Chapter XXXII: Gradual Pacification in the Autumn (3)

After the victory at Kattara, Roberts left the further pursuit of the rebels for a time to Brigadier Parkes. This officer had started from Neemuch on the 11th with a miscellaneous force of about 1300 men, comprising 72d Highlanders, native infantry, Bombay cavalry, royal engineers, royal artillery, Bheels, and Mewar troopers. By a series of forced marches, Parkes headed the rebels in such a way as greatly to aid General Roberts at Kattara. A few days’ sojourn having refreshed them, the troops were again brought into action. Tanteea Topee, by amazing quickness of movement, traversed a wide belt of country eastward to the river Chumbul, which he crossed near Sagoodar on the 20th. Continuing his route, he arrived at Julra Patteen, a town on the main road from Agra to Indore; it was on the confines of the Rajpoot and Mahratta territories, and was held by a petty chieftainess or Rana. After a brief conflict, in which he was assisted by a few of the troops of the Rana, who broke their allegiance, he captured the place, levied contributions on the inhabitants, and took possession of all the guns, treasure, and ammunition he could find. Here, then, this extraordinary conflict took a new turn; a new region had to be attended to, although against the same offender as before; and new columns had to be despatched in pursuit. The flooding of the river Chumbul cut off Roberts and Parkes for a time from a further pursuit of Tanteea Topee; and therefore two new columns were sent, one from Indore under Colonel Hope, and one from Mhow under Colonel Lockhart. The great point now was to prevent Tanteea from getting into Malwah, and thence crossing the Nerbudda into the Deccan.

Before treating of the operations against this leader in September, it may be well to see what progress was made in checking the rebel leader who had appeared in Scindia’s territory—Man Singh. General Napier made up a new force, comprising certain regiments from his own and Brigadier Smith’s brigades, and placed it under the command of Colonel Robertson, with baggage and vehicles so arranged as to facilitate rapid movement. Setting out from Paoree on the 27th of August, the colonel marched eighteen miles to Bhanore; on the 28th, nineteen miles to Gunneish; and so on for several days, until he reached Burrumpore, near the river Parbuttee. Here, on the 2d of September, he learned that a body of rebels, under Man Singh, were a few miles ahead, endeavouring to reach a fort which they might seize as a stronghold. Pushing on rapidly, Robertson came up with them on the 5th, near the village of Bujeepore. They had not kept a good look-out; they had no suspicion that an active British officer was at their heels; consequently, when Robertson came suddenly upon them with horse and foot, while they were preparing their morning meal, their panic was extreme. They fled through the village, over a hill, across a river, and into a jungle; but the pursuers were so close behind them that the slaughter was very considerable. These rebels were nearly all good troops, from Scindia’s body-guard and from the Gwalior Contingent; they were supposed to have been among the fugitives from Gwalior with Tanteea Topee, but at what time or in what locality they had separated from that leader, and joined Man Singh, was not clearly known. About the middle of the month, Colonel Robertson was at Goonah; Brigadier Smith was searching for Man Singh; while General Napier was watching for any symptoms of the approach of the last-named leader towards Gwalior or its vicinity.

While affairs were thus progressing in the Mahratta country during September, new efforts were made to meet the existing state of things a little further to the west. When Tanteea Topee crossed the Chumbul towards Julra Patteen, and when that river began to swell, General Roberts’s Rajpootana Field-force was unable conveniently to continue the pursuit of the rebel; and, therefore, arrangements were made from the south. As a means of hemming in the rebels as much as possible, and preventing them from carrying their mischief into other regions, a ‘Malwah Field-force’ was sent up from Mhow, under General Michel. Tanteea Topee does not appear to have regarded Julra Patteen as a stronghold in which it was worth his while to remain; he plundered the place of some treasure and many guns, and then took his departure. He must, however, have wavered considerably in his plans; for he took a fortnight in reaching Rajghurh—a place only sixty miles distant. He was probably seeking for any rajah or chieftain who would join his standard. At Rajghurh, Tanteea Topee was joined by some of the beaten followers of Man Singh, probably by Man Singh himself, and seemed to be meditating an attack upon Bhopal. Tanteea and Michel were now both contending which should reach a particular station first, on the Bhopal and Seronj road, as the possession of that station (Beora) would give the holder a powerful command over the district—especially as it was one of the telegraph stations, by which Calcutta and Bombay held communication with each other. Michel came up with Tanteea Topee on the 15th of September, before he reached Beora. The rebels would not meet him openly in the field, but kept up a running-fight. When they saw defeat awaited them, they thought more of their elephant-loads of treasure than of their guns; they escaped with the former, and abandoned the latter, which they had brought from Julra Patteen. At the expense, of one killed and three wounded, General Michel gained a victory which cost the enemy three hundred men, twenty-seven guns, a train of draught bullocks, and much ammunition.

Towards the close of September, Tanteea Topee was in this remarkable position. He was near Seronj, on the high road from Gwalior to Bhopal, looking for any outlet that might offer, or for any chieftain who would join his standard. Roberts was on the west of him; Napier, Smith, and Robertson were on his north; Michel, Hope, and Lockhart, on the south; and Whitlock on the east. Active he assuredly had been; for since the fall of Gwalior he and his mutineers and budmashes had traversed a vast area of the Rajpoot and Mahratta territories; but he was now within the limits of a cordon, from which there was little chance of his ultimate escape.

Of the other parts of India, it is scarcely necessary here to say anything. The course of peaceful industry had been little disturbed, and the civil government had been steadily in the ascendant. All round the west and south of Rajpootana did this state of things continue, and so downward into the long-established districts of Surat, Poonah, Bombay, &c. It is well to observe, however, that even in the Bombay presidency, slight occurrences shewed from time to time that the leaven of Hindustani ‘pandyism’ was working mischief. The safety of that army depended on an admixture of different creeds and castes in its ranks; there were in it Rajpoots and Brahmins, as in the (late) Bengal native army, and these elements were sometimes worked upon by fermenters of mischief. Generally speaking, however, these, as well as the other components of the Bombay army, behaved well. Their faithfulness was shewn in the month of August, in connection with a circumstance which might else have been productive of disaster. Among the troops quartered at Gwalior after its reconquest by Sir Hugh Rose was the 25th Bombay N. I., containing, like other regiments of the same army, a small proportion of Hindustani Oudians. A non-commissioned officer of this regiment, a havildar-major, went to the adjutant, and told him that a Brahmin pundit, one Wamun Bhut, was endeavouring to tamper with the Hindustanis of the regiment, and, through them, with the regiment generally; he also expressed an opinion that there were persons in the city of Gwalior concerned in this conspiracy. Captain Little, when informed by the adjutant of this communication, laid a plan for detecting the plotters. He found Havildar-major Koonjul Singh, Naik Doorga Tewarree, and private Sunnoo Ladh ready to aid him. These three native soldiers, pretending to bend to the Brahmin’s solicitations, gradually learned many particulars of the conspiracy, which they faithfully revealed to the captain. A purwannah or written order was produced, from no less a personage than Nena Sahib, making magnificent promises if the regiment, or any portion of it, would join his standard; they were to kill all their officers, and as many Europeans as possible, and then depart to a place appointed. At length, on the 29th, the naik made an appointment to meet the two chief conspirators, a Brahmin and a Mahratta chief, under a large tree near the camp; where the havildar-major would expect to have an opportunity of reading the purwannah. Captain Little, with the adjutant and the quartermaster, arranged to move suddenly to the spot at the appointed time: they did so; the conspirators were seized, and the document taken from them. Two other leaders in the plot were afterwards seized: all four were blown from guns on the 7th of September; and many others were placed in confinement on evidence furnished by the purwannah itself. It became evident that Nena Sahib, a Mahratta, had many emissaries at work in this Mahratta territory, although he himself was hiding in inglorious security far away.

POONAH.
]

Lord Elphinstone, governor of Bombay, with his commander-in-chief, Sir Henry Somerset, established several new corps, as means of gradually increasing the strength of the Bombay army. Two Belooch regiments, a 2d regiment of South Mahratta Horse, and a Bombay Naval Artillery Brigade, were among the new components of the army.

The South Mahratta country, lower down the peninsula than Bombay, had quite recovered from the disturbances which marked it in earlier months. Satara, Kolapore, Sawuntwaree, Belgaum—all were peaceful. On the eastern or Madras side of the peninsula, too, troubles were few. It is true, there was a repetition in September of a dispute which had occurred three months before, between natives who wished to bring up their children in their own faith, and missionaries who wished to convert those children to Christianity; but this was a source of discord which the governor, if firm, could readily allay. Lord Harris had not an Indian reputation like that of Lawrence or Elphinstone; but he had tact and decision enough for the duties of his office—the maintenance of peace in a presidency where there were few or no Hindustani sepoys.

Of the large country of the Deccan, Hyderabad, or the Nizam’s dominions, nothing disastrous has to be told. A pleasant proof was afforded of the continuance of friendly relations between the British and the Nizam, by a grand banquet given at Hyderabad on the 2d of July by Salar Jung to Colonel Davidson. These two officers—the one prime-minister to the Nizam, the other British resident at the Nizam’s court—had throughout the mutinies acted in perfect harmony and good faith. All the British officers and their families at Secunderabad, the cantonment of the Hyderabad Contingent, were invited. The guests came from Secunderabad to the Residency at Hyderabad, and thence on elephants and in palanquins to the minister’s palace. The entertainment was in celebration of the birth of the Nizam’s son, Meer Akbar Ally, heir to the throne of the Deccan; and everything was done, by an admixture of oriental magnificence with European courtesies, to render it worthy of the occasion. It was, however, not so much the grandeur of the banquet, as the sentiment it conveyed towards the British at a critical time, that rendered this proceeding on the part of the Nizam’s prime-minister important. The Nizam’s dominions were at that time the scene of party struggles between two sets of politicians—the adherents of Salar Jung, and those of Shumsul Oomrah; but both of the leaders were fortunately advocates of an English alliance.

HYDERABAD.
]

The northwest portion of the Nizam’s dominions, around Aurungabad and Jaulnah, in near neighbourhood to some of the Mahratta states, was troubled occasionally by bands of marauders, who hoped to establish a link of connection between the anarchists of Hindostan and those of the Deccan. They were, however, kept in check by Colonel Beatson, who brought his corps of irregulars, ‘Beatson’s Horse,’ to Jaulnah, there to remain during the rainy season—maintaining order in the surrounding districts, and holding himself ready to march with his troopers to any disturbed region where their services might be needed.

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Footnote 184:

To the officers’ hospital—_Calcutta Englishman_, _Bengal Hurkaru_,
_Phœnix_, _Illustrated London News_, _Punch_, _Blackwood’s Magazine_,
_Fraser’s Magazine_, _New Monthly Magazine_, _Monthly Army List_, four
copies _Chambers’s Journal_, four copies _Family Herald_. To the men’s
hospitals—two copies _Calcutta Englishman_, two copies _Bengal
Hurkaru_, two copies _Phœnix_, two copies _Illustrated London News_,
two copies _Punch_, two copies _Household Words_, twelve copies
_Chambers’s Journal_, twelve copies _Family Herald_.

Footnote 185:

See Chap. xxvii., pp. 450-461.

Footnote 186:

Ibid, p. 459.

Footnote 187:

‘1. The dispatch condemns in the strongest terms the proclamation
which, on the 3d of March, I directed the chief-commissioner of Oude
to issue from Lucknow.

‘2. Although written in the Secret Committee, the dispatch was made
public in England three weeks before it reached my hands. It will in a
few days be read in every station in Hindostan.

‘3. Before the dispatch was published in England, it had been
announced to parliament by a minister of the Crown as conveying
disapproval in every sense of the policy indicated by the
governor-general’s proclamation. Whether this description was an
accurate one or not I do not inquire. The telegraph has already
carried it over the length and breadth of India.

‘4. I need scarcely tell your honourable committee that the existence
of such a dispatch, even had it never passed out of the records of the
Secret Department, would be deeply mortifying to me, however confident
I might feel that your honourable committee would, upon
reconsideration, relieve me of the censure which it casts upon me.
Still less necessary is it for me to point out that the publication of
the document, preceded as it has been by an authoritative declaration
of its meaning and spirit, is calculated greatly to increase the
difficulties in which the government of India is placed, not only by
weakening the authority of the governor-general, but by encouraging
resistance and delusive hopes in many classes of the population of
Oude.

‘5. So far as the dispatch and the mode in which it has been dealt
with affect myself personally, I will trouble your honourable
committee with very few words. No taunts or sarcasms, come from what
quarter they may, will turn me from the path which I believe to be
that of my public duty. I believe that a change in the head of the
government of India at this time, if it took place under the
circumstances which indicated a repudiation on the part of the
government in England of the policy which has hitherto been pursued
towards the rebels of Oude, would seriously retard the pacification of
the country. I believe that that policy has been from the beginning
merciful without weakness, and indulgent without compromise of the
dignity of the government. I believe that wherever the authority of
the government has been established, it has become manifest to the
people in Oude, as elsewhere, that the indulgence to those who make
submission, and who are free from atrocious crime, will be large. I
believe that the issue of the proclamation which has been so severely
condemned was thoroughly consistent with that policy, and that it is
so viewed by those to whom it is addressed. I believe that that
policy, if steadily pursued, offers the best and earliest prospect of
restoring peace to Oude upon a stable footing.

‘6. Firm in these convictions, I will not, in a time of unexampled
difficulty, danger, and toil, lay down of my own act the high trust
which I have the honour to hold; but I will, with the permission of
your honourable committee, state the grounds upon which those
convictions rest, and describe the course of policy which I have
pursued in dealing with the rebellion in Oude. If, when I have done
so, it shall be deemed that that policy has been erroneous, or that,
not being erroneous, it has been feebly and ineffectually carried out,
or that for any reason the confidence of those who are responsible for
the administration of Indian affairs in England should be withheld
from me, I make it my respectful but urgent request, through your
honourable committee, that I may be relieved of the office of
governor-general of India with the least possible delay.’

Footnote 188:

It may here be mentioned that, about the date to which these events
refer, the commander-in-chief began to be frequently designated by his
peerage-title. He had been created Baron Clyde of Clydesdale, in
recognition of his valuable military services. To prevent confusion,
however, it may be well, in the remaining pages of this work, to
retain the more familiar appellation, Sir Colin Campbell.

Footnote 189:

‘I advanced my half-troop at a gallop, and engaged the enemy within
easy musket-range. The sponge-man of one of my guns having been shot
during the advance, Gunner Connolly assumed the duties of second
sponge-man; and he had barely assisted in two discharges of his gun,
when a musket-ball through the left thigh felled him to the ground.
Nothing daunted by pain and loss of blood, he was endeavouring to
resume his post, when I ordered a movement in retirement. Though
severely wounded, he was mounted on his horse in the gun-team, rode to
the next position which the guns took up, and manfully declined going
to the rear when the necessity of his so doing was represented to him.
About 11 o’clock A.M., when the guns were still in action, the same
gunner, while sponging, was again knocked down by a musket-ball
striking him on the hip, thereby causing great faintness and partial
unconsciousness; for the pain appeared excessive, and the blood flowed
fast. On seeing this, I gave directions for his removal out of action;
but this brave man, hearing me, staggered to his feet and said: “No,
sir; I’ll not go there while I can work here;” and shortly afterwards
he again resumed his post as sponge-man. Late in the afternoon of the
same day, my three guns were engaged at a hundred yards from the walls
of a village with the defenders—namely, the 14th native infantry,
mutineers—amid a storm of bullets, which did great execution. Gunner
Connolly, though suffering severely from his two previous wounds, was
wielding his sponge with an energy and courage which attracted the
admiration of his comrades; and while cheerfully encouraging a wounded
man to hasten in bringing up ammunition, a musket-ball tore through
the muscles of his right leg. With the most undaunted bravery, he
struggled on; and not till he had loaded six times, did this man give
way, when, through loss of blood, he fell into my arms; I placed him
upon a wagon, which shortly afterwards bore him in a state of
unconsciousness from the fight.’

Footnote 190:

The major-general commanding has sincere pleasure in congratulating
the troops under his command on the great success achieved by them
yesterday. All have shewn most conspicuous gallantry in action; and
the patient unmurmuring endurance of fatigue during the recent forced
marches has enabled them to close with an enemy proverbially active in
movements. The horse-artillery and cavalry (the latter nineteen hours
in the saddle) have by their spirit and alacrity completed the
success, and inflicted a most signal punishment on the rebels. The
major-general tenders his hearty thanks to all, and doubts not but
their brave and earnest devotion will meet with the approval of his
excellency the commander-in-chief.

Government Buildings, Madras.—From a Drawing by Thomas Daniell.
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