Chapter XVIII: The Siege of Delhi: Final Operations (3)

One of the writers remarked: ‘The stout rope-mat which forms an
efficient screen to the Russian artillerymen while serving their gun,
impervious to the Minié ball, which lodges harmlessly in its rough and
rugged surface, may surely suggest to our engineers the expediency of
some effort to shield the valuable lives of our men when exposed to
the enemy’s fire. In ancient warfare, all nations appear to have
defended themselves from the deadly arrow by shields, and why the
principle of the testudo should be ignored in modern times is not
obvious. Take the instance before us—Lieutenant Salkeld and a few
others undertake the important, but most perilous duty of blowing in
the Cashmere Gate, by bags of gunpowder, in broad daylight, and in the
face of numerous foes, whose concentrated fire threatens the whole
party with certain death. It is accomplished, but at what a loss!
Marvellous indeed was it that one escaped. Now, as a plain man,
without any scientific pretensions, I ask, could not, and might not,
some kind of defensive screen have been furnished for the protection
of these few devoted men? Suppose a light cart or truck on three
wheels, having a semicircular framework in front, against which might
be lashed a rope-matting, and inside a sufficient number of sacks of
wool or hay, propelled by means of a central cross-bar pushed against
by four men within the semicircle, the engineers could advance, and on
reaching the gate, perform their work through a central orifice in the
outer matting, made to open like a flap. The party would then retire
in a similar manner, merely reversing the mode of propulsion, until
the danger was past.’ Another, Mr Rock of Hastings, said: ‘In July
1848, I sent a plan for a movable shield for attacking barricades, to
General Cavaignac, at Paris; and on the 13th or 14th of July your own
columns (the _Times_) contained descriptions of my machine, and a
statement by your Paris correspondent that it had been constructed at
the Ecole Militaire in that city. Fortunately, it was never used
there, but there seems to me no valid reason why such a contrivance
should not be used on occasions like that which recently occurred at
Delhi. The truck proposed, with a shield in front, would serve to
carry the powder-bags, without incurring the chance of their being
dropped owing to the fall of one or two of the men employed on the
service, while the chances of premature ignition would be diminished.
These, I think, are advantages tending to insure success which should
induce military engineers to use movable cover for their men when
possible, even if they despise it as a personal protection.’

Footnote 90:

When the magazine was so heroically fired by Lieutenant Willoughby,
four months earlier, the destruction caused was very much smaller than
had been reported and believed. The stores in the magazine had been
available to the rebels during the greater part of the siege.

Footnote 91:

_Europeans_— Killed. Wounded.
Officers, 46 140
Non-commissioned officers, 50 113
Rank and file, 476 1313

_Natives_—
Officers, 14 49
Non-commissioned officers, 37 104
Rank and file, 389 1076

Footnote 92:

‘The force assembled before Delhi has had much hardship and fatigue to
undergo since its arrival in this camp, all of which has been most
cheerfully borne by officers and men. The time is now drawing near
when the major-general commanding the force trusts that their labours
will be over, and that they will be rewarded by the capture of a city
for all their past exertions and for a cheerful endurance of still
greater fatigue and exposure.... The artillery will have even harder
work than they yet have had, and which they have so well and
cheerfully performed hitherto; this, however, will be for a short
period only, and when ordered to the assault, the major-general feels
assured British pluck and determination will carry everything before
them, and that the blood-thirsty and murderous mutineers against whom
they are fighting will be driven headlong out of their stronghold or
be exterminated.

‘Major-general Wilson need hardly remind the troops of the cruel
murders committed on their officers and comrades, as well as their
wives and children, to move them in the deadly struggle. _No quarter
should be given to the mutineers_; at the same time, for the sake of
humanity, and the honour of the country they belong to, he calls upon
them to spare all women and children that may come in their way.... It
is to be explained to every regiment that indiscriminate plunder will
not be allowed; that prize-agents have been appointed, by whom all
captured property will be collected and sold, to be divided, according
to the rules and regulations on this head fairly among all men
engaged; and that any man found guilty of having concealed captured
property will be made to restore it, and will forfeit all claims to
the general prize; he will also be likely to be made over to the
provost-marshal, to be summarily dealt with.’

Footnote 93:

‘The reports and returns which accompany this dispatch establish the
arduous nature of a contest carried on against an enemy vastly
superior in numbers, holding a strong position, furnished with
unlimited appliances, and aided by the most exhausting and sickly
season of the year.

‘They set forth the indomitable courage and perseverance, the heroic
self-devotion and fortitude, the steady discipline, and stern resolve
of English soldiers.

‘There is no mistaking the earnestness of purpose with which the
struggle has been maintained by Major-general Wilson’s army. Every
heart was in the cause; and while their numbers were, according to all
ordinary rule, fearfully unequal to the task, every man has given his
aid, wherever and in whatever manner it could most avail, to hasten
retribution upon a treacherous and murderous foe.

‘In the name of outraged humanity, in memory of innocent blood
ruthlessly shed, and in acknowledgment of the first signal vengeance
inflicted upon the foulest treason, the governor-general in council
records his gratitude to Major-general Wilson and the brave army of
Delhi. He does so in the sure conviction that a like tribute awaits
them, not in England only, but wherever within the limits of
civilisation the news of their well-earned triumph shall reach.’

Some days afterwards, Lord Canning issued a more formal and complete
proclamation, of which a few paragraphs may here be given: ‘Delhi, the
focus of the treason and revolt which for four months have harassed
Hindostan, and the stronghold in which the mutinous army of Bengal has
sought to concentrate its power, has been wrested from the rebels. The
king is a prisoner in the palace. The head-quarters of Major-general
Wilson are established in the Dewani Khas [the “Elysium” of the Mogul
palace-builders, and of Moore’s _Lalla Rookh_]. A strong column is in
pursuit of the fugitives.

‘Whatever may be the motives and passions by which the mutinous
soldiery, and those who are leagued with them, have been instigated to
faithlessness, rebellion, and crimes at which the heart sickens, it is
certain that they have found encouragement in the delusive belief that
India was weakly guarded by England, and that before the government
could gather together its strength against them, their ends would be
gained.

‘They are now undeceived.

‘Before a single soldier of the many thousands who are hastening from
England to uphold the supremacy of the British power has set foot on
these shores, the rebel force, where it was strongest and most united,
and where it had the command of unbounded military appliances, has
been destroyed or scattered by an army collected within the limits of
the Northwestern Provinces and the Punjaub alone.

‘The work has been done before the support of those battalions which
have been collected in Bengal from the forces of the Queen in China
and in her Majesty’s eastern colonies could reach Major-general
Wilson’s army; and it is by the courage and endurance of that gallant
army alone, by the skill, sound judgment, and steady resolution of its
brave commander, and by the aid of some native chiefs true to their
allegiance, that, under the blessing of God, the head of the rebellion
has been crushed, and the cause of loyalty, humanity, and rightful
authority vindicated.’

SIR J. E. W. INGLIS, defender of Lucknow.
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