder, bayonet, and torch. From the top of the Chutter Munzil the whole scene--domes, minarets, palaces, groves and gardens, all alive with combatants, and mantled in smoke--was visible, and there, aloft, Outram and others, under fire from the other side of the Goomtee, watched the progress of Sir Colin, till night fell.

The next day the first step of Sir Colin Campbell was to make his left rear and line of communications more secure, and with that view he caused a body of troops to occupy a large building near the canal, called Banks's House, and a series of bungalows on the south of the lanes leading to the Delkoosha Park. When this was accomplished, he turned his attention to the Mess House of the 32nd, and the Observatory, which stood on the flank of his road into the Residency. Determined to use his guns as much as possible, Sir Colin directed them upon the Mess House, while Outram caused Eyre's Battery in our lines to join in the fire. Then the place was stormed and found to have been abandoned; but the fire from the Observatory was so heavy that the flag of the 90th, planted by Captain Wolseley, was twice shot away. Wherefore the troops turned furiously upon the Observatory, drove out the enemy, and set it on fire. Only the Motee Munzil remained, and the obstacles here offered were soon overcome. Pouring into this palace under fire from the Kaiserbagh, the troops rapidly filled it; the sappers broke through into other buildings, and the lines of the Residency were won. Forth from them came Lieutenant Moorsom, of the 52nd, ever foremost, and greeted the army of rescue. The troops emerge, Outram and Havelock issue forth, and Sir Colin has the "inexpressible gratification" of greeting them before the fighting is quite at an end. Thus the relief of the besieged garrison was accomplished, and great was the rejoicing among the battered walls, and broken minarets, and gorgeous palaces of Lucknow.

The chiefs of the relieved garrison, ignorant of the state of affairs on the Jumna and in the Doab, thought that Sir Colin would immediately complete the conquest of the city. Sir Colin knew better. Nothing but imperative necessity led him to advance on Lucknow before he had defeated the Gwalior Contingent. He did not know but that, at the very moment when he entered the Chutter Munzil, the enemy might not have fallen upon Windham, and driven him from Cawnpore. To withdraw the garrison and treasure was therefore his first care and his first duty. He had no secure base of operations. His army was, indeed, scattered about in groups, and every man for a week had been constantly on duty. He therefore set himself to devise a plan of taking all away with him as soon as possible. His device was very simple, yet very ingenious. He directed his heavy guns to breach the Kaiserbagh, in order that the enemy might suppose he meant to storm it. Then he ordered the whole force, the women and children, and the trains, to file through his pickets on the night of the 22nd of November. The guns that could not be brought off were burst. The women made their little packages; transport was scarce, and many had to walk; and all going out during daylight were more or less under fire. Before the troops moved, the sick and wounded, the women and children, the stores of grain, and the large mass of treasure, were safely got through to the Delkoosha. Then the troops moved off. "Each exterior line came gradually retiring through its supports, until at length nothing remained," writes Sir Colin, "but the last line of infantry and the guns, with which I was myself to crush the enemy if he had dared to follow up the pickets." Halting one night in the Delkoosha Park, the army, with its enormous train, marched off and halted at the Alumbagh, without having been molested at any point by the enemy, who had a wholesome dread of the splendid cavalry which covered the operation. All arrived safely at the Alumbagh, and Sir Colin, on the 27th of November, leaving a strong force there under Sir James Outram--3,000 men and 18 guns--started off with the rest of the troops to escort a train, ten miles long, to Cawnpore.

But before the Commander-in-Chief marched away, the army had suffered a heavy loss: General Havelock had passed away. Just as he had become the pride of England, he died. The nation exulted when there came news of Havelock's glorious campaign in the Doab, and his determined efforts to reach Lucknow. The Queen at once conferred on him the order of Knight Commander of the Bath; and Sir Colin, when he entered Lucknow, astonished his old comrade by calling him Sir Henry. But Havelock only heard five days before he died that this honour had been bestowed on him. The labour, the anxiety, perhaps the foul atmosphere of Lucknow, proved too much for his strength. On the 20th of November signs of cholera appeared. He was instantly moved out of the city to the Delkoosha Park. Lying on his bed, tended by his son, surrounded by the affection of the army, Havelock declared he should die happy and contented. "I have for forty years so ruled my life," he said to Outram, "that when death came I might face it without fear." He passed a less restless night, but at nine on the morning of the 24th he quietly passed away, dying as became a Christian soldier.