scarcely calculated to console. Every day made
the loyalty of the Sikhs more questionable.
Every day increased the difficulty of Sindia to
restrain his troops from a movement against
Agra, or, more to be dreaded still, upon Kanhpur.
Every day relaxed our hold upon the princes of
Rajpiitana and of Bandalkhand, whilst from the
Western Presidency there came unmistakable
symptoms that order in the southern Maratha
country could be maintained only by a strong
and vigorous hand.
What was Sir Colin Campbell's position ? What
were his means ? Thanks to the skill, the energy,
the daring of a few men who had come to the
front in the heart of the crisis — to Neill, to
Frederic Gubbins, to Vincent Eyre, and to
William Tayler — the British held Allahabad, and
the important cities between that fortress and
Calcutta, of Banaras, of Grhazipiir, and of Patna.
The retention of these three salient points enabled
them to hold four others of lesser though of great
importance, and by their means to command the
great river artery between Calcutta and Allah-
abad. But the holding of these posts involved
the occupation of them by troops, whose services
were urgently needed in the field. This, too, at
a moment when the reinforcements from England
were only beginning to arrive.
The distance by river between Calcutta and
danger of
being broken.
RESULTING FROM NEGLECT TO DISARM. 121
Allahabad is eight hundred and nine miles. When book xi.
Sir Colin Campbell arrived, no troops were avail- ap e i
able for active purposes. Two regiments indeed, A u^ 5 i3-
the 5th and 90th, had been despatched to join 0ct - 2 6.
Havelock's force at Kanhpur. All the others So^Tavan-
were employed in keeping open the river commu- abl p for
nication between Calcutta and Allahabad. purposes.
It is true there was the grand trunk road — Mr.
Beadon's famous line of six hundred miles —
though iu point of fact the distance was some-
what less. But along this road the railway ex-
tended only to Baniganj, one hundred and twenty
miles. Thence it was necessary to march, and Mr - Beadon's
the route was not only long, but as events proved, always, in
in spite of Mr. Beadon, it was liable to be tra-
versed by the rebels. The troops marching upon
it, therefore, might at any moment be diverted
for other duties.
The refusal of Lord Cannino-'s Government in The results
f T J
the month of July to order the disarming of the cunning's
native regiments at Danapur had added still armTi!e t0 diS "
further to the difficulties of the new Commander- Danapur
in-Chief. Two regiments of foot and a battery regiments
of artillery were thus diverted from the general stl11 felt '
plan — the plan which had made Laklmao the
point at which the first great blow was to be
dealt — in order to quell a rebellion which, had
the members of the Government of India been
unfettered by sophisms and theories, would never
have occurred — the rebellion in western Bihar.
But if Sir Colin ( 'ampbell had no men with whom
to operate, it might be imagined that the Govern-
ment had at leasl provided for him resources to be
122 WANT OJ 1 PEEPARATION IN CALCUTTA.
book xi. made available for the troops expected from China
Chapter I. ^ ^^ England> There CQuld not be a grea t e r
Au| 5 i3- delusion. Dreaming of reorganisation, sanguine
Oct. 26. that the coming troops would at once settle the
St of tiT business, the members of the Government had
Supreme opened wide their mouths in expectancy. They
had done nothing, and nothing had fallen into
their mouths. They had prepared no means of
transport ; they had no horses, either for cavalry
or artillery; Enfield rifle ammunition was defi-
cient ; flour was even running out ; guns, gun-
carriages and harness for field batteries were
either unfit for service or did not exist.* Sir Colin
Campbell's first care was to supply these defi-
sir Colin ciencies. He moved the Government to the pur-
-rorgani? chase of horses on a large and necessarily an
victory." expensive scale ; to indent on England for Enfield
rifle ammunition whilst stimulating the manufac-
ture of it on the spot; to procure flour from
the Cape ; to cast field guns at the Kasipiir
foundry ; to manufacture tents ; to make up har-
ness; to procure English-speaking servants for
the expected European regiments from Madras.
Before the end of August Sir Colin had quin-
tupled the activity of the " departments," and
had infused even into the Government a portion
of his own untiring energy.
Nor was his attention confined to the prepara-
tions necessary for the troops before they could
stir one foot from Calcutta. Those troops were
* Blackwood's Magazine, October 1858 ; also personal
experience and observation.
SIR COLIN " ORGANISES VICTORY." 123
to move forward — but how ? I have given a de- book xi.
scription, in outline, of the two routes which were
open to them — the river route and the land route. Aug. 13-
But useful, and in some respects superior, as the 0ct - 26 -
river route had been in the months of June, July, Se Govern-
and August, Sir Colin could not but feel that with ment t0 or -
. . -, gamse a
the cessation of the rainy season the river would bullock tram
fall, and the way by it would become tedious and troopTto
uncertain. He therefore resolved to do all in his Allah abad.
power to improve the land route and to quicken
the means of transport. With this view, under
his inspiring pressure, the Government established
the bullock train. This train was composed of
a number of covered waggons, in each of which
a fixed number of European soldiers could sit at
ease. To draw these, a proportionate number of
bullocks were posted at stages all along the road.
The starting-point of the bullock train was the
railway terminus at Raniganj, one hundred and
twenty miles from Calcutta. The soldiers, leav-
ing the train, were supposed to enter the bullock-
carriages and to travel in them all night and in
the early hours of the morning and evening, rest-
ing for food during the heat of the day. This The scheme
scheme was soon brought to perfection, and was brought to
made to work so as to land daily in Allahabad P crfectio11 -
two hundred men fresh and fit for work, con-
veyed in the space of a fortnight from Calcutta.
But, I have said, Mr. Beadon's famous line of Dangers
six hundred miles, once already rent in twain, was Ihroatened
still far from safe. Constant revolts rendered it *'"' '""' l " 1 ,)0
traversed by
less and less so every day. The Raingarh battalion, the buiiock
stationed at R.inclii, on the left of the road,
tram.
124
SECURES THE GRAND TRUNK ROAD.
Book XI.
Chapter I.
1857.
Aug. 13-
Oct. 26.
Sir Colin
orders patrol
parties to
secure it.
The tempta-
tion thus af-
forded to the
civil authori-
ties to use
these troops
for local pur-
poses some-
times ir-
resistible.
breaking the bands of discipline, menaced all the
salient points running within easy distance of that
station ; on the right the remnants of the Dana-
pur garrison, of the 5th Irregular Cavalry, and
subsequently the mutinous portion of the 32nd
Native Infantry, uniting themselves with the
bands of Kunwar Singh, threatened the dis-
tricts in the neighbourhood, and spread con-
sternation amongst the local authorities. These
mutinous bands constituted the great difficulty
of Sir Colin Campbell. Not that they were
sufficiently formidable to check a British force.
Could they have been found collected, a few
companies of Europeans would have annihi-
lated them. But spreading over a vast tract of
country, they harassed every district and threa-
tened every post. For the moment Sir Colin's
one care was to ensure the safety of the small
parties travelling along the Trunk Road in the
bullock train. To secure this he formed moveable
columns, of about six hundred men each, infantry
and artillery, to patrol the road. This measure,
successful in so far that it secured the passage of
the troops, was less so in another. It afforded
to the civil authorities the temptation of diverting
some of the troops to small and comparatively
unimportant local operations on the flanks, " So
that," says a well-informed writer, " at one
period, out of about two thousand four hundred
men who were proceeding by the different routes
to Allahabad, one thousand eight hundred were,
on one pretence or other, laid hold of by the civil
power, and employed for the time being in opera-
THE CHINA TROOPS ARRIVE. 125
tions extraneous to the general plan of the cam- book xi.
,,,. Chapter I.
paign. *
The efforts made by the Government to pro- A u- 5 i3-
duce resources and to ensure the safety of the road Oct. 26.
were beginning to bear good fruit when most of SSTikJc!! 6
the troops diverted by Lord Elgin from the China jKtjan read.
Expedition arrived. These consisted of the 93rd
Highlanders, the 23rd Fusiliers, three companies
of the 82nd Foot, two companies Royal Artillery,
and one company of Sappers. About the same
time also, that is during September and in the
first week of October, there arrived from the
Cape of Good Hope a company of Royal Artillery
with fifty-eight horses and about five hundred of
the 13th Light Infantry. To hurry forward these
troops had now become a matter of the greatest
necessity. In the interval before their arrival
Dehli had, it is true, fallen, but Lakhnao had not
been relieved ; so far from it, the British force The g a P left
that had reached our garrison in the Residency, tionof Out?
besieged itself by the rebels, had been thus with- JJ 1 £j£jJ B
drawn from active operations, and left a gap on
which an enterprising enemy might act with fatal
effect.
The rebel troops of Gwaliar were displaying
unwonted activity, and it certainly was in their
power at this particular period to cut the British
Line in two, and sever communications between
Calcutta and Kauhpur. To press on troops necessitatis
•ii »iii'i/T i • prompl and
quickly to Allahabad, where equipments were a.iiw .,,.;,
being prepared, became then an imperative duty. slir ° 8-
To this end every exertion was made. Horses
* Blachwood'e Magazine, October 1858.
126 THE SHANNON AND PEAEL.
(?h°°^ XI i were taken bodily from regiments which had
mutinied, and were pressed into service. The
Aug. 13- Military Train Corps, composed to a great extent
Oct. 26. £ j^ d ra g 0ongj was formed, by means of some of
the horses so become available, into a cavalry regi-
ment, and they, too, were sent on with the rest.
The Shannon But before a single man of the China expedi-
and Pearl.
tionary Corps had left Calcutta, there had set out
from that city in river steamers a gallant body of
men, gallantly commanded, destined to cover
themselves with glory in a series of actions for
which they had no special training. In another
part of this history I have alluded to the arrival
in Calcutta of H.M's ships Shannon and Pearl,
and of the offer made by Lord Elgin to place
those vessels with their respective crews at the
disposal of the Governor-General. The offer was
Aug. 18. accepted, and, on the 18th August, Captain
William Peel had started for Allahabad in the
river steamer Ghunar with a flat in tow, convey-
ing four hundred and fifty men, six 68-pounders,
two 24-pound howitzers, and two field-pieces.
Captain Peel took with him also a launch and
cutter belonging to the Shannon*
* The following officers Lord Walter Kerr, Lord
accompanied Captain Peel : Arthur Clinton, and Mr.
Lieutenants Young, Wilson, Church, midshipmen ; Messrs.
Hay, and Salmon, R.N. ; Brown, Bone, and Henri,
Captain Gray and Lieutenant engineers ; Mr. Thomson,
Stirling, R.M. ; Lieutenant gunner ; Mr. Bryce, car-
Lind, of the Swedish Navy ; penter ; Mr. Stanton, assist-
the Rev. G. L. Bowman ; Dr. ant-clerk ; and Messrs. Wat-
Flanagan; Mr. Comerford, son and LasceHes, naval
Assistant Paymaster; Messrs. cadets. — The 8hanno7i's Bri-
M. Daniel, Garvey, E. Daniel, gade in India.
WILLIAM PEEL. 127
Captain William Peel was a man who would book xi.
i t i • 1 • in Chapter I.
nave made ins mark m any age and. under any
circumstances. To an energy that nothing could aJ 85 i8
daunt, a power that seemed never to tire, he captain
added a freshness of intellect, a fund of resource, Wllliam Peel -
which made him, in the expressive language of
one of his officers, " the mainspring that worked
the machinery." Bright and joyous in the field,
with a kind word for every comrade, he caused
the sternest duty, ordered by him, to be looked
upon as a pleasant pastime. " The greatness of
our loss we shall in all probability never know,"
wrote Dr. Russell, on learning of his untimely
death from small-pox. And, in truth, that reflec-
tion of the genial correspondent represents the
exact measure by which to gauge the value of
Peel's services. Starting from Calcutta on an
expedition unprecedented in Indian warfare, he
conquered every obstacle, he succeeded to the very
utmost extent of the power to succeed. He
showed eminently all the qualities of an organiser
and a leader of men. Not one single speck of
failure marred the brightness of his ermine. His
remarkable success in a novel undertaking, on
an untried field — a success apparently without an
effort — was in itself a proof that had he survived,
his greal powers might have been usefully em-
ployed in larger and more difficult undertakings.
Tli ere must be something in the man who, not
exercising supreme command, is able to stereotype
his name in the history of liis native land. Yet
William Peel accomplished this. To the chaplets
of fame placed by his father on the altar of his
128
MORE ENGLISH TEOOPS ARRIVE.
Book XI.
Chapter I.
1S57.
Sept. 2-20.
The Shannon
brigade
reaches
Allahabad.
More troops
reach
Calcutta.
Sept.-Oct. 26.
country, he, still young, added another not less
immortal.
Peel reached Allahabad on the 2nd September.
There he was joined on the 20th of the following
month by the two parties from the Pearl and
Shannon,* which came to complete his brigade,
bringing its numbers to seven hundred and twenty
men, exclusive of officers. Here for the present
I must leave him.
We left Sir Colin Campbell in Calcutta engaged
in " organising victory." We have seen how in
September and the first week of October he had
been gladdened by the arrival of troops from
China and the Cape, how he had at once sent
them to the point of rendezvous in batches of two
hundred daily. During the next fortnight there
had arrived the remainder of the 82nd Foot, one
hundred and ninety-eight men of the 38th, H.M.'s
34th, and one hundred and forty-four men of the
-42nd Highlanders, and one hundred and two
recruits for the local European regiments. These
were quickly followed by six hundred and twelve
men of the Royal Artillery, nine hundred and
three of the Rifle Brigade, 2nd and 3rd battalions,
two hundred and ninety of the 42nd Highlanders,
three hundred and fifty-two of the 54th Foot,
six hundred and twenty-seven of the 88th, and
* The contingent from the
Pearl was composed of one
hundred and fifty-five men,
commanded by Captain Sothe-
by, R.N. ; the second detach-
ment from the Shannon of
one hundred and twenty men,
under Lieutenants Vaughan
and Wratislaw; Mr. E. H.
Verney, mate ; Mr. Way, mid-
shipman ; and Mr. Richards,
naval cadet.
THE ROAD BEHIND SIR COLIN. 129
eight hundred and eighty- three recruits. Having book xl
placed upon a thoroughly well organised basis the
scheme for despatching these reinforcements as ct. 5 27.
expeditiously as possible to the front, Sir Colin
Campbell, with the Army Headquarters and Staff,
set out, on the 27th October, by post, for Allah-
abad.
The operations of Sir Colin Campbell demand ^ r ^ tive
an entire chapter to themselves. It will be ad- road behind
visable that, before entering upon them, I should campbSi.
clear the road behind him, and place before the
reader a general view of the transactions in Bengal
and Bihar since .Vincent Eyre's splendid gallantry
had redeemed the laches of the Government in
those important provinces.
The large division of Bhagalpur, comprising the Bhagalpur.
districts of Bhagalpur, Manghyr, Piirnia, Santha-
lia, and Rajmahal, was governed by Mr. George
Yule as Commissioner. The division constituted
the eastern moiety of the province of Bihar. The
headquarters were at the station of Bhagalpur,
on the Ganges, two hundred and sixty-six miles
• ward of Calcutta.
Mr. George Yule* was a good specimen of a Mr. George
manly, true-hearted gentleman. He was essen-
tially a man of action. His even-handed justice
had gained for him — what was rare in those days
— the confidence alike of the native ryot and the
European planter. Both classes alike trusted
him, and both were prepared to obey his orders
without hesitation or murmur.
* Now Sir George Yule, K.C.S.I.
II. 9
130
EASTERN BIHAR AND
Book XI.
Chapter I.
1857.
June.
The native
troops in
eastern
Bihar.
Mr. Yule,
at the outset,
tries to main-
tain order
without
European
troops,
Up to the time when the native garrison of
Danapiir broke out into revolt, there had been no
signs of disaffection in the Bhagalpiir division.
The troops quartered there — the 5th Irregular
Cavalry, with their headquarters at Bhagalpiir, the
32nd stationed at Baosi, and the 63rd at Barhain-
piir, had, with the exception noted in the pre-
ceding volume,* displayed no inclination to fol-
low the example of their mutinous brethren. The
conduct of Major Macdonald on the occasion in
question had greatly impressed the men of the
5th, and the strong will of that courageous man
had repressed the smallest inclination on the part
of his soldiers to manifest the sympathies which,
subsequent experience proved, they held in secret.
The men of the corps had, subsequently to the
event of the 12th June, been detached to various
stations in the division, as well to divide them as
to overawe the turbulent classes.
Although ruling over a native population num-
bering, besides the Santhals, about six millions,
Mr. Yule had considered it unnecessary to ask
for, or to accept, the services of a European de-
tachment, however small. He believed that if the
districts contiguous would but remain loyal, he
would be able, with the assistance of his assistants
and the planters, to maintain order in Bhagalpiir.
He did so, successfully, till the third week of
July. But when, during that week, the mutiny
of the 12th Irregular Cavalry and the native regi-
ments quartered at Danapiir threatened the loss
* Vol. i. page 37.
MR. GEORGE YULE. 131
of western Bihar, he deemed it prudent to detain book xi.
at Bhagalpiir ninety men of the 5th Fusiliers, u —
then being towed up the river, and to despatch JJJjjf '
fifty men of the same regiment to garrison the but the
important fortress of Manghir. a^ect^
The proceedings of the native soldiers of the affairs
1 ° . , forces nun to
Danapiir garrison, almost invited to mutiny by detain a few.
the supine action of the Supreme Government, Eff ecton
.., ., , . ,... t> -rr , eastern Bihar
combined with the immediate rising of Kunwar of the Dana-
Singh to render the condition of eastern Bihar pui u my *
dangerous in the extreme. Not only was it
impossible any longer to rely upon the native
soldiers in that province, but it had become ne-
cessary, for the security of life and property, to
prove to the disaffected that the hand wielding
executive power was thoroughly aware of the
danger, and thoroughly ready to meet it.
Mr. Yule, as a practical man, accustomed to
command, was well aware that occasions may arise
when an active demonstration is the best defence.
Such an occasion had, in his opinion, arisen in
i -fern Bihar, and he prepared to act accordingly.
Fore-warned, it was necessary to be fore-armed. The securing
Bis first act, then, had been to press into his ser- points in his
vice the detachment of the European troops sires'the 8 "
line by, and secured Bhagalpiir and Manghir. navigation of
' . • , ,,. & * n the Ganges,
the importance ot this precautionary measure
can scarcely be over-rated. The occupation of
those two st;it ions, both salient points on the
Ganges, was absolutely essential to the free navi-
gation of thai river, and it must be remembered
thai in 'July, when Mr. Beadon's line of six hun-
dred miles had been broken, the Ganges consti-
9 *
132
THE DISAFFECTED DEFER ACTION.
Book XI.
Chapter I.
1857.
July.
and stops
communica-
tion between
the dis-
affected of
eastern and
western
Bihar,
who now
wait for the
result of the
siege of
A'rah.
The natives
not always
inclined to
trust the
news they
receive.
tuted the only safe highway between Calcutta and
Allahabad.
Great as was the advantage thus gained,
another, second only to it in importance, naturally
followed. The native troops stationed at Barham-
piir had not, up to that time, thanks to the timid
policy of the Government, been disarmed. Had
Bhagalpiir and Manghir not been occupied by
Europeans, the armed mutinous soldiers scattered
over western Bihar would have held uninterrupted
communication with their brethren on either side
of them, and a general insurrection would pro-
bably have ensued.
But the occupation of those stations cowed the
disaffected for the time. They were content to
wait. The fate of eastern Bihar now depended
on the result of the siege of Arah. To that the
eyes of the natives were turned with an excite-
ment daily increasing.
One rather remarkable circumstance deserves
to be noticed. Ill news generally, it is said,
flies quickly. But it is a fact that through-
out the troubled times of the mutiny, news
betokening evil to the rebels did not fly surely to
their friends. It was not that the rebels failed
to transmit to them a true record of events.
But that record came, not written on paper,
but by word of mouth. The result was that
when the news was bad, the men who re-
ceived it, impatient of inaction, and confident
of ultimate success, refused to believe it. Their
sanguine natures induced them to imagine that
the Europeans had invented the bad news and
THE 5TH IRREGULARS AND THE 32ND N.I. 133
had caused it to be conveyed to them by men bookxi.
whom they had suborned. They proceeded to act J !LL r
then, in very many cases, as though the bearing August.
of the news were exactly contrary to the actual
meaning of the words in which it was conveyed.
So it happened on this occasion. The 5th Irre- The 5th irre-
gular Cavalry in the districts round Bhagalpiir had, i n eastern 7
in common with the other native soldiers in the B[hiv mutin y-
province, waited long for the result of the leaguer
of Arah. Had they not waited, but broken out,
the difficulties of the British position in Bihar
would have been enormously increased. But they
waited to hear of its fall. On the 14th August
information reached the men of the 5th that Arah
had been relieved by Eyre. They believed this
story to be a weak invention of the enemy — that
the contrary had happened. That night, therefore, J e h ^ c * r jfhe°
they deserted, and pushed with all speed for Baosi, 32nd,
where the 32nd Native Infantry were stationed.
But before the mutineers of the 5th Irregulars
reached the 32nd Native Infantry, the men of
that regiment had received positive proof of the
utter and absolute defeat of their brethren at
Arah and at Jagdispur. Mr. Yule, too, with an
energy worthy of the occasion, had despatched to
their commandant, Colonel Burney, a special mes-
senger, warning him of the departure in his
din-ction of the 5th. Burney was acapable man, ^ho, under
* *• * the influence
a splendid linguist, and thoroughly conversant of Colonel
with the native character. He harangued his them? 7, repe
men, and made it palpably clear to them that
whether they should march eastward or westward,
they would march to destruction. He spoke
134
CHUTIA NAGPUR.
Book XI.
Chapter I.
1857.
August.
Chutia
Nagpur.
July.
Effect in
Chutia Nag-
pur of the
mutiny at
Dana/pur.
eloquently and with effect. When the 5th Irre-
gulars then, on the 16th, presented themselves at
Baosi, they were received by the 32nd with bullets
and bayonets. The 5th, baffled in their hopes,
continued their course via Rohni to Arah.
For the moment the active measures of Yule had
conjured from eastern Bihar all danger. It was,
however, otherwise in the neighbouring district of