Chapter X

1857-1858.

The Lorcha _Arrow_--War with China--Defeat of the
Government--Dissolution of Parliament--Palmerston returns to
Office--Startling News from India--Mutiny at Meerut--The
Chupatties--Loyalty of the Sikhs--Lord Canning's Presence of
Mind--Disarmament of Sepoys at Meean Meer--The Rising at
Cawnpore--Nana Sahib's Treachery--The Massacre--Siege of
Delhi--The Relief of Lucknow--Death of Havelock--Sir Hugh Rose's
Campaign--The Ranee of Jhansi--Capture and Execution of Tantia
Topee--End of the East India Company's Rule--Marriage of the
Princess Royal.

It is well that the next chapter in British warfare is a short one, for it is one which Britons can peruse with little pride. It is prefaced by a paragraph in the Queen's Speech at the opening of Parliament on February 3, 1857: "Acts of violence, insults to the British flag, and infraction of treaty rights, committed by the local Chinese authorities at Canton, and a pertinacious refusal of redress, have rendered it necessary for Her Majesty's officers in China to have recourse to measures of force to obtain satisfaction."

THOMAS ARNOLD, D.D., 1795-1842.

Appointed Head Master of Rugby School in 1827, he infused a new tone and spirit into English Public School Education. He was the first to introduce modern languages, modern history, and mathematics into the regular school course.]

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN THE ROBES OF THE ORDER OF THE GARTER.

Painted in 1859.]

[Sidenote: The Lorcha "Arrow."]

[Sidenote: War with China.]

A dispute had arisen out of circumstances even more trivial than the question of custody of the Holy Places, which led to the Crimean war. A vessel termed a "lorcha," lying in the Canton river in October 1856, was boarded by Chinese officials, who took away twelve men accused of piracy, although the lorcha _Arrow_ was flying the British flag. The British Consul at Canton demanded the release of these men, according to the treaty of 1843; but the Chinese Governor Yeh declared that the _Arrow_ was not a British vessel but a Chinese pirate, and refused to comply with the Consul's demand. It was proved, however, that the _Arrow_ had been duly registered as a British vessel, though her registration had actually expired ten days before the arrest of the men. Mr. Parkes, the British Consul, appealed to Sir John Bowring, British Minister at Hongkong. Bowring was determined to stand no nonsense from the Chinaman: nor was he going to trouble himself whether the _Arrow_ was entitled to fly the British ensign or not! As a matter of fact, he wrote to Parkes that the expiry of the registration had deprived her owners of the right, but that as the Chinese did not know that, they must be held responsible for insulting the flag. Anyhow, it was enough for Bowring that Chinese officials had dared to take men by force from under that flag, whether it had been hoisted rightfully or wrongfully. He sent an ultimatum to Yeh, demanding the release of the men and an ample apology within forty-eight hours, or he would begin hostilities. Yeh released the men, and promised that greater caution should be observed in future, but he refused to apologise, maintaining that the _Arrow_ was in fact a Chinese vessel. Incredible as it may seem that such powers should be vested in a British Minister, and still more so, that he should employ them in such a miserable quarrel, nevertheless Bowring ordered up the fleet and Canton was severely bombarded for several days. Yeh made the tactical blunder of offering a reward for the heads of Englishmen. He got no heads, but he forfeited the respect which England always pays to an honourable foe.

INTERIOR OF THE GUN-COTTON FACTORY AT WALTHAM ABBEY.

The picture represents the Pulping and Moulding Room. Gun-cotton consists of cotton-waste subjected to the action of nitric acid, washed, boiled, chopped into pulp, and pressed into blocks.]

BARREL-ROOM AT THE SMALL ARMS FACTORY, ENFIELD.]

[Sidenote: Defeat of the Government, and Dissolution.]

[Sidenote: Palmerston returns to Office.]

There was considerable sensation when the news came to England. Lord Derby moved a vote of censure in the Lords, and the only answer the Lord Chancellor could make to the enquiry whether, supposing a Chinese owner of a Chinese vessel bought a British ensign, that made her a British vessel, was that the Chinese had no right to assume that the flag was hoisted illegally. The House of Lords supported the Government, but it went worse with them in the Commons. On the motion of Mr. Cobden, Ministers were defeated by a majority of sixteen. Mr. Disraeli had dared the Government to go to the country on the question. "I should like," he had said, in the measured, biting accents of his later manner, "to see the proud leaders of the Liberal party--no reform, new taxes, Canton blazing, Pekin invaded!" Palmerston took up the gauntlet; he appealed to the country, and he put his policy--thorough "Jingo," as it would be termed nowadays--before the constituencies in such sort that he was returned to power stronger than before. Never was a Minister more thoroughly justified in settling his plans for a long spell of office. But Palmerston himself is said to have observed once that "the life of a Ministry was never worth three months' purchase," of which the fate of his own second Administration was a striking illustration. It lasted just long enough to enable him to announce to the House of Commons in February 1858 that Canton had fallen before a combined English and French force; for the French in the interval had managed to pick a quarrel with the Chinese. A treaty was concluded securing access to the interior of China for Englishmen and Frenchmen, establishing diplomatic relations between England and France and the Court of China, and securing the toleration of Christianity.

WINDING CORDITE IN THE GOVERNMENT FACTORY.

Cordite is composed of gun-cotton and nitro-glycerine. In the form of greasy cord it is wound on reels, and afterwards cut into lengths.]

On June 25, 1857, the Queen issued Letters Patent conferring on Prince Albert the title of Prince Consort, a name which had been popularly applied to him for many years in England, and by which he was known henceforward to the world. The change may seem an unimportant one, but it created some unreasonable dissatisfaction at the time, and the Press of the country betrayed no enthusiasm in its favour.

MACHINE-GUN SHOP AT THE SMALL ARMS FACTORY, ENFIELD.]

[Sidenote: Startling News from India.]

The transit of news had been greatly accelerated over large tracts of the globe by the use of electricity, but it still took many weeks to convey intelligence between Great Britain and her Empire in India. Little did the people who assembled in London on June 23, 1857, to celebrate the centenary of the Battle of Plassey, by which Bengal was added to the British Dominions, imagine that at that very moment Bengal was the scene of a conflict as mighty in scope as it was horrifying in detail. The story burst upon England with the suddenness of a tornado. The Sepoy army had risen in revolt, murdered their officers, proclaimed the King of Delhi Emperor of India, and the whole peninsula was in rebellion. There had been awful massacres too; English men, women, and children had been slaughtered in hundreds; most hideous of all there were circumstantial stories of outrage, followed by torture, committed upon our women. A terrible moan for vengeance rose throughout the land. There were few families who had not relations, or at least friends and acquaintances, among the British communities in India; the suddenness of the news was not the most appalling part of it; it was the ghastly details of the story that so deeply moved the nation. Black and bloody as the reality afterwards proved to be, the mutineers were not shown to have been guilty of the worst horrors imputed to them in the early days of the rising. Englishwomen perished as women perished in the worst of mediæval massacres, but they were not subjected to outrage or torture, as was circumstantially affirmed and universally believed at first.

THE FIRE-ARMS OF THE EARLY YEARS OF HER MAJESTY'S REIGN.

1. "Brown Bess" (smooth-bore flint-lock).
2. Baker's rifle (flint-lock).
3. Baker's rifle, with sword-bayonet.
4. Brunswick rifle (percussion).
5. Minié rifle (1851).

The above were all in use at the time of the Crimean War.]

This great convulsion is always referred to as the Indian Mutiny, because of the violent revolt of so many native regiments in the British service; but it was far more than a mutiny; it was an insurrection of the Indian races against the European conqueror, a common rising of Hindoo and Mahomedan against the Christian power. Disaffection to British rule had never ceased to smoulder: how should it, seeing that so many native rulers had been deposed, so many others placed in inglorious dependency or on pension? The misrule and oppression of these potentates had been forgotten by the people who once groaned under them, just as the Jacobites who shouted for "the auld Stuarts back again" forgot what the people had endured under the Stuart kings. Dost Mahomed had shown an example how the Feringhi could be dealt with, and there were a thousand grievances against English officers and magistrates to be wiped out.

Lord Dalhousie had resigned the Governor-Generalship in March 1856, and his eight years of rule had been regulated by a policy of annexation. Deeply penetrated with the capacity of the Indian races and their country for moral and material development, he perceived how fatal was the native system of rule to all progress. Consequently he was not rigidly scrupulous in every case about the precise justice of the means by which one principality after another was added to the British dominions. The greatest happiness of the greatest number often involves disappointment and even direct injury to the few. Dalhousie vindicated his policy by the splendid energy he showed in making roads, railways, and telegraphs, in reducing taxation, and in general measures for the good of the people; but he undoubtedly left a feeling of soreness and resentment that only waited a fitting opportunity to take effect.

Out of this discontent arose a widespread conspiracy against British rule in the beginning of 1857. It is believed by some that the military rising was premature, and disconcerted the measures of those organising the general revolt. Be that as it may, the earliest overt acts of rebellion took place among the troops.

THE RIFLES OF THE LATER YEARS OF HER MAJESTY'S REIGN.

6. Enfield long rifle (1853).
7. Snider-Enfield rifle (1864).
8. Martini-Henry rifle (1871).
9. Lee-Metford magazine rifle, with short sword-bayonet (the
present regulation weapon).]

CYCLIST CORPS.

The value of the bicycle in actual warfare has yet to be proved; but, like the field telegraph and the military balloon, it has already taken its place in the equipment of European Armies. The Corps represented is the 2nd V.B. West Kent Regiment.]

"TROOPING THE COLOURS" ON HER MAJESTY'S BIRTHDAY.

The annual "trooping of the colours" of the Household Troops on the Horse Guards Parade is the prettiest military pageant to be seen nowadays in London.]

[Sidenote: Rising at Meerut.]

The effect of the Minié rifle, carried by some of the Russian troops in the Crimea, had been so remarkable, that the British military authorities had decided that the day of "Brown Bess"--the smooth-bore musket--had gone by. In common with the rest of the forces, therefore, the Enfield rifle was served out to the Indian troops in 1856. Now the paper of the cartridges used in this weapon was greased, and the idea was industriously circulated among the Sepoys that the lubricant used was a mixture of the fat of cows and pigs--a most ingenious falsehood, if falsehood it were--a most unlucky fact, if fact it were--for the native troops were composed partly of Mahomedans, to whom, of all animals, the hog is most loathsome, and partly of Hindoos, by whom, of all animals, the cow is held most sacred. Falsehood or fact, the story served a sinister purpose, for although the issue of the objectionable cartridges was stopped in January, and Lord Canning, the Governor-General, issued a Proclamation in May to the Army of Bengal, declaring that the story of an intentional affront to religion and caste on the part of the Government was utterly groundless, the early months of 1857 witnessed repeated instances of military insubordination, and some of the native regiments had to be disbanded. On Saturday, May 9, eighty-five men of the Bengal Cavalry were sentenced at Meerut to long periods of imprisonment and hard labour for refusing to use the cartridges issued to them. Next day, Sunday, the whole native garrison at Meerut, the largest military station in India, mutinied, killed several of their officers, massacred some Europeans, and breaking open the gaol, released their imprisoned comrades. The European troops at Meerut drove them out of their cantonments; but allowed the mutineers to march to Delhi, where the octogenarian representative of the Great Mogul still held his court as a subject of Queen Victoria and pensioner of the East India Company. This old man they proclaimed Emperor of India, and the military mutiny assumed at once the character of national rebellion. All the patriotism that had been outraged, all the aspirations that had been crushed, all the private interests that had suffered by Lord Dalhousie's annexation of the Punjab, of Oude, of Sattara, and of Jhansi, found their outlet and opportunity in the mutiny of the garrison of Meerut. The great Koh-i-noor diamond, symbol of the sovereignty of Lahore, had been displayed at the Great Exhibition of 1851: the diamond might be gone beyond recall, but the tyranny of the Sikh Ameers had passed from memory also, and a resolute effort might restore them. There are known various modes of pre-historic telegraph. In the Scottish Highlands of old the fiery cross, passed from hamlet to hamlet, summoned the clansmen to arms; on the Borders the bale-fires leapt from height to height to rouse the land: not less sure and hardly less swift was the symbol of "chupatties," little unleavened cakes, of which two were left with the head man of each village of Northern India on an appointed morning, with directions to make similar cakes and pass them on. When the standard of rebellion was hoisted on the citadel of Delhi, the train had been laid and all was in readiness for an explosion which should shatter to fragments British rule in India.

THE BATTLE OF KOOSHAB, February 8, 1857.

The Persian War of 1856-1857 was undertaken to establish the independence of Afghanistan, and the Persians were defeated in an action at Kooshab, about forty-four miles from Bushire. When the 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry charged the enemy's square, Lieut. Moore, who was foremost, leapt into the square and had his horse killed under him. Lieut. Malcolmson fought his way to his brother officer and rescued him. Both officers were awarded the Victoria Cross.]

CAPTAIN DIGHTON PROBYN AT AGRA.

In the action against the mutineers at Agra, in August 1857, Captain (now Lieut.-General Sir) Dighton Probyn distinguished himself by leading his squadron against an overwhelming mass of the enemy's infantry. He received the Victoria Cross for his gallantry on this occasion.]

[Sidenote: Loyalty of the Sikhs.]

But there was one factor essential to making the convulsion complete, and that was the co-operation of the Sikhs--the most warlike population of India--the people who, only eight years before, had inflicted on British arms what we must be honest enough to own as the defeat of Chilianwalla. While the rebellion was spreading like wildfire through the whole of the rest of the North-West, and blazing through Oude into Lower Bengal, while regiment after regiment was rising, shooting its officers, and joining the native population in pillage and massacre of Christians, the Sikhs never wavered in fidelity to British rule. That was what saved the British Indian Empire--that, and the way in which British officials behaved in the hour of trial.

Of course, severe reflections have been passed on those in command of European troops at Meerut and in the neighbourhood of Delhi for allowing the revolted regiments to pass unmolested from the former to the latter place. There was indecision shown, no doubt. The Commandant at Meerut telegraphed to Delhi what had occurred, and did no more. Next day the Mahomedans of Delhi rose and joined the Sepoys, and the Europeans in the Residency could only blow up their magazine to prevent it falling into the hands of the rebels. It is easy to sit in an elbow chair and pronounce the opinion that if the authorities at Meerut had showed presence of mind the rebellion might have been quashed at the outset; but it is a fearful thing for soldiers to have to turn their arms suddenly against their comrades; and any hesitation or weakness shown on that occasion may be forgotten in the tribute due to the whole body of military and civil officers for their conduct in what followed.

VISCOUNT CANNING, 1812-1862.

Governor-General and First Viceroy of India.]

_From a Photograph_} {_by Gregory & Co., Strand._

TYPES OF OUR INDIAN CAVALRY.

1. Guide Cavalry.
2. 1st Bengal Cavalry.
3. 1st Punjab Cavalry.
4. Major, 11th Bengal Lancers.
5. 1st Contingent, India Horse.
6. 4th Bombay Poonah Horse.
7. 1st Madras Lancers.
8. 4th Contingent, Lancers (Hyderabad).]

[Sidenote: Lord Canning's Presence of Mind.]

Lord Canning played a splendid part. Of all moods of the human creature there is none so ungovernable as fear. The suddenness of the outbreak, the rapidity of its spread, the atrocious massacres which marked its progress, created a wild panic in Calcutta and other European communities. Canning was assailed on all sides by the insane counsels of terror. He was urged to take the most savage methods of reprisal. The dethroned King of Oude was living near Calcutta. Of all Dalhousie's annexations perhaps that of Oude was the one which most afflicted sensitive consciences; and the people of Calcutta, convinced that the King of Oude was preparing schemes of vengeance, besought the Governor-General to seize his person. Canning responded by receiving the King and his Vizier to reside in his own house. The clamours against him rose to frenzy: people nicknamed him "Clemency Canning"; they shrieked for his recall; but through all the tumult this great man kept his head cool and his nerve steady.

STATE ELEPHANTS OF THE VICEROY OF INDIA.

The elephant in the centre of the group was taken from the Nawab of Bengal at the Battle of Plassey in 1757, and was 140 years old when the photograph was taken.]

Happily there were other cool heads besides the Governor-General's. On May 11 information of the outbreak at Meerut was telegraphed from Calcutta to Lahore, the capital of the Punjab. The Governor, Sir John (afterwards Lord) Lawrence was absent at Rawul Pindee, having left full power in the hands of the Judicial Commissioner, Mr. Robert Montgomery. Four thousand Sepoy troops lay at Meean Meer, five or six miles from Lahore, and Mr. Montgomery had to decide on the instant whether these should be assumed to be contemplating mutiny. He came to a speedy decision. They must not be allowed the chance. There was a great ball in Lahore that night; among the guests were the civil and military chiefs of the district. Mr. Montgomery consulted with them and it was resolved to disarm the native troops. A parade was ordered for daybreak at Meean Meer: twelve guns loaded with grape were placed along one side of the parade ground. The troops were formed up in line of contiguous columns facing the guns and ordered to pile arms. They obeyed, for to hesitate was death. The rifles were carried off in carts, and the station was left in possession of 1,300 European troops. This was perhaps the most critical moment of the Mutiny. Nothing short of Mr. Montgomery's firmness, supported by the military commanders, could have ensured the safety of the Punjab.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, CALCUTTA.

The official residence of the Viceroy of India. Built in 1799-1804 by Lord Wellesley at a cost of about £150,000. Calcutta is the seat of Government of the Empire of India; population (1891), 862,000. The total population of India in 1891 was 287,000,000, of whom only 238,500 habitually spoke English, and of these less than half were British born.]

[Sidenote: The Rising at Cawnpore.]

The darkest page of the book of Mutiny is that which contains the story of Cawnpore. In May 1857 there were 3,000 native troops at that place, and about 300 Europeans, under command of Sir Hugh Wheeler, an old man of seventy-five. Wheeler had reason to expect his force to mutiny, and appealed to Nana Sahib, a neighbouring prince representing the dethroned Mahratta Peishwah of Poonah, to help him. Nana had an undoubtedly genuine grievance against the Government. On the death of the last Peishwah, Lord Dalhousie had refused to continue the pension to his adopted son Nana, thereby violating the Hindoo principle that all the rights of sonship, material as well as spiritual, are conveyed by adoption. Nana, whose real name was Seereek Dhoondoo Punth, was rich and hospitable, and delighted in entertaining English officers and their ladies at his residence near Cawnpore. He responded cordially to Sir Hugh's invitation, and came at once to Cawnpore with 300 men and two guns, to help to keep order. His arrival coincided with the revolt of the garrison, and he placed himself at once at the head of the mutineers. Wheeler had taken refuge in an old hospital building with about 1,000 Europeans, of whom 280 were women and girls, with about the same number of children. A hasty entrenchment was thrown up, and Wheeler refused Nana's summons to surrender. For nineteen days, under the tropical sun of June, this handful of brave men maintained the defence of their crumbling mud wall against thousands of rebels. The assailants were reinforced by a contingent of Oude men, who made a fierce assault on the place; but the English were fighting for more than their mere lives; the presence of their women and children made each man bear himself like a Paladin. The attack was repulsed, and this prolonged resistance soon began to tell on the prestige of Nana, for Hindoos and Mahomedans alike appreciate prowess in the field. He offered terms to the besieged: "All those who are in no way connected with the acts of Lord Dalhousie, and who are willing to lay down their arms, shall receive a safe passage to Allahabad."

A. Post and Telegraph Offices. B. High Court. C. Clock Tower.
D. University. E. Secretariat.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS, BOMBAY.

Bombay is for Europeans the Gate of India, the port of arrival and departure for both passengers and mails. It is in direct communication by railway with Calcutta and Madras. Population (1891), 822,000.]

NATIVE HOUSES IN THE FORT, BOMBAY.]

STATUE OF THE QUEEN AND TELEGRAPH OFFICE, BOMBAY.

The Statue, executed in white marble by Noble, was unveiled by Lord Northbrook in 1872. A native superstition ascribes the origin of the recent plague to vengeance for an insult offered to this statue, which was one morning found bedaubed with tar.]

[Sidenote: The Massacre.]

The terms were accepted. The little garrison had done all that flesh and blood and gallant souls could do. The survivors of the siege embarked in boats on the Ganges, prepared by Nana's orders. The women and children were all aboard, the men were following. At that moment a bugle sounded; instantly the straw awnings of the boats burst into flame, and the native rowers leaped out. A fire of grape and musketry poured down on the frail craft, and continued till Tantia Topee, Nana's lieutenant, sounded the "Cease fire!" Then the survivors, 125 Englishwomen and children, many of them sorely wounded, were collected and driven back to the town. One only of the boats escaped, drifting down the Ganges, a target for innumerable marksmen on both banks. A dozen men landed to drive off the assailants; in their absence the boat was captured, and those on board--sixty-five men, twenty-five women, and four children--were haled back to Cawnpore. The men were shot on the spot; the women and children were crammed into the prison-house with the others. Cholera and dysentery soon carried off eighteen women and seven children--more fortunate than their companions.

SUTTEE CHOWRA GHAT.

On the banks of the Ganges; the scene of the first massacre of Cawnpore.]

THE STATUE ERECTED OVER THE WELL AT CAWNPORE

Into which the bodies of the English women and children were thrown after the massacre in the prison.]

BENARES FROM THE GANGES.

Benares is the sacred city of the Hindoos. It contains innumerable temples and shrines, the most sacred being that of Bisheswar, dedicated to the worship of Shiva; its dome is overlaid with gold. To Buddhists the stupa now called Damek, three miles to the north of Benares, erected on the spot where Buddha first expounded his doctrine, is a place of pilgrimage. But the most prominent object from the river is the Mohammedan mosque built by Aurungzeb, son of Shah Jehan. Its slender minarets are 147 feet high.]

Nana's visions of rule were becoming overcast. The English had rallied from the first shock of the Mutiny; troops, before which he knew his men dared not stand, were drawing near; Havelock had already routed Tantia Topee, with 4,000 of Nana's best fighting men, and Neill was at Allahabad. The rebellion was mastered, but Nana's vengeance, if it was to be balked of its full scope, at least should be complete on those who were in his power. A company of Sepoys was ordered up to the house where the Englishwomen were imprisoned. Unhappy creatures, their approaching fate cannot have caused them much concern; they were in every circumstance of suffering and misery already. For nearly four weeks they had not been able to change their tattered clothing, nor had a drop of water to wash in. The Sepoys began firing through the windows, but there were traces of mercy in their hearts; they fired high and ineffectively, and were marched home again. In the evening five men were sent up and entered the house; awful sounds were heard within, and twice one of the butchers came out and exchanged his broken, bloody sword for a fresh weapon. At length all was still; the five men, weary with slaughter, came out and went off, locking the door behind them. Next morning they returned with a fatigue party, cleared out that fearful house of blood, and flung the bodies down a dry well.

THE CASHMERE GATE, DELHI.]

There is nothing in English history, at least during the last six centuries, approaching in horror to the massacre of Cawnpore, and it is well that one is not often called on to witness--to share in--the fury, the wild cry for revenge, that rose from England when the tale came to be told there. Nana Sahib waited to encounter the victorious Havelock on July 16; he was completely defeated, fled from the field in the direction of Nepaul, and has never since been heard of. Of the twelve men who left the boat which floated down the Ganges, four escaped after extraordinary adventures, by favour of a friendly rajah--the sole survivors of the European community at Cawnpore.

BLOWING UP OF THE CASHMERE GATE, DELHI.

This was one of the most daring exploits in a campaign remarkable for deeds of gallantry. Advancing across a broken drawbridge in broad daylight, in the face of the enemy's defences, Lieutenants Home and Salkeld, with native sappers to carry the gunpowder, succeeded in laying eight bags of powder against the gate. Home leaped into the ditch unhurt; Salkeld, who held a lighted port fire, was badly wounded and fell back on the bridge, handing the port-fire as he fell to Sergeant Burgess, who was immediately shot dead. Sergeant Carmichael then advanced, picked up the port-fire, and lighted the fuse, but fell mortally wounded. The gate was blown in, killing all its defenders but one, and the British entered without opposition.]

[Sidenote: Siege of Delhi.]

On June 8 General Wilson appeared before Delhi, but his force was far too small to attempt to invest a city held by 30,000 insurgents. General Nicholson reinforced him in August, and on September 20 the place was taken by assault, Nicholson falling dead at the head of the storming columns.

FIELD-MARSHAL LORD CLYDE, 1792-1863.

Born at Glasgow; entered the army in 1808, and served with great distinction in the Peninsula, China, the Punjab, the Crimea, and was Commander-in-Chief in the operations for the suppression of the Indian Mutiny. For his services in this campaign he was raised to the peerage. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.]

Seeing that it has been necessary to relate some of the many atrocities perpetrated by the rebel leaders, it would be unfair to keep regarding one that was enacted here by an English officer. A brave young fellow called Hodson, commanding an irregular force well-known as Hodson's Horse, asked General Wilson's permission to capture the King of Delhi and his family. Wilson consented, provided the old King's life should be preserved. The King and his sons had taken refuge in an immense enclosure, the tomb of the Emperor Hoomayoon, adjoining the city, where he was guarded by a strong armed force. Hodson quietly rode up with a small escort and called on the troops to lay down their arms. Believing, no doubt, that the English officer had ample force at hand to enforce his command, they instantly obeyed. The King's life was spared, according to orders, but, shameful to say, Hodson summoned the three Princes--the King's sons--before him, and shot them with his own hand. It was a horrible act, but in the spirit of vengeance then prevalent, many were found to justify it, and Hodson was never brought to trial. He was killed in action at Lucknow not long after.

1. Sir Henry Havelock.
2. Sir James Outram.
3. Sir Colin Campbell.
4. Sir John Inglis.
5. Sir Hope Grant.
6. Major-General Sir W. R. Mansfield.
7. Sir William Peel.
8. Brigadier Hon. Adrian Hope.

THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW, November 17, 1857.

This picture represents the meeting of General Sir Henry Havelock, Sir James Outram, and Sir Colin Campbell at the Mess House of the 32nd Regiment, in Lucknow, in November 1857. It was executed from sketches taken on the spot by Egron Lundgren.]

CAPTAIN SIR WILLIAM PEEL, R.N.,

In command of the Naval Brigade at Lucknow.]

While these events were passing, General Anson, Commander-in-Chief of the forces in India, died on June 27. It was decided to send out Sir Colin Campbell to replace him. On being asked when he would be ready to start Sir Colin answered with characteristic promptitude: "To-morrow"; and he sailed the following day without waiting to prepare his outfit.

[Sidenote: The Relief of Lucknow.]

Sir Henry Lawrence,[G] Chief Commissioner of Oude, had fortified and provisioned the Residency of Lucknow where, on July 2, he was besieged, having with him a single battalion of Europeans and all the European inhabitants of the station. Lawrence was killed at the opening of the siege, but the little garrison held out with magnificent resolution till, on September 25, they were relieved by Havelock and Outram. But these generals were in turn hemmed in by immense masses of rebel troops, and it was not until Sir Colin Campbell fought his way to Lucknow, on November 17, that the garrison with the women and children could be considered to be relieved. One of those who endured this long and painful siege was that Dr. Brydon, who had ridden alone into Jellalabad after the awful retreat from Cabul in 1842.

SIR HENRY HAVELOCK, 1795-1857.]

LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR JAMES OUTRAM, 1803-1863.]

[Sidenote: Death of Havelock.]

The Residency was evacuated on the 22nd, and Havelock, outworn with the heroic exertions of the past six months, died on the 24th. If Lord Canning's calm resolution and Mr. Montgomery's bold promptitude were the chief agents in checking the proportions of the rebellion, it was Havelock's masterly generalship and cool courage in face of overwhelming numbers that first broke the military spirit of the insurgents. Soon after Havelock's death, Sir Colin was obliged to suspend operations at Lucknow in order to repair a disaster which had overtaken General Wyndham, who had been defeated by the Gwalior rebel army at Cawnpore. Having done so, and captured that place of dreadful memory, he rejoined Sir Hope Grant at Lucknow, which was taken by assault on March 19, 1858.

RUINS OF THE BAILEY GUARD, THE RESIDENCY, LUCKNOW.]

THE TAJ MAHAL, AGRA.

This building, erected in 1629-1648 to serve as the Mausoleum of Arjamand Benu Begam, wife of the Emperor Shah Jehan, is reputed the most beautiful specimen of architecture in India, perhaps in the world. It is of white marble and precious stones, and possesses a feminine grace and charm which no photograph can reproduce.]

It throws some light on the magnitude of what is usually called the Indian Mutiny, that upwards of 2,000 of the enemy were killed in the final attack, and 100 of their guns taken. Those who had begun by putting down a mutiny had to end by re-conquering the greater part of India.

Sir Colin Campbell (now Lord Clyde) continued the campaign in Oude after the Fall of Lucknow, ably assisted by Jang Bahádur of Nepál, until that province was entirely subdued by the end of 1858. Sir Hugh Rose (afterwards Lord Strathnairn) was opposed to the last in Central India by the Ranee of Jhansi, a Princess of extraordinary character, who rode in battle like a modern Joan of Arc, and fell, sabre in hand, at the head of her troops. Tantia Topee, the former lieutenant of Nana, was the last to hold out, but at length he, too, was taken in April 1859, and hanged for his share in the horrors of Cawnpore.

THE REGALIA.

1. Imperial State Crown, made for Queen Victoria, 1838. It
contains the ruby given to Edward the Black Prince by the King
of Castile, 1367, and 2,783 diamonds, besides pearls, rubies,
sapphires, and emeralds.

2. The old Sceptre.

3. The Queen Consort's Crown, made for Mary of Modena, Queen of
James II.

4. Top of Salt Cellar used at Coronation banquet.

5. (In centre of picture.) Monde of the old Imperial Crown.

6 and 7. The Sceptre with the Cross, and the Orb, both made for
the Coronation of Charles II.

8. St. Edward's Crown, used at the Coronation of Queen Victoria.

The total value of the Regalia exceeds £3,000,000.]

[Sidenote: End of the East India Company's Rule.]

It was not possible that such a convulsion should pass through the peninsula of Hindostan without shaking down everything that could be shaken in its institutions. The English public--the average English Parliament man--knew of the existence of British rule in India, and could lay finger on Calcutta in the map. But that was about the utmost precise knowledge of Indian affairs possessed by most people, until attention was violently forced to them by the Great Mutiny. Then it dawned upon them that this mighty dominion was governed by the directors of a trading company, who exercised all the powers of empire, civil and military, deriving their authority from a charter signed by Queen Elizabeth. Various limitations and reforms, indeed, had been imposed by Parliament on "John Company"; still, the whole system had become an archaism, as uncertain in practice as it was indefensible in theory. The time for sweeping changes had come, not because the directors of the East India Company had abused their authority; but the safety of the Empire required that the Crown should enter now upon the heritage won by the commercial enterprise of its subjects. The Act for the better government of India was framed on a series of Resolutions laid before a Committee of the whole House, and became law in the autumn of 1858. It provided that the Administration of India should pass wholly out of the hands of the Company into those of the Queen, governing through a Secretary of State and a Council of fifteen, seven of whom were to be nominated by the Court of Directors and eight by the Crown. The Governor-General was made a Viceroy, the Indian Navy was discontinued, and the twenty-four European Regiments in the Company's Service were amalgamated with the Royal army.

HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS ROYAL AT THE TIME OF HER MARRIAGE.]

[Sidenote: Marriage of the Princess Royal.]

Notice must be paid here to a happy event, which brought to a close the unpleasant feelings subsisting between the Courts of Great Britain and Prussia, owing to the unfriendly and insincere conduct of the King of Prussia during the Crimean Campaign. On January 25, 1858, the Princess Royal was married in the Chapel Royal, St. James's, to the Crown Prince of Prussia, who, in later years, bore such a distinguished part as the Emperor Frederick William of Germany.

1. Her Majesty the Queen.
2. Prince Consort.
3. Princess Royal.
4. Crown Prince of Prussia.
5. Prince of Wales.
6. Prince Alfred.
7. Prince Arthur.
8. Prince Leopold.
9. Princess Alice.
10. Princess Helena.
11. Princess Louise.
12. King of Prussia.
13. Queen of Prussia.
14. Duke of Saxe-Coburg.
15. Archbishop of Canterbury.
16. King of the Belgians.
17. Duchess of Kent.
18. Duke of Cambridge.
19. Duchess of Cambridge.
20. Princess Mary of Cambridge.
21. Lady Cecilia Lennox.
22. Lady Villiers.
23. Lady Stanley.
24. Lady Murray.
25. Lady Molyneaux.
26. Lady Susan Pelham Clinton.
27. Earl of St. Germans.
28. Marquess of Breadalbane.
29. Earl of Clarendon.

THE MARRIAGE OF T.R.H. THE PRINCESS ROYAL AND THE CROWN PRINCE FREDERICK WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA, January 25, 1858.]

BALMORAL CASTLE.

Her Majesty's Highland residence was built in 1853 from designs by H.R.H. the Prince Consort. It is of white Crathie granite. There are 30,000 acres of deer forest within the bounds of the royal demesne.]