Chapter VI (2)

§13. The Residency at Lucknow was still a place of refuge, although it might possibly be soon overwhelmed by numbers. No effort was spared by the disaffected to stir up the city population against the British authorities. Proclamations were posted from day to day on Hindu temples, and Mohammedan mosques and palaces, calling upon the people to wage a holy war against the Feringhi. Horrible effigies, dressed as British officers and children, but without heads, were carried through the streets by the rabble. Plots were discovered and individuals were arrested, but British prestige was dying out with alarming rapidity, and by the end of June British authority had little influence outside the limits of the Residency at Lucknow.

[Sidenote: Disaster at Chinhut.]

On the 29th of June reports came in that an army of 6,000 rebels was marching towards the British Residency, and that an advanced guard of 1,000 might be expected to arrive on the following morning. Sir Henry Lawrence marched out to attack the advance guard, with 300 Europeans, eleven guns, and about 300 Asiatics, including sepoy cavalry, and native artillery drivers. There was treachery from the outset. Instead of an advanced guard of 1,000, the whole body of insurgents was hidden in the jungle behind the village of Chinhut, about six miles from the Residency. As Sir Henry Lawrence approached he was met by a heavy fire from a battery of guns posted in the village. The Europeans advanced; the British guns returned the enemy's fire with great effect, and victory was assured. At that moment the Asiatic artillery drivers turned traitors, cut the traces, tumbled the guns into a ditch, and deserted to the enemy. The 300 Europeans were thus left exposed to a terrible fire and forced to beat a retreat. They were compelled to abandon their killed and wounded, and only one hundred reached the Residency. Sir Henry Lawrence was severely wounded, and worn out with fatigue and despair, but was brought away on a gun-carriage.

[Sidenote: Defence of the Residency.]

The rebel army followed the Europeans. They reached the bridge which led to the Residency, but were driven back by the fire of the British batteries. They forded the river at another spot, and began to plunder the wealthy quarter of Lucknow. This gave the British garrison breathing time. They abandoned the cantonment on the opposite bank, and many of the buildings near the Residency. Henceforth they contracted the area of defence to the British Residency and a few houses within the Residency enclosure.

[Sidenote: Residency besieged, 30th June.]

The siege of the British Residency soon began in right earnest. The besieged within the enclosure numbered 500 British soldiers, 150 British officers, 500 women and children, and some 300 or 400 sepoys who had remained loyal. The besiegers soon numbered from 25,000 to 50,000 rebels. They environed the Residency enclosure with a circle of guns. They kept up a heavy and continuous fire, and killed and wounded many of the British garrison, but they could not capture a single position.

[Sidenote: Death of Sir Henry Lawrence, 4th July.]

On the second day of the siege Sir Henry Lawrence was mortally wounded by the bursting of a shell. He died on the 4th of July, exhorting those around him to entrench night and day, and to shut their ears against all suggestions of surrender. Such was the terrible lesson which had been taught to every European in India by the treacherous massacres at Cawnpore.

[Sidenote: Dissension amongst the rebels.]

The besiegers increased in numbers with marvellous rapidity. They were joined by all the rebel sepoys in Oudh; by the vassals of the talukdars, who were mostly brigands; and by the scum of the population of Lucknow. They were, however, at constant strife with each other; torn by quarrels about religion, politics, or personal animosities. One prince was raised to the throne and another was placed in command of the army, but their authority was nominal. The rebels elected their own officers, and the officers chose their own generals; but cowardice and insubordination were rampant, and commanding officers often lost their lives in attempts to uphold their short-lived dignities.

[Sidenote: Anarchy in the city.]

[Sidenote: Repulse of rebels, 21st July: news of Havelock.]

Meanwhile there was a reign of terror in the city of Lucknow. The orderly and peaceful classes, which made up the bulk of the population, were overwhelmed by taxes and exactions of all kinds; and bankers, traders and other wealthy citizens, must have yearned for the restoration of a rule under which life and property were always respected.

At early morning, on the 21st of July, there was a general assault. The batteries opened on the Residency from all sides. The sepoys advanced in compact masses to the trenches, but were driven back by the fire of the Europeans. The next day the struggle was renewed, but with the same result. The British garrison, amidst all these toils and privations, exulted in the conviction that they could repulse the assaults of the rebel besiegers until help should arrive. That very night a faithful sepoy got inside the Residency with the news that General Havelock had compelled Nana Sahib to fly for his life, and had recaptured the city and cantonment of Cawnpore.

[Sidenote: Havelock retreats.]

§14. Havelock failed to reach Lucknow. His brave little column worked wonders. It scattered large armies of rebels by bayonet charges, but it was rapidly reduced by three fatal diseases--fever, dysentery and cholera. Havelock could not spare troops for keeping up his communications with Cawnpore; he was compelled to carry his sick and wounded with him, and he was losing fifty men a day. Before he had fought his way a third of the distance, he was compelled with a heavy heart to fall back on Cawnpore.

[Sidenote: Mutiny in Behar: defence of Arrah.]

Havelock reached Cawnpore just in time to save Neill from being overwhelmed by rebel armies. European reinforcements from Bengal had again been delayed by mutinies. At Patna there had been a Mohammedan plot which was quashed at the outset by Mr. William Tayler, a Bengal civilian. At Dinapore, ten miles west of Patna, three sepoy regiments had mutinied. At Arrah, twenty-five miles still further to the west, a large body of rebels had attacked and plundered the station; but sixteen Europeans and fifty Sikhs defended a single house against 3,000 rebels for an entire week, when they were relieved by a detachment of Europeans from Dinapore under the command of Major Vincent Eyre.

[Sidenote: European garrison at Lucknow.]

Meanwhile the suspense of the Europeans in the Residency at Lucknow was becoming intense. The provisions were coarse and beginning to fail. Most of the native servants and all the bakers had fled at the beginning of the siege. Balls, bullets, and fragments of shells fell into every dwelling-place; and ladies and children on beds of sickness were as much exposed to the fire of the enemy as the soldiers in the trenches. There was, however, no slackening on the part of the garrison. Every man in the Residency worked in the trenches. Officers, soldiers, and civilians were either returning the enemy's fire, or digging with spades and pickaxes. The rains allayed the burning heat; but fever, dysentery, and cholera carried off their victims. No one thought of capitulation. Cawnpore had steeled every British heart. Husbands and fathers would have slain their own wives and daughters, rather than they should have fallen into the hands of the merciless besiegers.

[Sidenote: Delay of Havelock.]

All this while General Havelock was impatient to attempt a second advance on Lucknow. His force was too small to fight a way through the streets of the city into the Residency enclosure. Could the garrison have cut their way out, he might possibly have convoyed the whole body in safety to Cawnpore. But Brigadier Inglis, who commanded the garrison, was hampered with 450 women and children. He had no carriage, and in any case he was unwilling to abandon the guns and treasure. So Havelock and Inglis were both compelled to await the arrival of further reinforcements from Bengal.

[Sidenote: Advance of Havelock and Outram, September.]

§15. At last about the middle of September, a column of 3,000 troops was formed at Cawnpore, of whom 2,700 were Europeans. General Sir James Outram was sent from Calcutta to take the command, and Havelock must have smarted at the supersession; but Outram, who was known as the Bayard of India, chivalrously refused to supersede him. Accordingly the column left Cawnpore under Havelock's command.

[Sidenote: Britons to the rescue.]

Never in British history had a more resolute or enthusiastic column of soldiers taken the field. It was something for the crusaders to wrest Jerusalem from the infidels. It was something to stand against overwhelming numbers at Agincourt and Cressy. But Havelock and his men had to rescue British women and children from the horrible fate that befell the victims at Cawnpore; and neither shot nor shell, bullet nor barricade, could have availed against British valour in such a cause.

[Sidenote: City and Residency.]

There was a five days' toilsome march from the Ganges at Cawnpore to the city of Lucknow. Then a day's halt for rest. Then on the glorious 25th of September, Havelock and his men fought their way into the city, whilst Outram, with a sublime contempt for rebels, scorned to draw his sword, and hammered about with a walking-stick. But the work was no child's play. A rebel battery had to be carried with the bayonet. Then the high street was reached, which led from the suburbs to the Residency, but it was long and narrow. The British column might have suffered heavily from barricades, or from a raking fire which might have been opened from the houses on either side. Outram, however, was familiar with the whole labyrinth of roads and lanes. He led the main body through by-ways towards the Residency, whilst the high street was closed by Highlanders and Sikhs. Towards evening a junction was formed, and the united forces marched straight on to the Residency.

[Sidenote: Anxieties of the garrison.]

Throughout the whole day the beleaguered garrison in the Residency had been anxious and bewildered. In the morning they heard the roar of cannon in the distant suburbs. They beheld a mob of Asiatic fugitives from the city--men, women, and children, with terrified sepoys in full uniform all rushing to the bridges, or wading and swimming through the river. The guns of the Residency opened fire, but the rebel batteries responded with a storm of shot and shell. In the afternoon discharges of musketry were heard; the fusillade drew nearer and nearer. Presently the Europeans and Sikhs appeared on the scene with mounted officers in front. Finally Havelock and Outram dismounted from their horses, and were carried on the shoulders of their men through an embrasure into the Residency.

[Sidenote: Cheers and tears.]

§16. Then arose ringing cheers which must have astonished the Hindu gods on Mount Meru. The pent-up hearts of the half-starved garrison could find no other way of giving vent to their emotions. From every pit, trench, and battery, from behind sand-bags piled on shattered houses, from the sick and wounded in the hospital, nothing was to be heard but shouts and cries of welcome. The British soldiers who poured into the Residency were equally moved. They had saved women and children from the destroyer. Rough and bearded warriors shook hands with the ladies all round. They took the children in their arms, kissed them and passed them from one to the other; and with tears running down their cheeks, they thanked God that all were rescued. But in the hour of gladness there was a dash of sorrow. The gallant Neill had met with a glorious death in the streets of Lucknow.

[Sidenote: Havelock's dilemma.]

Havelock and Outram had cut their way into the Residency, but the question was how to get out again. It was comparatively easy to lead enthusiastic battalions into a beleaguered fortress, but it was a very different thing to convoy 400 women and children, 600 sick and wounded, and a quarter of a million sterling in silver, through the narrow streets of Lucknow exposed to the fire of swarms of rebels thirsting for blood and rupees.

[Sidenote: Unexpected provisions.]

There was, however, no alternative. Provisions were exhausted. Suddenly the commissariat discovered a vast stock of grain which had been overlooked after the death of Sir Henry Lawrence. The problem was solved. The oxen which dragged the guns, ammunition, and baggage of Havelock's column would furnish the garrison with butcher's meat for months. Accordingly it was determined to remain behind the defences of the Residency enclosure until another European army advanced to the conquest of Oudh.

[Sidenote: Sir James Outram in command.]

Sir James Outram was now chief commissioner of Oudh, and general in command of the garrison. Many positions were wrested from the rebels, and the area of defence was enlarged. The garrison was no longer in daily peril, and it was felt that an avenging army of Europeans and Sikhs would soon deliver them.

[Sidenote: Advance of Sir Colin Campbell, November.]

§17. Meanwhile, Sir Colin Campbell, one of the heroes in the Russian war, had been appointed commander-in-chief of the Bengal army, in succession to General Anson. He reached Calcutta in August, and prepared for a second expedition against Lucknow. In October an army of 4,700 Europeans and thirty-two guns was assembled at Cawnpore. In November the expedition set out for Lucknow, under the new commander-in-chief.[32] It included a detachment of sailors from the _Shannon_ frigate, who had brought their guns to bear upon the rebels, under the command of Captain William Peel, a son of the illustrious Sir Robert. The sailors excited the wonder of Asiatics, especially as it was reported that they had fish-tails like tritons, and were harnessed to the guns.

[Sidenote: Deliverance: death of Havelock.]

Sir Colin Campbell did not attempt to drive the rebels out of the city of Lucknow. His one object was to bring away the besieged from the Residency. By Outram's advice he did not advance through streets or by-ways, but made a detour through the palaces and other royal buildings. After much hard fighting, he reached the Residency, and brought away all the besieged at twenty-four hours' notice. The besiegers were outwitted. They knew nothing of what was going on, and continued to fire upon the Residency for hours after it had been abandoned.

But again there was sadness. General Havelock lived long enough to receive the cross of Knight Commander of the Bath, and died amidst the tears of the women and children whom he had done his best to rescue.

[Sidenote: Gwalior rebels at Cawnpore.]

§18. Many a soldier grieved over the retirement from Lucknow, but the retreat was a painful necessity. The Gwalior contingent, maintained by Sindia under the treaty of 1843, had broken out in mutiny and joined the forces of Nana Sahib. An army of 20,000 rebels advanced on Cawnpore, defeated Brigadier Wyndham, who had been left in charge, and occupied the town. Sir Colin Campbell shipped the precious convoy from Lucknow on board a flotilla of steamers, and despatched them to Calcutta. He then took the field, and drove the Gwalior rebels out of Cawnpore.

[Sidenote: Calcutta, 30th January, 1858.]

On the 30th of January, 1858, all the Europeans in Calcutta flocked to the banks of the Hughly, to welcome the return of the besieged from Lucknow; but when a procession of widows and orphans appeared in black raiment, with pallid faces and emaciated forms, the acclamations of the crowd died away in a deep and painful silence, and every eye was filled with tears for the sufferings of the survivors of the beleaguered garrison at Lucknow.

[Sidenote: Conclusion.]

§19. Here ends the story of the siege and relief of Lucknow. In 1858 Oudh was conquered, the rebellion was crushed, peace and order were restored, and a compromise with the talukdars was effected on the battle-field. The reconciliation of the people of Oudh with British rule and supremacy will be noted in a future chapter.

[Sidenote: Causes of the revolt in Oudh.]

Greased cartridges were the cause of the sepoy mutinies of 1857, but they were not the cause of the revolt in Oudh; and yet it was impossible for the British government to postpone the deposition of the king of Oudh or the annexation of the kingdom.

[Sidenote: Unheeded warnings.]

Oudh had been drifting into anarchy ever since it had been taken under British protection. Every Governor-General from Lord Wellesley to Lord Dalhousie had denounced the administration of Oudh as tyrannical, oppressive, and corrupt. Every ruler of Oudh had been threatened in turn; but as the Resident was warned not to interfere beyond tendering advice, repeated threats were as unheeded as the old cry of "wolf." Sir James Outram, the Bayard of India, and last British Resident at Lucknow, summed up his views in the following words:--"I have always been the upholder of native states as long as they retained a spark of vitality, and we could recognise them without infringing our treaties or our suzerain power. It is, therefore, most painful for me to have to acknowledge that if we persist in maintaining this feeble and corrupt dynasty, we shall be sacrificing the interests of ten millions of individuals whom we are bound by treaty to protect by ensuring them a good government, capable of defending the life and property of its subjects."

[Sidenote: Feudatory states: mutinous contingents.]

The feudatory states of India which owe allegiance to the British government displayed no sympathies with the Bengal sepoy, or with their mutinies against greased cartridges. Some may have trimmed and wavered, and were prepared to join the winning side. Contingent and subsidiary forces caught the infatuation against greased cartridges, and revolted against their British officers, and joined the mutineers. The Gwalior contingent revolted, but Sindia remained loyal. Holkar's troops revolted at Indore, and murdered every European they could find; and this could scarcely have been a rebellion against greased cartridges.[33] But after the lapse of a generation any suspicions of disloyalty that may linger in the minds of those who are familiar with the history of the time, may be dropped in oblivion.

FOOTNOTES:

[32] During the march, the 93d Highlanders suddenly stopped, broke
their ranks, and rushed off right and left like madmen. It was thought
that they were seized with a panic. It turned out that they were
flying from bees, who were swarming at their bare legs and stinging
like fury.

[33] For an interesting account of the state of affairs in Central
India during the mutinies of 1857, see _Life of Major-General Sir
Henry M. Durand_, by his Son. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1883. Sir Henry
Durand was Agent to the Governor-General for Central India, and
Resident at Indore, during the mutinies.