some walked thirty miles! Some, alas, died from
the effects of exhaustion and fear.

A bhistee, suffering also from an optical illusion,
declared that he had seen the first European
murdered in the bazaar. But it is perfectly true
tha^ one gentleman, an officer, met a drunken
Goorkha who drew his " kookree " (a weapon as
crooked and ugly as its name), upon him in the
bazaar. The effects of the panic are not yet
obliterated in the minds of domestic servants ; who,
fortified by the doubtful aspect of affairs in the
plains, soon acquired the most insolent demeanour.
Anecdotes became rife and significant of what was
passing in their minds. One little boy was told
that his mamma would soon be grinding gram for
the King of Delhi !

It may be remembered as an instance of the
prevalent impression among Mahomedan domestic
servants particularly, as to the inevitable and complete
overthrow of the English, that the khansamah of
General Hewitt, who had been in his service for



SUSPICIONS OF THE GOOKKHAS. 101

twenty years, the instant the outbreak commenced,
started confusion on his own account by flinging all
the plates from the dining-room into the air, dancing
with joy, and pocketing the silver; when the aide-de-
camp, Captain Hogg, entering the room at the un-
usual uproar, suddenly allayed his transports for
ever by killing him on the spot !

This, however, is a digression, and we must return
to Simlah and the Goorkhas. Four months have
elapsed since the above turmoil, and this very
regiment having done effective service in the plains,
it is due to those interested in the welfare of the
corps to exhibit one or two features in the case
by the light of their present good conduct. There
are extenuating circumstances, and now-a-days one
cannot afford to be chary of trifles : the telescope
must be knowingly put up to the blind eye upon
occasions, and the behaviour of all Goorkhas has
been but slightly if anything inferior to Europeans.

The present, then, was the first instance in which
the Goorkhas had been ordered down en masse to
service in the plains : a company had always been
left to protect their families during their absence.
Constitutionally jealous and sensitive, as all hill
tribes, to the honour of their wives (notwithstanding
the palpable security derived in the peculiarly ill-



102 EFFECTS OF SUSPICION.

favoured physiognomies of these gentlewomen), the
Goorkhas hesitated. The proceedings of the resi-
dents, distinctly pointing out the former custodians
of the place as the present enemies to be feared,
was aggravating enough. A chest of arms, so it
is said, had been clandestinely deported from Jutog,
and powder also had been as furtively abstracted at
Simlah. Picquets had been posted ; and an advanced
picquet stationed at Boilleaugur.ge with videttes up
to Jutog. Guns w r ere pointed also up the Jutog
road. A mistrusted man is inclined, if in power,
to pay people off for their want of confidence. The
Goorkhas, no more than " Lady Teazle," affected to
relish suspicion without a cause. General Penny
had actually assumed command on the night previous
to the exodus. The Simlah Bank was fortified,
and was all but impregnable, with stout hearts and
steady rifles, even against two regiments.

But General Penny's command was soon at an end.
Conciliating policy prevailed. The Goorkhas, as an
evidence of full confidence, demanded that they
should be put in guard over and in the bank, in
which lay some 80,000 Co.'s rupees. The critical
and uncertain aspect of affairs may be imagined
not only from the audacity of their demands, but
the undisguised audacity of their bearing. They



CHANGE OF POLICY. 103

demanded to be shown the actual treasure, and their
swarthy features lit up with glee unpleasant to the
eye of the bystander, when they saw the shining
pieces. One sepoy tossed back the flap of the coat
of a gentleman present, and made a queer remark
on the revolver he saw worn underneath.*

The late Commander-in-Chief now took the matter
in hand. The time for coercing and disbanding regi-
ments he thought had gone by. The Goorkha Corps
had always been a great stand-by to the Government ;
and in a crisis like this some stretch might be allowed
to retain men who had no more affinities with the
Poorbeah than the European perhaps less. The

* " The Goorkhas," wrote an excellent authority, " helped
themselves to 16,000 rs. from the Government Treasury, which
was afterwards conceded to them on the pretext that it was an
advance. They took possession, or had possession given to
them, of the Government Treasury, and for some time would
not let a rupee out of it." At Kussowlie, the Hill station just
above TJmballa, affairs were equally, if not more critical. The
Deputy-Commissioner of Simlah inquired of the Assistant-
Commissioner of Kussowlie (Mr. Taylor), whether it would
not be better to move, with all European officers, soldiers, &c.,
to Simlah. To this policy, as likely to create unneces-
sary alarm, Mr. Taylor was strenuously opposed ; deprecated
the ignoble effect it would produce. Simlah being forty miles
off, Kussowlie became the especial prey to distressing rumours
as to the behaviour of the Nusseeree Battalion. The com-
manding officer at Dugshai wrote " emergently" to Captain
Blackall, H. M.'s 75th, for troops. Three officers passed
through Kussowlie armed to the teeth, and scared the public



304 CAPT. BRIGGS APPOINTED MEDIATOR.

Jutog men were on the point, if not in the act,
of open mutiny, and their examples might lie fatal
to the Kumaon and Sirmoor Battalions and the 66th,
from which good service was expected, and has been
obtained. In this strait the Commander-in-Chief
selected Captain Briggs, the Superintendent of Hill
Roads, who possessed an intimate knowledge of the
habits, customs, and feelings of the inhabitants, and
much influence therefrom, to act as mediator and
plenipotentiary.

He was empowered to hold communication with
the Goorkhas, to endeavour to conciliate, and assure
them that any expressed grievance or apprehension
would be redressed and allayed ; to appeal to their
characters as soldiers, and to do " anything " to

by stories of their having nearly to fight their way down. The
Goorkhas at KussoAvlie were in open mutiny, and there might
have heen bloodshed, if Mr. Taylor had not stopped Captain
Blackall from ordering in a party of H. M.'s 7oth, reminding
him that the safety of the residents of Simlah depended on not
a drop of blood being shed. Captain Blackall acknowledged
the wisdom and judgment of the advice, and contented himself
with being prepared for the defensive. The safety of the inha-
bitants of the station was admirably cared for at Kussowlie by
this officer ; who kept his temper, and acted with great presence
of mind, though surrounded and taunted by the Goorkhas with
such expressions as " Shot for shot ! " " Life for life ! " Almost
directly, in short, to the address and temper in parley of
Captain Blackall, and to the wise counsel of Mr. Taylor, do
the residents owe their escape from horrors, in which, in
enormities perhaps, Cawnpore would have been outdone.



CONCESSION TO THE GOOKKHAS. 105

suppress their excitement. He had thus full con-
fidence placed in him. This officer must have had
to encounter enormous difficulties, and a state of
feeling bordering on frenzy ; and it is fortunate that
the end justified the means so amply in the present
instance for the retention of any regiment of any
sort at the price of wholesale condonation of mutiny.

The concessions extorted involved a sacrifice of the
dignity of the Government, which the speciality of
the crisis alone can atone for. Even on riding up
the hill on his pacific mission, Captain Briggs fell
in with the Kussowlie party of Goorkhas. One of
them put a musket to his head ; on which he talked
argumentatively on the ignoble success of slaughter-
ing a single man. Disarmed by his sangfroid, the
Goorkha solaced himself and Captain Briggs with
the remark, that in the morning he and his brethren
woxild do as he hinted, and slaughter every
European. To change the subject he asked them
for water, which they gave him, and while partaking
themselves he rode on ahead.

On mature reflection, Captain Briggs decided that
pacification at all risks was necessary ; the lives
of the officers of the corps, those of the crowds of
non-combatants, and even of the whole hill popula-
tion, he deemed at stake. Suspicion and mistrust he



106 THE GOORKHAS PACIFIED.

considered had been instilled into them by those
adverse to the British power, and fostered all over
India by a concurrence of accidental causes; by
which probably was meant the want of confidence,
not unnatural, shown by the Simlah residents.

Among the most remarkable " concessions" was the
dismissal of one Chunderbun, whose offence consisted
in having compromised his corps by staling that
they had no objection to use the cartridges ! Major
Bagot was of opinion that Chunderbun was the best
soldier in the regiment, and was, moreover, absent
from Jutog on the day of the mutiny. He was
recommended to mercy as one willing to " serve in
any regiment in India, and undoubtedly a first-rate
soldier." Suffice it to say, with this exception, a
free pardon was given to the regiment generally, and
belief in the "loyalty and soldier-like qualities, for
which the corps had ever been distinguished," was
accorded. The cartridges were then and there
destroyed, and the fresh ones hereafter always made
up on the parade-ground. Two men " dismissed by
order of court-martial, for taunting the school of
musketry," were restored to the service. The con-
duct of the native officers in not bringing to notice
the dissatisfaction which existed, was pardoned ; but
Subadar Chunderbun, who had said his regiment



EULOGY OF THE GOORKHAS. 107

had no objection to the cartridges, was removed, as
above mentioned.

In order to show that the end has possibly ex-
cused the means, the accompanying quotation of
Charles W. Chester, Adjutant, is reprinted, exclaim-
ing " against the malicious falsehood of those who
(at Simlah) insulted the regiment by displaying a
quixotic amount of courage, and then made off so
gallantly, and now seek to justify their want of
judgment and pluck by the grossest misrepresenta-
tions." Further, on June the 17th, the following
extracts will show that the position of Captain
Briggs was delicate, and that the remarkable be-
haviour of the Goorkha, in weather as abhorred by
him as by Europeans, only adds to the series of
anomalous events which chequer the page of 1857
in India. It is from the Lahore Chronicle :

"Previous to the 15th of May (says Captain
Chester), the regiment had never shown the slightest
symptom of disaffection. They have never shown
it since. The men have marched double marches ;
from their small numbers, every man in addition has
been on daily duty. They have suffered severely
from fever and cholera without a murmur. They
have captured the men who robbed the Kussowlie
Treasury, and expressed their indignation that any



108 THE FORT OF PHILLOUII.

one should escape without severe punishment They
have reported the men of the 5th X. I., who instigated
them to mutiny, and on their report that regiment
was disarmed. And now they are encamped at
Saharunpore" (then almost totally disorganised),
" the safeguard of the district ; relied on by every
European ; feared by every turbulent native."

Mention has been made of the fort of Phillour and
its timely salvation. It was orignally a serai, and
is situated on the Grank Trunk Road. Runjeet
Singh converted it into a fort in his days ; the posi-
tion commanded the river Sutlej by the addition of
a fausse braid and ditch all round, and bastions at the
four corners of the enceinte. The northern gateway
was protected by a continuation of the ditch in front,
in a demi-lune form, with a drawbridge. Shortly
after the fort was acquired by the British, in 1846
(at the time the Jullundur Doab became ours), it
was converted into a magazine of ordnance; chiefly
guns, mortars, shot, shell, &c., the powder being
stored in the fort of Loodianah on the left bank
of the river. When the mutiny broke out there
were within its precincts some sixty or eighty heavy
guns and mortars of sizes, in addition to several
light guns; also immense quantities of shot and
shell.



PRESERVATION OF PHILLOUR. 109

Let it be remembered that the first siege train, a
third class one, had to be furnished for the operations
against Delhi ; and the complication that would have
ensued, but for the almost providential safety of the
fort of Phillour, will be conceived. It was garrisoned
at this critical conjuncture by a strong guard of the
3rd N. I. Facts subsequently elicited showed that
the 3rd N. I. designed to seize the fort at the pre-
concerted signal. But the providential precipitation
of the affair at Meerut disconcerted all such treacher-
ous designs, defeated some, baulked others, and led
to checkmate in detail of all ! The Jullundur troops
were to have seized the station of Phillour, and there
was nothing to operate against such a position but
H. M.'s 8th Regiment.

On the 12th of May? Brigadier Hartly, command-
ing at Yalund-kai, resolved to occupy the fort.
Accordingly at dusk on the date mentioned, he
despatched a small detachment of H. M.'s 8th and
a couple of H. A. guns off from Jullundur, which
reached Phillour just at daybreak, twenty-four miles.
The gate was open ! Unconscious grass-cutters
quietly going in with their loads were followed in
closely by the Europeans and guns. So dumb-
foundered were the native guard that they could
not collect sufficient presence of mind to turn out



110 NEED OF EUROPEAN GARRISONS.

and give the ordinary salute. To Major Baynes,
commanding the detachment (after Brigadier Hartly),
is due the safety of this most important fortress.
It is to be hoped the warning of having such strong-
holds as Lahore, Govindghur, Phillour, Delhi, Allah-
abad, without overwhelming proportions of Euro-
pean troops, may never have to be repeated. Had
Major Baynes not at once comprehended the pre-
ciousness of time, and arrived so opportunely and
swiftly as he did, there is every chance that the
move would have got wind ; the troops in the station
would have mutinied, rushed into the fort, and
murdered every European conductor in it. No time
was lost in ordering off the detachment of 3rd N. I.

It is credibly reported that the seizure of the fort
had been planned for the very day on which they
were ousted by Major Baynes. When the Jullundur
mutineers, as previously narrated, reached Phillour
on the 9th of June at gun-fire, the officers of the 3rd
N. I. were in cantonments, and tried every endeavour
to get their men to turn out of their lines, to oppose
the advance of the 6th Light Cavalry ; but in vain.
Lieutenant Tayler, on hearing some reports of the
mutiny from the Thannadar, had galloped out about
a mile and a half from the station, and returned
post-haste to arouse Colonel Buller and his men to



THE JULLUNDUR MUTINEERS. Ill

the fact. But the men refused to obey any orders,
and at last the cavalry advance had actually reached
the butts. At this juncture a celebrated athlete and
champion in the regiment roared out to the men
to advance and welcome their comrades. They did
so : a few remained and cautioned the officers to be
off, as all was over. Anticipating seemingly a hot
pursuit, the mutineers made little attempt to damage
the station, and none to attack the fort ; nor, with
the exception of a few cavalry troopers, did they
attempt to cross the river at this point, but marched
leisurely higher up : their subsequent movements, the
supineness of the pursuing column on the right bank,
the gallantry of the attacking party on the left, have
been detailed sufficiently.

Phillour Fort having been thus saved, and the
Talundhur Doab evacuated, the Commissary of
Ordnance, Lieutenant Dobbin, was busy up to the
end of August in supplying all sorts of material
heavy guns, enormous supplies of shot and shell,
musketry and rifle ammunition, entrenching tools,
in addition to every sort of weapon of warfare
to the continued stream of Irregular Horse and
Foot, which kept issuing from the Punjab on
their route to Delhi. When the gallant Neville
Chamberlain (at this period the predecessor of his



112 FORT OF PHILLOUR STRENGTHENED.

lamented friend Nicholson, as Brigadier-General
commanding the moveable column) reached Phillour,
he found the fort in a dilapidated state.

Accordingly, on the 20th of June, Lieutenant
Oliphant, of the Engineers, commenced work, and
notwithstanding the extreme scarcity of labour, he
continued to strengthen all the parapets for guns,
opening the embrasures and widening and defending
them by massive logs and trunks of trees ; and by
the latter end of July, besides being amply pro-
visioned, the fort bristled with twenty heavy guns in
position, including howitzers; in addition to nine light
guns at various angles.

The following is an interesting statement com-
municated to the compiler by the excellent Governor
of the Lawrence Asylum, who was in a most re-
sponsible and anxious position in the hills :

" Early in May we were alarmed and horrified by
the news of the atrocities perpetrated at Meerut and
Delhi. The natives said, ' It is because of the annex-
ation of Oude, and the Poorbeas will all rise, and
then what will become of the Europeans?' They
seemed shocked at the horrible atrocities committed,
but not taken by surprise by the mutiny. Soon
after, news reached us that the Nusseree Battalion at
Simlah were in a state of mutiny. The natives said,



STATEMENT FROM LAWRENCE ASYLUM. 113

* They are good men, and do not wish to rebel ; but
if the Company's raj is over, what are they to do ?
If they fight for their salt, and it turns out that the
mutineers are victorious, what will become of them ?
Every man must take care of himself.' " There can
now be no doubt that it was this feeling which
caused the otherwise inexplicable conduct of the
little Goorkhas at Simlah ; besides which they had a
number of Poorbeahs among them, through whom
they were continually incited to mutiny. Some of
the hill Ranas were in the same state of uncertainty,
and apparently waited to see which side the Rajah of
Patialah took. This chief took two days to consider
before he decided to cast his lot in with the Govern-
ment. There can be no doubt but that if this chief
had proved recusant all would have been lost in the
hill stations.

" On Saturday the news was brought in, that
the Goorkha guard over the Kussowlie Treasury
had looted the treasure and made off. One of our
chuprassies, who was bringing up a box of clothing
to the institution, met a body of twenty-eight
Goorkhas at the village below the Asylum on the
Simlah road about one mile distant. They had with
them the treasure, and were collecting coolies to
carry it on to Simlah. They abused and b?at him,

P. I



114 STATEMENT FROM LAWRENCE ASYLUM.

and threw down the box, asking for rupees ; but on
finding no sound was emitted by the concussion, and
being assured that there was nothing in the box but
clothing, he was allowed to pass. That night at the
Asylum all the women and children were collected
in the girls' house as being most capable of defence.
The male inhabitants of Sunawur and the elder boys
were mustered, and spent the night in alternate
watches. It was an anxious night, for intelligence
was received that 200 Goorkhas were en route to
Kussowlie to assist the Treasury guard, who had sent
off messengers for them. Early on Sunday morn-
ing, 17th May, I rode off to Dugshai to arrange for
a retreat to that station in case matters became
serious. Whilst there conferring with the com-
manding officer, an officer rode in from Subathoo
with the intelligence (which proved groundless) that
the massacre at Simlah had commenced, and that the
cannon could be heard from Subathoo.

" Orders came for the force at Dugshai and Su-
bathoo, and the inmates of the Asylum, to concentrate
in Kussowlie. The officer commanding at Dugshai
determined to hold his own ; but on the evening of
Sunday the 17th we retreated to Kussowlie, where
the party was accommodated in a couple of empty
barracks. We remained there ten days; till the



STATEMENT FROM LAWRENCE ASYLUM. 115

Goorkhas, who in the meantime had decided on the
side of loyalty, marched down to Kalka, when we
returned, with no other damage than some loss of
health from having been cooped up in ill-ventilated
rooms. The whole period was one of intense anxiety
anxiety which, though somewhat relieved by
the departure of the Goorkhas, has been kept up by
the constantly arriving intelligence of one sad dis-
aster and horrible catastrophe after another, until
the recapture of Delhi has given us fresh assurance
and comfort.

" As far as our experience here goes, the native
servants have behaved admirably. With one or
two exceptions we have very few Mussulmans
here, about eight or nine only, and these table ser-
vants and bhisties. In my own family I found our
table servants more attentive and orderly than usual,
although, in common with ourselves, sufferers for the
want of money consequent on the plunder of trea-
suries. The bunniahs, too, and native contractor
never lost their confidence in the power of Govern-
ment, but always said ' Sahib it is but for a
little while, and all these rebels will bite the
dust,' (literally eat dirt), 'for the Company is
almighty.'"

" Our position was. also one of considerable diffi-

I 2



116 STATEMENT FROM LAWRENCE ASYLUM,

culty on the score of supplies. All communication
ceased, and the usual supplies of cash with it. The
markets were closed to credit, and there was little
ready money ; and but for the prompt assistance of
the Local Government, which cashed in anticipation
our drafts on the Supreme Government, we could not
have existed much longer, as the contractors had at
length parted with their jewels and ornaments to
procure supplies. Our losses by the mutiny are
severe indeed 10,000 rupees per annum by the
lamented death of Sir H. M. Lawrence alone, and
about 5,000 per annum more by other mournful
casualties.

" The feeling of intense anxiety has now given way
to gratitude for God's great mercy to us. With 380
helpless little ones about us what could we have
done if attacked at Sunawur? and to what place
would rebels, bent on the destruction of the European
population, have been so likely to direct their atten-
tion in the hope of cutting off at one fell swoop so
many? The whole European population of these
four stations must have been (at the time of the out-
break and after the greater portion of the troops had
marched from thence), less than 250. Only about
100 men were left at Kussowlee, about 50 or 60 at
Dugshai, and less at Subathoo ! What could such a



STATEMENT FROM LAWRENCE ASYLUM. 117

force have effected, if the hill chiefs had concentrated
their forces behind us ?

" The Asylum has been kept in a state of siege up
to the present time. A little force of police has been
organized, with a native superintendent at their
head (a Poorbeah, but a faithful man); and the
Europeans capable of bearing arms formed a Volun-
teer Corps, and took alternate rounds four times
nightly. This has now been discontinued. I must
not omit to mention that we were all obliged to
evacuate the station, and to leave our houses with
our property behind us. The males and many other
natives voluntarily formed a corps for the protection
of the property, and so faithfully guarded it day and
night that nothing was missing when we returned.

" Some Poorbeah coolies wished to loot, but were
told by the leader of this little band, that if they
attempted any such thing they would have to kill
them, the guard, first.

" Before and during these troubles, faqueers were
every where seen about the neighbourhood ; and I
have since learnt that they were emissaries from
Oude and Delhi, empowered to offer seven rupees
per man to any willing to enter the service of the
respective pretenders to sovereignty. About 100
coolies employed at the Asylum went off to Oude in



118 STATEMENT FROM LAWRENCE ASYLUM.

consequence, and small drafts of Poorbeahs have been
continually leaving the hills during the whole period
for Oude and Delhi. The hill men around us have
proved perfectly quiet ; the inhabitants of the large
village, from which Sunawur take its name, offered