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right by Cornell University
Library 1991.SKETCHES OF
RULERS OF INDIA
VOL. I
THE MUTINY ERA AND AFTER
DALHOUSIE • CANNING • HENRY LAWRENCE • CLYDE
AND STRATHNAIRN • LORD LAWRENCE
MAYO • NICHOLSON • HAVELOCK
G. D. OSWELL
M.A. OXON.
PRINCIPAL OF RAJKUMAR COLLEGE, RAIPUB, CENTRAL PROVINCES, INDIA
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1908HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH
NEW YORK AND TORONTOINTRODUCTION
‘ I speak in the name of the whole Empire when I say
that \ve deeply appreciate the conspicuous services rendered
by the survivors of the mémorable Indian Mutiny of 1857
and their comrades who hâve now passed away, under
most trying circumstances and with a gallantry and an
endurance which were the means, under Providence, of
saving the Indian Empire from a great péril.’ Such was
the gracious message of His Majesty, the King Emperor,
read to the great assemblage that came together for the
historié banquet held to commemorate the Jubilee Year
of the Mutiny. The Viceroy of India, Lord Minto, sent
a message of 6 hearty good wishes to the historié gathering
of the Indian Mutiny vétérans whose services in the hour
of péril can ne ver be forgotten ’. Similarly, the Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Forces in India, Lord Kitchener,
cabled, ‘ Please convey the hearty greetings and good
wishes of the Army in India to the Mutiny Vétérans.
Their past gallant deeds are not forgotten in this Country.’
An Indian critic has recently pronounced ail such com-
mémorations to be in bad taste. Herein he has shown his
ignorance of their real significance to the Englishman.
They by no means signify a vainglorious spirit on the
part of those who organize or take part in them. Earl
Roberts has revealed their real significance : what he has
said with regard to the monuments and memorials of the
illustrious dead, is equally applicable to such commémora-
tions as these : 4 It has been suggested that ail outward
signs of the Mutiny should be obliterated, that the monu-
ment on the Ridge should be levelled, and the picturesque
Residency at Lucknow allowed to fall into decay. This
view does not commend itself to me. These relies of thatIV
INTRODUCTION
tremendous struggle are memorials of heroic services
performed by Her Majesty’s soldiers, Indian as well as
British, and by the civilians who sliared the duties and
dangers of the Army. They are valuable as reminders
that we must never again allow ourselves to be lulled into
fancied security, and above ail they stand as warnings
that we should never do anything that can possibly be
interpreted by the people of India into disregard for their
various forms of religion.’ A considération of the messages
read, and of the composition of the great assemblage
présent on the spécial occasion of this historié commémora-
tion, will reveal its significance. It stands forth as a récog-
nition of the work of the three great services of the Empire,
the Civil Service, the Navy, and the Army.
The Civil Service has been well represented in the persons
of the illustrious rulers whose careers hâve been briefly
sketched in the following pages. Lord Dalhousie and
Lord Mayo hâve each their proper place in any present-
ment of the era of the Indian Mutiny. It has sometimes
been charged against Lord Dalhousie that in his policy of
conquest and annexation was to be found one of the moving
causes of the crisis that his successor was called upon to
meet. It may well be considered what an opposite policy,
one of laisser-faire, would hâve entailed in its conséquences.
Most writers who hâve studied the History of India to
any advantage, are agreed that such a mutiny was bound
to corne sooner or later. As far back as 1843, at a time
when some of the Bengal Sepoys were exhibiting signs of
insubordination, approaching indeed actual mutiny, Sir
Henry Lawrence, with that foresight which was one of
his most marked characteristics, had written : ‘ Let Delhi
fall into the hands of a hostile force, and does any sane
man doubt that twenty-four hours would swell the hundreds
of rebels into thousands, and in a week every ploughshare
in the Delhi States would be turned into ajsword ? And
when a sufficient force had been mustered, which couldINTRODUCTION
v
not hâve been effected within a month, should we not then
hâve a more difficult game to play tlian Clive at Plassey,
or Wellington at Assaye ? Should we not hâve to strike
anew for our Indian Empire ? 5 Delhi, as history has
related, did fall, but fortunately only to be recaptured
within a fairly reasonable time. But Lord Canning had
found it necessary to Write in almost similar terms of
Lucknow : and he urged upon his Commanders the pressing
necessity of its recapture : ‘ Every eye,’ he wrote, ‘ is
upon Oudh, as it was upon Delhi. Oudh is not only the
rallying-place of the Sepoys, the place to which they ail
look, and by the doings in which their own hopes and pros-
pects rise or fall, but it represents a dynasty ; there is a
King of Oudh seeking his own.’ There had been a King
in Delhi : what if there had been a King, not merely seeking
his own, but actually reigning in Lucknow ? What if there
had been, moreover, a Bhonsla still on the throne of Nagpur ;
a Queen ruling at Jhansi : and a Sikh Maharaja at Lahore ?
And what if the Ruler of Afghanistan had not been made
by the tactful treatment he received from Lord Dalhousie—
that which his name in Persian signifies, a true friend ?
Can any one, knowing the feudal spirit that is still so
strong in India, doubt that in such a case the prophecy
of Henry Lawrence would hâve become literally true, and
every ploughshare in the régions ruled by these Potentates
would hâve been turned into a sword, and not one province
alone, but the whole of India might hâve been ‘ engulphed
in a welter of blood and confusion, and hâve reeled back
into chaos ’ ? Peace, doubtless, would in the end hâve
arrived, but it would hâve been a peace that only solitude
brings with it. Lord Dalhousie’s work of consolidation
saved India from such a fate : and so brought it about
that, when the crisis that did occur was overpassed, a work
of reconstruction only, and not one of laying anew the
foundations of an Empire, lay before the Rulers of India.
And to Lord Mayo’s great gifts of administration andVI
INTRODUCTION
conciliation it was due that this work, commenced by his
great predecessors, Canning and Lawrence, was so success-
fully accomplished, that ‘ India was once more started upon
its wondrous career of advance and expansion \ Fittingly
therefore do these great Rulers, Dalhousie and Mayo, find
a place in the gallery of portraits of the illustrious heroes
of the Mutiny Era.
The name that every Englishman at once thinks of when
the services of the Navy corne to be mentioned is that of
Captain William Peel. The third son of Sir Robert Peel,
he had already won a distinguished name for himself before
he placed his services at the disposai of the MilitaryAuthori-
ties in India during the great crisis. In the Crimea, whether
he was helping to defend the colours of the Grenadier Guards
at Inkermann, or carrying his ladder for the assault on the
Redan, or calmly removing out of harm’s way a live shell
with fuse still burning that had fallen into the midst of
the guns he was serving, he was always conspicuous for his
courage and coolness : and was one of the first récipients
of the Victoria Cross. At an earlier period of his career, like
many other intrepid and adventurous members of the
Services, Civil, Military and Naval, of the early Victorian
Era, he had been smitten with the African Wanderlust,
not for the mere sake of wandering, however, but from
a philanthropie hope of being able to do something to
ameliorate the condition of the negro, and he had crossed
the Nubian desert. He was on his way to China with Lord
Elgin on board in command of H.M.S. Shannon, when, at
Singapore, he received the news of the outbreak in India.
It was not long before he was on his way to Calcutta.
He soon formed his Naval Brigade, which at no time
exceeded five hundred men, and marched to the front with
his battery of heavy guns : and it has been recorded that
he and his handy men manœuvred and handled these huge
guns as if they were so many light field-pieces. Wherever
the fighting was most severe, there the thunder of Peel’sINTRODUCTION
vii
68-pounders was sure to be heard,~and the same gallant
qualities that had won him the Victoria Cross in the Crimea
were ever displayed by him in India. He was badly
wounded in the final assault that preceded the capture of
Lucknow. He had returned to Cawnpur, and was gradually
recovering from his wound, when he died of virulent small-
pox, just as he had made ail préparations to proceed to
England. Earl Roberts was his companion at the time,
and he has recorded how nobly Peel was nursed by the
wife of the Chaplain of Cawnpur. Lord Canning spoke
of the loss the country had sustained by the death of this
gallant naval hero in these terms : 6 The loss of his daring
but thoughtful courage is not more to be deplored than the
loss of that influence which his earnest character, admirable
temper, and gentle kindly bearing exercised on ail within
his reach.’ And the Historian of the Sepoy War has said :
‘ The memory of his great name and great deeds still
survives. He was successful because he was really great,
and dying early, he left a réputation without spot, the best
inheritance he could bequeath to his countrymen.’
Upon the Army fell the brunt of the work that had to
be done. It is fitting that the great Commanders, Lords
Clyde and Strathnairn, should find a place in any present-
ment of the period. Fitting is it too that Sir Henry Lawrence,
the Strategist and the Statesman, should also be represented.
And what account of the period would be complété that
did not take into considération the work of such men as
Sir Henry Havelock, the Saviour of Lucknow, and General
John Nicholson, stern Warder of the Marches, without
whose inspiring presence and leadership Delhi, in ail
human probability, would not hâve fallen when it did ?
And, though not ail Rulers of India in the strictest accepta-
tion of the term, they ail proved themselves to be real
Rulers of men : and further, it was by their work alone
that the peaceful administration of the country was again
rendered possible. Fittingly therefore may they ail findINTRODUCTION
viii
a place among the Rulers of India. Other great Com-
manders there were whose names at once leap to the front,
whenever the story of the Mutiny cornes to be told, but
space will not allow of more than a very brief mention of
their heroic deeds : the gallant Neill, Saviour of Benares
and of Allahabad, the stern A venger, who, when Havelock
and his Ironsides passed on, remained behind in Cawnpur
to exact rétribution for the atrocious massacres with which
the name of that city will for ever be associated in the
minds of Englishmen ; the chivalric Outram, rightly styled
4 The Bayard of India ’, renowned in two worlds for his
great act of self-renunciation ; the Leader of Light Horse,
Hodson, true type of the dashing and intrepid guerrilla
Chieftain, who flashes across the pages of history like
a brilliant and erratic meteor across the Firmament of
Heaven.
Lord Canning has said of Neill : 4 In the great struggle
in which the best and bravest men of any âge or country
would hâve been proud to bear a part, there was no leader
more reliable, no soldier more forward than Neill.’ The
remark made by the sentries at the gâte, as he entered the
Fort at Allahabad, on his way to join Havelock at Cawn-
pur, was a sufïicient testimony to his great réputation :
4 Thank God, Sir, you’ll save us yet.’ Two dramatic
scenes must suffice for an appréciation of the distinguishing
characteristics of this gallant hero. Their interest centres
round the sacred Ghat at Cawnpur, and the narrow streets
of Lucknow. At Cawnpur he was temporarily left in
command after Havelock had advanced on Lucknow : and
he exacted there a terrible rétribution for the atrocities
that had been committed by the orders, and in the name,
of that démon in human form, the Nana Sahib. Neill was
not a man for indiscriminate vengeance, nor did he execute
vengeance for vengeance sake : ail he did was in the name
of rétributive justice. He said himself : 4 My object is to
inflict a fearful punishment for a revolting, cowardly,INTRODUCTION
IX
barbarous deed : no one who has witnessed the scenes of
murder, mutilation, and massacre can ever listen to the
word mercy as applied to these fiends.’ It was against
the démons that had so cruelly murdered innocent women
and children that his righteous wrath was directed, not
against rebels because they were rebels. Indeed it stands
to the eternal crédit of the Sepoys that they refused to obey
the orders of their master to fire upon the defenceless
women and children, and left the ghastly work to the
butchers of the city. Even a Christian Missionary could
view with equanimity and approval the rétribution exacted
byNeill. Dr. Dufï wrote :—6 GeneralNeill,thoughnaturally
a mild, gentle, quiet, inofïensive man, seems to hâve irre-
sistibly felt that an exhibition of stern justice was impera-
tively demanded. His Scottish Bible-training had taught
him that justice was as absolute an attribute of Deity as
mercy, that magistracy was an ordinance of God, and
expressly designed to be a terror to evil-doers.’ Statesmen,
too, such as Lord Palmerston and Lord Shaftesbury, saw
in his action only a just rétribution for ‘ atrocities such
as were to be imagined and perpetrated only by démons
sallying forth from the lowest depths of hell \
And what Englishman in the India of to-day, or thought-
ful Indian either for the matter of that, is there who,
knowing the feelings that can be engendered, even in the
minds of those who most wish India well, by the events
that hâve occurred in recent years at Puna and Cawnpur,
which are now a matter of history, or by those that hâve
occurred still more recently in Eastern Bengal and Behar,
will be prepared to deny that no punishment can be too
severe, not only for the actual perpetrators, but for the
still greater criminals, the instigators of such atrocious
crimes. Well may those men, pictured to the distorted
imagination of a recent writer on Indian affairs, as ‘ ardent
patriots and high-minded constitutionalists ’, who so re-
cently attempted to stir up strife in the Indian Empire,
O S WELLX
INTRODUCTION
congratulate themselves that they received the mild punish-
ment they did, meted out to them by the three strong men
at the head of afïairs, Morley, Minto, and Ibbetson, calm
and confident with the courage that a just and righteous
cause ever brings with it, instead of the far sterner rétribu-
tion that their offence deserved : for it is such men as
these, who, though with their mouths they may disclaim
it, show by their acts that they are prepared to stir up
the most evil passions of men, and let loose the hounds of
hell. A writer in a Canadian Magazine some little time back
commented on what he has described as the mostdistinguish-
ing characteristic of the British Nation in its management
of its Colonies, and its government of its Dependencies, its
sublime and magnificent patience. It was not without
significance that Havelock gave out Patience as the watch-
word of the British Army on its final advance on Lucknow.
It is this quality par excellence that has at ail times dis-
tinguished the Rulers of India : never was it manifested
more conspicuously than during that great crisis known
to an earlier génération of Englishmen, as the Indian
Mutiny. The recent crises, also known to a later généra-
tion, show that it is still as conspicuous a characteristic
as ever.
The picture that has been depicted of the way Neill met
his death in the narrow streets of Lucknow, when, with
Havelock and Outram, he was hastening to the relief of
his countrymen and countrywomen, though the historian
of the Sepoy War will not vouch for its strict accuracy in
ail its details, has been described by those who knew him
best, as4 so like Neill ’, that its record hereneeds no apology :
‘ He fell pressing through a gateway at Lucknow thronged
with the dead, the dying, and the advancing hosts of the
British avengers of blood, at the head of his own beloved
régiment, with everything to urge the warrior onwards,
and to make a moment5 s pause as répugnant to his na-
ture as it was perilous. And yet the hero paused onINTRODUCTION
xi
his onward course, and that pause exposing him to
steady murderous aim from behind the treacherous loopliole
cost his precious life. But he paused for no work of
slaughter, but for a work of mercy, not to strike down
a foeman, but to moisten from his own flask the lips of
a poor private who had fallen wounded or exhausted by
his side.’ We ail remember that beautiful story, dear to us
from our childhood, of Sir Philip Sidney, when dying on
the field of Zutphen, waving from him the cup of cold
water that was ofïered to him, with the words : 4 Give
it to that poor man : his necessity is greater than mine.’
That deed of the Christian warrior, is, and ever will be,
unsurpassed : but is it not now equalled ? was not the
charity as lovely, the self-denial as sublime, which could
stay the advancing steps of the fiery Neill, eager to avenge
his slaughtered countrymen and countrywomen, that he
might succour his poor, faithful, simple-hearted follower,
as those which animated the noble Sidney ?
Only a volume could do justice to the career of that
Paladin of Chivalry, Sir James Outram. And the number
of these that hâve appeared is a sufficient testimony to the
esteem and admiration with which his name will ever be
reverenced by Englishmen. What has most appealed to
the imagination of men in Outram’s career was that great
act of renunciation by which he placed the crown on Have-
lock’s achievements, by twice surrendering the suprême
command into his hands at critical junctures in that hero’s
glorious career. Ail know how that act was regarded in
the Old World. It will be sufficient to record here how it
was appreciated in the New World : 4 Ne ver before,’ wrote
an American writer, 4 was so remarkable an order issued
to an Army by its Commander—the days of chivalry can
furnish no parallel to it. There is a grandeur in the very
simplicity and frankness with which this self-sacrifice is
made, while the act itself reveals a nobleness of character,
a true greatness of soûl, that wins our unbounded adrnira-
b 2INTRODUCTION
xii
tion. To waive his rank and move on with the column
as a spectator would hâve shown great self-denial, and
elicited tlie applause of the world : but not satisfied with
this, lie joined the Volunteer Cavalry, and, though covered
with wrell-earned laurels, stood ready to win his epaulettes
over again. Ail his illustrious deeds in the field, which
hâve rendered his name immortal, grow dim before the
glory of this one act. When they shall be forgotten, it
shall remain the best eulogium that could be pronounced
on his name. Kings may confer patents of nobility, but
the loftiest titles can add nothing to the grandeur of such
a character. Men, by their illustrious deeds, often excite
the admiration of the wTorld, but few ever win its affections.
Décorations and external honours may dazzle and attract
the eye, but they do not gain the heart. Outram has
wron the love of ail true men in both hemispheres, and sits
enthroned wiiere outwrard signs of greatness pass but for
little.’
There were many dramatic épisodes in the career of the
man, whom one writer has described as ‘ the dashing,
daring, reckless adventurer ’, Hodson, who once had the
distinction of commanding that gallant régiment of Guides,
first raised and equipped on the initiative of Sir Henry
Lawrence. During the great crisis he commanded a body
of Irregular Cavalry, named after himself, Hodson’s Horse.
One of the most gallant feats of the whole Campaign was
Hodson’s great ride of 152 miles through a country teeming
with mutineers, to carry dispatches from the Commander-
in-Chief at Ambala to the Officer Commanding at Mirât.
Having delivered his message and obtained ail the informa-
tion his Chief required, he vras back at Ambala again
within seventy-six hours. The most dramatic incidents
connected with Hodson’s name are perhaps his capture
of the old King wrhere he lay cowering amidst the tombs
of his ancestors, and his execution, in full view of the city,
of the princes of the blood royal. Before Delhi fell,yheINTRODUCTION
xiii
had said : 6 If I get into the Palace, the House of Timur
will not be worth five minutes’ purchase, I ween.’ And
history has recorded how he kept his promise. His capture
of the King was only another instance out of many that
the history of the British in India has afforded of the
might of a dominating will. The historian has well said
of this incident : ‘ A grander historical picture has been
rarely seen than that of the single British subaltern receiv-
ing the sword of the last of the Mogul Emperors in the
midst of a multitude of followers and retainers grieving
for the downfall of the House of Tamerlane, and the ruin
of their own fortunes. Grand as was the central incident
in itself, it was rendered still grander and more impressive
by its gorgeous historical background—the magnificent
gateway with the milk-white dômes of the Tomb of
Humayun towering up from within.’ It is recorded that
when Hodson presented himself at the Head Quarters
Camp, the General Commanding said to him : 4 Well, I am
glad you hâve got him, but I never expected to see you
or him again.’ Hodson selected as his share of the royal
arms placed at his disposai by the General as memorials
of his adventure, the swords once worn by Nadir Shah
and the Emperor Jahangir.
No act of Hodson’s has been more criticized than his
execution of the Delhi Princes. His own comment upon
it was : ‘ I made up my mind at the time to be abused.
I was convinced I was right : and when I prepared to
run the great physical risk of the attempt I was equally
game for the moral risk of praise or blâme.’ And perhaps
more blâme has been attached to his act than praise. But
he cannot be judged from the ordinary standpoint. Many
of his acts can only be explained on the supposition that
he had become more or less Orientalized in his outlook
upon life. And he is not the only Briton who has fallen
under the spell of the East. Hajji Browne of Egyptian
famé, in a powerful passage in his writings on Egypt andXIV
INTRODUCTION
its afïairs, has described the effect upon an Englishman
who has voluntarily subjected himself to this spell, how
that, however much he may wish it afterwards, he can
no more get away from it than he can from his own shadow.
Scattered here and there along the wayside in India are
the graves and memorials of Britons who hâve not only
become thus Orientalized in reason and imagination, but
who hâve even adopted the religion of the people with
whom they hâve been willing to cast in their lot. Such
a one is to be found in that young Scotsman, Macgregor,
who, under the désignation of Bhikkuyu Ananda Metteya,
has been for some years living among the Buddhist monks
of the far East as one of themselves. Assuming then that
Hodson had become thus to a certain extent Orientalized,
it would not be difficult for him to find a justification of
his deed. It was one more illustration of the Oriental
rule that no rivais can be tolerated near a throne. An
old Persian saying has it : 4 Ten dervishes may lie on one
rug, but no country is big enough for two Rings.9 Never
again, if Hodson could help it, would one of the race of
Timur arise to dispute the supremacy of Hindustan with
the British.
Hodson met with the death of a hero in the final assault
that preceded the capture of Lucknow from the rebels.
It is recorded that the Commander-in-Chief attended the
funeral, and that, while the body was being lowered into
the grave, tears were flowing down his cheeks, and he
exclaimed : 4 I hâve lost one of the finest officers in the
Army.’ Earl Roberts has left on record his own opinion
of Hodson : 41 had a very great admiration for him, and
in common with the whole Army, I mourned his early
death.9 There must hâve been much good in a man who
could win the tri bute of tears from such a man as Sir
Colin Campbell, and an encomium from that mirror of
true chivalry, Field-Marshal Earl Roberts. 4 His military
exploits, his brilliant services to his country, and the factINTRODUCTION
xv
that he died fighting gallantly to the last against the
enemies of his country,’ as the historian has recorded,
will always entitle him to a place among the heroes in the
Temple of Famé, but the defects inhérent in his remarkable
and picturesque personality will ever prevent his taking
a place among them in the front rank.
If the work of the more conspicuous and more dis-
tinguished of the heroes of the Indian Mutiny présents
a glorious record, so does that of the rank and file, less
conspicuous it may be, as human estimate judges, but
none the less distinguished. And one most noticeable
feature was the humanity that characterized the British
soldier whose temper, surely more tried than it had ever
been, stood the test. An incident that speaks with unpre-
meditated éloquence of this has been recorded by Earl
Roberts : 4 In an unpublished diary of a British ofïicer
kept during the Siégé of Delhi there occurs an entry written
on the eve of the grand assault. It is to this effect : The
orders for the assault were then read to the men. Any
ofïicer or man who might be wounded was to be left where
he fell : no one was to step from the ranks to help him,
as there were no men to spare. There was to be no plunder-
ing. No prisoners were to be taken, as there was no one
to guard them : and care was to be taken that no women
or children were to be injured. To this the men ail
answered at once by “ No fear, Sir Lord Strathnairn,
during the Central India Campaign, also commented on
this noble spirit of humanity, as shown by the soldiers
under his command. 4 Methods of barbarism ’ hâve never
characterized the British soldier in the field. Such a
phrase, it is true, has once been used by a statesman, but
it was used in the heat of parliamentary partisanship, and
was not intended, so says his apologist, to hâve the applica-
tion that it has so often been credited with having. It was
one more of those terminological inexactitudes that hâve
been struck in the mint of party politics.XVI
INTRODUCTION
Nor, in their gallantry and dévotion to duty, were the
rank and file of the Indian branch of the Army one whit
behind their British comrades. Colonel Younghusband,
in that narrative so full of adventure and stirring deeds
as he well describes it, The Story of the Guides, has written
of one of his heroes in these terms : ‘ He was one of those
Bayards of the East who know no fear, and as soldiers are
without reproach.’ And truly that Punjabi Muhammadan
of the 4th Punjab Infantry, Mukarrab Khan by name,
whose gallant deed, which won him the Indian équivalent
of the Victoria Cross, was a Bayard of the East, if ever
there was one. It was in the course of an attack on the
Sikandarbagh, during the operations for the final relief of the
Lucknow Residency. Earl Roberts was himself an eye-
witness of the deed, and has thus recorded it : ‘ The enemy,
having been driven out of the earthwork, made for the
gateway, the heavy doors of which were in the act of
being closed, when the Punjabi pushed his left arm, on
which he carried a shield, between them, thus preventing
their being shut. On his hand being badly wounded by
a sword eut, he drew it out and instantly thrust in the
other arm, when the right hand was ail but severed at the
wrist. But he gained his object : the doors could not be
closed, and were soon forced open altogether, and the troops
swarmed in.’ Few finer examples of dévotion, moreover,
hâve been recorded in history than that of the faithful
Sepoy of the 13th Bengal Native Infantry, who, after
heroic service with his British comrades in the beleaguered
Residency, having, on the approach of the relieving force,
rushed out to welcome them, was mistaken by the High-
landers, as they charged in their mad rush, for a foeman,
and bayoneted. It is recorded that, as he lay dying, he
said to his two companions, who had shared his fate, 6 It
does not matter : we hâve died for the Government.’
And in the ranks of the rebel army the British soldier
found many a foeman w'orthy of his steel. In his inter-INTRODUCTION
xvn
esting Réminiscences of the Revoit in Hindustan, Sir Evelyn
Wood has recorded how, 4 a sentry over the King’s palace
at Delhi awaited death at his post ’ : and how, 4 in a long
passage leading to the Palace which was crowded with
wounded soldiers, a private of the 37th Native Infantry
stood still at uThe Ready” till the stormers were near,
when, levelling his musket, he fired : then charging, he
met death on the bayonets of the King’s Royal Rifles.’
In any record of the achievements of the Army in India,
the work done by Volunteers cannot be omitted. It will
be sufficient to quote the testimony of Havelock, who had
so good an opportunity of judging of their quality : what
he says applies specially to the young oflicers who served
as Volunteers with his force, but it is equally applicable
to ail the members of the Volunteer Corps : 4 New to the
country, new to the service, unaccustomed to roughing it,
brought up in every luxury, and led to believe that on their
arrivai in India, they would hâve the same, these young
oflicers and gentlemen willingly threw themselves into the
thick of the work, often without a tent or cover of any sort
to shelter them from the rain or sun, with bad provisions
and hard work. Side by side with the privâtes they took
their turn of duty, and side by side with them they fought,
were wounded, and some of them died. When we got into
Lucknow and were useless as Cavalry, they cheerfully took
the musket, and night and day, at one of the most important
posts, did sentry duty with the men. Well and nobly
they did their duty : and proud may those boys be when
they point to the medal on their breast, and say : “ I won
this while serving as a private in the field.” ’ And who
can doubt that, when time and opportunity présent them-
selves, Haldane’s Terriers will give as good an account of
themselves, as Havelock’s Gentlemen Volunteers did ?
It is fitting that non-combatants also should find a place
in this record of noble deeds and gallant conduct. Many
of those who in the piping times of peace would neverINTRODUCTION
xviii
hâve thought of handling a musket, or wielding a sword,
had occasionally to take their place among the ranks of
combatants at this time of storm and stress, and many
others were called on to dare and do deeds of daring that
helped to save the Empire : and such were to be found
not only in the ranks of Britons, but in those of their
Indian allies as well. Earl Roberts has recorded one
conspicuous instance of gallantry on the part of a member
of the Medical Service : c Tyrrell Ross was well known as
a skilful surgeon, and esteemed as a staunch friend. He
had just returned from England, and on the very moming
of the engagement that cleared the enemy ofï the road
to Fatehgarh, had been placed in medical charge of the
Cavalry Brigade. When the order to mount was given,
Ross asked the General where he wished him to be, pointing
out that he would not be of much use in the rear, if there
was a pursuit across country. The General replied :
“ Quite so, I hâve heard you are a good rider and can use
your sword. Ride on my left, and help to look after my
squadron.” This Ross did as well as any Cavalry ofïicer
could hâve done.’ It is recorded, moreover, that when
the 78th Highlanders were awarded two Victoria Crosses
and were asked to elect the récipients of them, one, by
the universal acclamation of the men, was bestowed upon
Assistant-Surgeon Valentine McMaster, for the devoted
gallantry with which he had risked his life in binding up
the wounds, and securing the retreat of the men under
his charge who had been disabled by the bullets of the
enemy.
The deed by which the civilian Kavanagh, who had been
a clerk in an office in Lucknow, won his Victoria Cross,
was one that demanded the very highest moral and
physical courage. He had to make his way through a
city teeming with enemies, carrying important dispatches
and a plan of Lucknow, to the General in Command of the
relieving force. His remarkable fairness of complexion,INTRODUCTION
xix
and his blue eyes, rendered the difficultés of an efficient
disguise ail the greater : and he himself has acknowledged
that, when he plunged into the waters of the Gumti, to
conceal himself in the suburbs, till nightfall would enable
him again to cross the river and pass through the city
without too great risk, he felt almost inclined to abandon
the enterprise altogether. More than once he was accosted
as eventually he made his way through the streets of the
city after dark, and was only saved from récognition by
the adroitness and resource of the plucky man of Oudh
who was accompanying him, who took upon himself to
answer ail questions. Had Outram been compelled to
employ a native spy at this juncture, he would hâve had
to send his communication in the usual way such were
conveyed during the Mutiny, written in French, signed in
Greek, and rolled up in a quill. But Outram was par-
ticularly anxious to communicate certain information at
great length to Sir Colin Campbell, and to place in his
hands a plan of the route he proposed that he should
advance by, so as to save him and his men from the severe
fighting that would be entailed if they followed the route
that he and Havelock had followed on the first advance.
And this the offer of Kavanagh, which, as Earl Roberts has
said, was such an offer as must hâve appealed to the heart
of the Bayard of India, enabled him to accomplish. There
was another man in Lucknow also, who had covered
himself with undying glory for the heroic manner in which,
on three occasions at least, he had risked his life in carrying
communications between the garrison and the relieving
force under Havelock. This was the Sepoy Pensioner,
Angad, of whom an officer in the Residency wrote that he
was the one man who had kept hope alive amongst them ail
that help would surely soon arrive, and had thus heartened
them for their work. It is recorded that when, towards
the end of September, he brought the cheering news of the
advance of Havelock and Outram, he was the hero of theXX
INTRODUCTION
hour : he is reported then to hâve said : ‘ Now I hâve got
back three times, I will go no more, but will live and die
with you.’
Something must be said of the work of the Indian
followers and attendants, so many hundreds of whom
shared the dangers and privations of their masters, aye,
and mistresses too, and displayed throughout a dévotion
and a constancy that has been well described as unparalleled
in the records of any nation. The troopers of the 9th
Lancers, as recorded by Earl Roberts, bore their testimony
to the high qualities displayed by such : when they were
called upon to name the man they considered most worthy
of the Victoria Cross, an honour which Sir Colin Campbell
proposed to confer on the Régiment to mark his apprécia-
tion of the gallantry displayed by ail ranks during the
campaign, they unanimously chose the head Bhisti, Water-
Carrier of the force. The deeds of these men hâve in the
main been left unrecorded, and their bodies rest in unnamed
graves, but they were none the less heroes, and their deeds
will ever be written in the hearts, not only of their own
countrymen in India, but of Englishmen, who are always
the first to recognize heroic deeds performed by whatever
race, and in whatever clime.
Deeds
Above heroic, though in secret done
And unrecorded, last through many an âge.
And what words will suffice to record the acts of heroic
courage, or equally heroic constancy, displayed during this
tremendous crisis, by the daughters of England, who were
ever ready to share the périls and difficulties of the time
with England’s sons ? They played indeed a noble part
throughout the Empire. And where their services were
most needed, in the hospitals, by the side of the wounded
and the dying, there they were ever to be found : and
besides visiting the sick, they did much good work in other
directions, says the historian, 4 giving confidence to theINTRODUCTION	xxi
desponding by cheerful looks and cheerful words, teaching
the young and performing many otlier Christian offices.’
Few finer pictures hâve been presented of noble English
womanhood than that which has been depicted of Lady
Outram, who proved herself a fitting help-meet for the
Bayard of India. When escaping from Ahgarh, she had
to walk barefooted for many a mile before finding shelter
behind the walls of the Fort at Agra : and when the Fort
was invested by the enemy, it is recorded that, 4 it was
a delight to the European soldiers to see her, with her
serene face, always ready with a kind smile, and a kind
word, as she moved about amongst them.’ Most heroic
of ail was the attitude of the Englishwomen at Cawnpur,
4 the stories of whose womanly self-devotion, and patient
endurance, and calm courage, as they waited for the
inévitable end, are,’ says the historian, 4 too long to tell
in detail.’ And, as the relieving forces got nearer and
nearer to Lucknow, the one thought of ail, officers and men,
fresh from the scene of carnage and massacre, was how
to avert a similar terrible fate befalling their country-
women shut up within the walls of the Residency. And
they strained every nerve that such should not be. Their
thoughts indeed were continually with their countrywomen
in their hour of péril and adversity. As the gallant Neill
was passing the battery commanded by Captain Olpherts,
that young officer of Artillery, for whose bravery Outram
was unable to find a term sufficiently expressive, he heard
him call out to his men : 4 The sound of your guns, men,
is music to the ladies.’ Neill himself was bringing with
him a box of comforts and delicacies for their use, and,
though he was not to hâve the happiness of personally
distributing them, they were ail duly given away for him
by a brother officer. And, as the force entered the Resi-
dency, it is recorded that,4 The Highlanders rushed forward,
the rough-bearded warriors, and shook the ladies by the
hand with loud and repeated congratulations. They tookXXII
INTRODUCTION
the children up in their arms, and fondly caressing them,
passed them from one to another in turn.’
The roll of the dead is a long and distinguished one, and
so is that of the survivors. Speaking at the Commémora-
tion Banquet already referred to, the President said :
‘ The lapse of fifty years had carried off ail those to whom
the country then looked to protect its interests, and to
guard its honour. They who were left were little more than
boys at the time, and there was no one now alive who held
any position of responsibility at that period.’ In these
modest words, Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, for he it was
who was presiding on the occasion referred to, spoke of
the work done during the great crisis by such as himself.
If he and his heroic companions were only boys at the time
the fact that among them are now to be found four Field-
Marshals of the British Army, shows that they were boys
of whom any nation might well be proud. Earl Roberts’s
whole record shows that the stuff was there : yet in the
moulding it might be, but it was not to be long before
the moulding took shape, and lo ! a model of chivalry
and renown. By his own confession he moulded himself
after the fashion of the great Nicholson : and in Nicholson
and Roberts ail men will recognize true type and anti-type.
Space will only allow of one incident in the career of the
gallant Field-Marshal Earl Roberts being taken, but it
will serve as représentative of the work done by the boys,
who are now war-worn vétérans. That one will be the
incident which holds, perhaps, the highest place in the
estimation of the hero himself, the occasion when he won
the Victoria Cross. It must be given in his own modest
language. ‘ The troops had moved out from Cawnpur to
open up communications between Bengal and the Punjab.
An engagement with the enemy was proceeding on the
banks of the Kala Nadi, the Black Stream, at Khudaganj,
on the high road to Fatehgarh. Suddenly I saw Young-
husband fall, but I could not go to his assistance, as atINTRODUCTION	xxiii
that moment one of his Sowars was in dire péril from a
Sepoy who was attacking him with his fixed bayonet, and
had I not helped the man, and disposed of his opponent,
he must hâve been killed. The next moment I descried
in the distance two Sepoys making ofif with a Standard,
which I determined must be captured, so I rode after the
rebels and overtook them, and while wrenching the staff
out of the hands of one of them, whom I eut down, the
other put his musket close to my body and fired : fortu-
nately for me it missed fire, and I carried ofï the Standard.
For these two acts I was awarded the Victoria Cross.’
And who will deny that it was a distinction most gallantly
won ?
The story of the Indian Mutiny will ever exercise a
fascination over the minds and imagination of men. It
has, indeed, a world-wide interest. Drama must always
appeal to the human race. And in this particular story
the world has seen depicted not one only, but a whole
sériés of immortal dramas. What a theme for the great
World-Dramatists and for the great World-Poets is here !
Not one single element that goes to make up a World-
Drama, or a great World-Epie is wanting. Scene succeeds
scene with dramatic swiftness : figures heroic who would
not hâve done despite to an Homeric stage : figures tragic
and pathetic such as only the genius of a Shakespeare could
adequately présent : figures half-divine and wholly dae-
monic such as only a Milton could hâve called up from
the vasty deep of his almost inspired imagination : ail
these move across the stage. It would be a theme, more-
over, for a modem Indian Epie : but who could be found
capable of undertaking so tremendous a task ? And yet
the writer of these pages, in his wanderings amidst the
Highlands of Kashmir, once came across a solitary English-
man who had conceived the idea. He was travelling the
length and breadth of India to report on the historié and
prehistoric antiquities of that great Continent. HisXXIV
INTRODUCTION
imagination had been so impressed with their surpassing
interest that he had already commenced his stupendous
task : it was none other than to rival the authors of the
great Epies of an India of an earlier day, by composing
an Epie that should cover both the ancient and the modem
history of India : to be written in Cantos of Spenserian
verse. Part of his task had already been accomplished
when the writer met with him, but long before its com-
pletion, ‘ the pestilence that walketh in darkness ’ had
claimed him as its victim.
Apart from the world interest of the story of the Indian
Mutiny which it has on its dramatic side, it will always
hâve a spécial interest for Englishmen, and that, not only
on account of the halo that surrounds it of great and
ennobling achievements, but from the lessons it teaches.
It is a call to the 6 Sons of the Empire ’ not only to be
ready whenever the summons cornes, to emulate these
achievements, but to take up 4 the white man’s burden ’
in whatever part of the world they may hear 4 the call
of the Empire\ ‘If the trumpet give an uncertain
sound, who shall préparé himself to the battle ? ’ There
is no uncertain sound in that clear Clarion call with which
that true Imperialist, Lord Curzon, has summoned ail
true sons of the Empire to rally to the call of the Empire.
In his great speech on 4 The true Imperialism ’ which he
delivered at Birmingham, in 1907, Lord Curzon said :—
4 As to the future, if he found any audience of his country-
men, who were plunged in doubt as to what it might bring
forth, and who wondered wrhether the handwriting might
not already be tracing its sentence on the wall of our
Empire, as it had done upon those of Babylon, and Nineveh,
and Rome, he would say to them, 44 Hâve no such craven
fears. Erom the sordid controversies and sometimes
depressing gloom of our insular existence look forth, and
if the summons cornes to you, go forth, into the larger
fields of Empire where duty still calls, and an illimitableINTRODUCTION
XXV
horizon opens. Preserve with faithful attachment the
acquisitions of our forefathers, not tabulating them with
vulgar pride, but accepting the legacy with reverence, and
holding no sacrifice too great to maintain it. Be sure
that in our national character, if we can keep it high and
undefiled, still lies our national strength. Count it no
shame to acknowledge our Impérial Mission, but on the
contrary the greatest disgrâce to be untrue to it, and
even if God no longer thunders from Sinai, and His oracles
are sometimes reported dumb, cling humbly but fervently
to the belief that so long as we are worthy we may still
remain one of the instruments through whom He chooses
to speak to mankind.” 5
England need never fear that the call of the Empire
will ever be sounded in vain so long as her sons respond
so nobly to it as did the late Lieutenant-Governor of the
Punjab, the noble and heroic Denzil Ibbetson, during that
crisis which, early in 1907, stirred England and India to
its depths, and which, had it been left to a weaker or less
resolute man to encounter, might well hâve developed
into a dangerous menace to the State. The promptness
and decision with which it was met alone saved the situa-
tion. Sir Denzil Ibbetson showed that the teaching of
History had not been forgotten by the modem race of
Indian administrators, and that the qualities that dis-
tinguished those that laid the foundations of the great
Indian Empire, are still to be found in those on whom
the duty has devolved of maintaining it in ail its integrity.
But what will ever entitle him to a place among England’s
most noble and honoured sons is the fact that he did what
he did knowing that he had the sentence of death upon
him. And he as truly sacrificed his life upon the altar of
duty, as did any of the great heroes who died for their
country during the great crisis of the Mutiny. In an
address presented to Outram after his return to England
the Times has recorded that these words occurred : 4 By
OSWBLL	qXXVI
INTRODUCTION
men of your stamp was our Indian Empire won, by men
of your stamp must it be preserved—by men as honest,
as single-minded, as chivalrous, as humane, with as much
love for the people of the country, as much pride in an
Indian career, and as little thought of self as James Outram.’
Such a man was Denzil Ibbetson. And equally applicable
to him, as to those other heroes whom the soûl of the
historian of the Sepoy War delighted to honour, are the
lines which he has quoted from Pindar :—
Whoe’er has reached the highest pinnacle
Of famé by glorious toil, or daring skill,
. . . let him possess his soûl in quietness
And bear his honours meekly : at the last
E’en gloomy death will hâve for such an one
Some gleams of brightness, for he will bequeath
To the dear offspring of his heart and race
Their best inheritance—an honoured name.
This volume represents the first of a sériés of Character
Sketches of the Rulers of India. They do not profess to
be original, but are largely abstracts of the sériés edited
by the late Sir W. W. Hunter on behalf of the Delegates
of the Clarendon Press, who hâve courteously accorded
me their permission to make use of the volumes of that
sériés in this way. The sketches hâve been specially
adapted to serve either as lectures in schools and colleges,
for which purpose they hâve been so written that their
delivery need not exceed the limits of the average school-
hour of fifty minutes, or for reading by the general public.
The adaptations hâve been drawn from an expérience
gained during a long career in India extending over thirty
years, spent chiefly in educational work among the Princes
and nobles of the country. They should appeal to ail who
are interested in the development of our great Indian
Empire, as they give a more or less complété picture of the
principles on which that Empire has been administered,
and by which it has been maintained—principles ofINTRODUCTION
XXVll
justice, truth, and righteousness—and of the character of
the men who hâve been deputed by England to be its
rulers.
The présent sériés covers the period immediately before,
during, and after the Indian Mutiny. They deal with
the Civil Administration of the Marquess of Dalhousie,
Earl Canning, Lord Lawrence, Sir Henry Lawrence, and
the Earl of Mayo, and with the military operations of
Lords Clyde and Strathnairn. In order to make the picture
of this important period more complété and interesting,
the careers of Sir Henry Havelock and of Brigadier-
General John Nicholson hâve been included in the sériés.
Thus ail the leading features of the administration of the
Indian Empire are pictured from the final development
of the Company’s rule under Lord Dalhousie, and the end
of that rule that came about with the transfer of the Govern-
ment of India from the Company to the Crown under
Lord Canning, to the final consolidation of the Queen’s
rule under Lord Mayo.
The authors of the original works from which I hâve
drawn the materials for my sketches are :—
Sir W. W. Hunter, Author of The Marquess of Dalhousie
and The Earl of Mayo.
Sir H. S. Cunningham, Author of Earl Canning.
General McLeod Innés, Author of Sir Henry Lawrence.
Major-General Sir O. T. Burne, Author of Clyde and
Strathnairn.
Sir C. U. Aitchison, Author of Lord Lawrence.
Sir J. W. Kaye, Author of Life of John Nicholson.
Edition 1867.
John Clark Marshman, Author of Memoirs of Sir Henry
Havelock. Edition 1860.
I hâve been also indebted for some of my materials to
Field-Marshal Earl Roberts’s Forty-one Years in India : to
Captain Trotter’s Life of John Nicholson : and to Kaye
and Malleson’s History of the Sepoy War.xxviii	INTRODUCTION
To Lord Curzon, late Viceroy of India, and Chancellor
of the University of Oxford, whose sustained enthusiasm
in ail that concerned the welfare of India shone with
undimmed lustre, a beacon to his génération, throughout
the seven long years of his Viceroyalty, this sériés of
Character-Sketches of the Rulers of India, by his gracious
permission, is dedicated.
G. D. OSWELL, M.A.
January.CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
The Final Development of the Company’s Rtjle : Lord
Dalhotjsie, 1812-1860	......................
CHAPTER II
The Transfer of India from the Company to the Crown :
Lord Canning, 1812-1862 ......................
CHAPTER III
The Pacificator: Sir Henry Lawrence, 1806-1857
CHAPTER IV
The Suppression of the Great Revolt : Clyde (1792-1863)
and Strathnairn (1801-1885)...................
CHAPTER V
The Reconstruction of India under the Crown : Lord
Lawrence, 1811-1879	......................
CHAPTER VI
The Consolidation of the Queen’s Rule in India : Lord
Mayo, 1822-1872	..........................
CHAPTER VII
The Capture of Delhi : John Nicholson, 1822-1857	.
CHAPTER VIII
The Relief of Lucknow : Sir Henry Havelock, 1795-
1857 .......................................
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65
84
101
117
146ERRATUM
Page 72, line 9, for Curzon read MintoCHAPTER I
THE FINAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMPANY’S
RULE
Lord Dalhousie, 1812-1860.
The most striking feature in Lord Dalhousie was his
strong personality : this trait he owed to his descent ;
strength of character had always been a characteristic of
the family to which he belonged.
Lord Dalhousie was born in Canada, where his father
was at the time Governor-General. He was sent to school
at Harrow. One incident of his schoolboy days made a
marked impression upon him, as it was well calculated
to do : this was a visit paid to his old school by the
Marquess of Hastings, on his return from ruling India for
nine years, and his generosity in présenting each boy with
a couple of sovereigns.
From Harrow he proceeded to Oxford, where among his
contemporaries were Gladstone, Canning, and Elgin, the
two latter, like himself, destined to be Rulers of India.
He took an ordinary degree, but the examiners, recog-
nizing his splendid abilities, and in considération of certain
spécial circumstances that had interfered with his reading
for Honours, gave him an Honorary Fourth, which was then
regarded as équivalent to a Second in Greats.
In 1835, he made an attempt to enter Parliament, but
was unsuccessful. He married in the course of the follow-
ing year. His second attempt to enter Parliament, in 1837,
was successful, but his Parliamentary career was destined
to be a very short one, for in the following year he suc-
ceeded to the Earldom of Dalhousie. He now proceeded
to devote himself to whatever local work came to his hand.
In 1842 he had the honour of receiving a visit from the
young Queen. It is recorded of him, as characteristic of
the haughty courtesy which in later years grew upon him,
that he playfully reminded Her Majesty that the last8
RULERS OF INDIA
English Sovereign who had approached Dalhousie Castle
was Henry IV, and he had remained outside for weeks, and
never succeeded in gaining admission. A few years after
this he held office as President of the Board of Trade, and
in that capacity laid before the Prime Minister a scheme
of railway development : he treated it entirely as a concern
of the State, thus anticipating his later work in India.
His scheme provided that no new line of railway should be
sanctioned, except on some clear ground of public advan-
tage, commercial or strategie. This System was not accepted
in England, but it formed the basis on which the railway
System of India has been elaborated. He devoted much
time and thought to the subject : indeed his persistent
overwork in connexion with it is thought to hâve laid the
foundation of future disease. English statesmen now began
to recognize his eminent qualities, and in 1847, at the early
âge of thirty-five, he received the ofïer of the Governor-
Generalship of India. He accepted the offer with some
hésitation, as a promising political career in England
seemed to be opening out before him.
He proceeded to India at the end of the same year.
At the very outset he was called on to expérience that
penalty of an Indian career that so many hâve to undergo,
for, though his wife accompanied him, he had to leave his
two little daughters behind in England.
Before handing over charge of his office to Lord Dal-
housie, his immédiate predecessor, Lord Hardinge, had
remarked that, so far as human foresight could predict,
it wrould not be necessary to fire a gun in India for seven
years to corne. Similarly, the English Press had written,
‘ Everything seems to favour the new ruler ; India is
in the full enjoyment of a peace, which, humanly speaking,
there seems nothing to disturb.’
Events, however, were destined speedily to falsify these
prédictions : the seven years of peace Lord Hardinge had
predicted ultimately proved to be seven years of war.
Indeed, within a short three months after Lord Dalhousie’s
arrivai in India, an event occurred which opened the eyes
of the new ruler to the actual state of things. Two
British officers, Lieutenant Anderson and Mr. Vans Agnew,
were murdered at Multan by the treachery of Mulraj,LORD DALHOÜSIE	9
Governor of the town. This man had been removed
from office by the influence of the British Résident at
Lahore, and the two officers had been sent to take over
the government from him, and to install a Sikh Governor
in his place.
These young officers had had to take refuge in a Muham-
madan mosque from a sudden attack made on them by
a fanatical soldier, and Mulraj directed his guns upon this
place. It is to the crédit of the Sikh soldiers in the pay of
Mulraj, and of the better sort of the people of the town,
that they refrained from taking any part in the murder of
the defenceless men ; it was left to the city rabble, who
were not Sikhs at ail. Vans Agnew’s last words were : ‘ We
are not the last of the English.’ A marble tablet to the
memory of the young officers was afterwards erected in
the Cathédral at Calcutta.
Vans Agnew had sent off a pencilled note for aid to the
British Résident at Lahore, and another to the Commis-
sioner of Bannu ; this latter reached the hands of Lieutenant
Herbert Edwardes as he was sitting in his solitary tent on
the banks of the Indus. The letter was addressed in
Persian ‘ To General Courtland in Bannu, or wherever
he may be’. Edwardes, thinking the letter might be
urgent, opened it, and realizing the gravity of the situation
from its contents, at once rushed to the rescue with his
District escort, and a few local companies of Sikhs, in ail
some 400 men. Mulraj met him with 4,000 men and eight
guns. Edwardes could do little without reinforcements,
which unfortunately never came. He remarked, ‘ I am
like a terrier barking at a tiger.’ Nevertheless, the plucky
little terrier kept barking at the tiger ail through the hot
weather of 1848, and actually, with the help of some native
allies from the Muhammadan State of Bahawalpore,
succeeded in driving Mulraj back into the fort with the loss
of his eight guns. The British commander, however, did
not see the urgency of a hot-weather campaign, ‘as if,’
wrote an indignant officer from Multan, ‘ the rébellion
could be put off, like a champagne tiffin, with a three-
cornered note to Mulraj to name a date more agreeable.’
The local revoit soon extended into a general rising of the
Sikhs, and the second Sikh war was thus précipitâted.10	RULERS OF INDIA
It ended in the annexation of the Punjab to the British
Empire.
Lord Dalhousie had expressed his détermination to make
the last battle of the war a final and décisive one. He
wrote to the commander : 4 The war must be prosecuted
now to the entire defeat and dispersion of ail who are in
arms against us, whether Sikhs or Afghans : and a final and
décisive one it was accordingly made. Of the Afghan
horsemen who had been engaged, a native writer wrote in
picturesque language : ‘ They had ridden down through
the hills like lions, and they ran back into them like dogs.’
Before the second Sikh war, Lord Dalhousie had been
averse from annexation, but after it he realized that this
was the only feasible policy. 4 There never will be peace
in the Punjab,’ he wrote, 4 as long as its people are allowed
to retain the means and the opportunity of making war :
there never can be now any guarantee for the tranquillity
of India until we shall hâve effected the entire subjection
of the Sikh people and destroyed its power as an indepen-
dent nation.’ It is interesting to note how the différence
in the character of the two advisers whom Lord Dalhousie
had consulted in the matter came out in their respective
answers : Henry Lawrence had said that annexation was
just but not expédient ; John Lawrence had said that it
was just, and that its expediency was undeniable and
pressing. The country was therefore annexed : the boy
prince was deposed, and was granted a very handsome
provision for life, with the titular dignity of Prince. In
making his final decision, Lord Dalhousie used these
solemn words : 4 While deeply sensible of the responsi-
bility I hâve assumed, I hâve an undoubting conviction
of the expediency, the justice, and the necessity of my
act. What I hâve done, I hâve done with a clear con-
science, and in the honest belief that it was imperatively
demanded of me by my duty to the State.’
The natural corollary to conquest was the settlement and
consolidation of the country. Lord Dalhousie personally
dealt with each question as it came up, and personally
inspected each part of the Province : he also took up
his résidence for many months of the year at Simla, so
as to be near. With Lord Dalhousie as the controllingLORD DALHOUSIE
11
power, and with such agents as the Lawrences, Herbert
Edwardes, and John Nicholson, the success of the measures
that were taken to settle the Province was assured.
That even the chiefs were ultimately satisfied by the
arrangements made may be illustrated by the remark
of one of them : ‘ We hâve got more than Ranjit Singh
would ever hâve given us, and that free of ail military
service.’ Not the least important of the measures taken
was the settlement of the Land Tax on a fairer basis than
before, and the establishment of a record of rights. The
two instruments of the revenue System of the old Sikh
Governments had been the soldier and the tax-gatherer :
the taxes were often collected, indeed, at the point of the
bayonet : just so in Oudh, its Kings were in the habit of
collecting the taxes at the cannon’s mouth. A new moral
life was stirred up in the country by the introduction of
an educational System ; that this was so, may be illus-
trated by the action which the Sikh Sardars took in re-
solving to reduce their heavy marriage expenses ; the old
financial difficulty of providing dowries for their daughters
had been one of the principal causes that led to the crime
of female infanticide formerly so rife in thé Punjab. It
was this successful administration that made of the Punjab
what it became in the troublesome days of the Mutiny :
‘ The Saviour Province of India.’
Lord Dalhousie was next involved in war with the Raja
of Sikhim, who had treacherously seized the British political
officer, and the great botanist, Sir Joseph Hooker. This
war resulted in the annexation of an outlying tract of the
country : it was only a fitting punishment for such an act
of treachery.
Ever since the Burmese War in Lord Amherst’s time,
Rangoon had remained an intégral part of the Burmese
Empire. A British Résident had been originally stationed
at Ava, and during the lifetime of the ruler, with whom
the Treaty of Yandabu had been made, it had been faithfully
observed. On the succession of a new ruler, a change had
taken place in the position of the British : no représen-
tative had been allowed at the Burmese capital : and ail
diplomatie relations had ceased. The pretensions of the
Emperor of Burmah of the time may be illustrated from12
RULERS OF INDIA
such high-sounding titles as : c The Elder Brother of
China,5 ‘ The Lord who is the greatest of Kings.5 The
immédiate cause of the action of Lord Dalhousie was a
pétition of British merchants at Rangoon, which stated
that the Burmese Governor had granted his dépendants
permission to rob the inhabitants, as he had no money to
pay them ; they were to get money as best they could.
A British naval ofïicer was sent to interview the Governor
in order to obtain redress. He could get no reply at ail
to his repeated requests for an interview ; he was kept
waiting in the sun, and then was informed that the Governor
was asleep, and could not be disturbed. It became évident
that redress could not be obtained by peaceful means, and
that there was no other alternative but war. The resuit
of the war that ensued was the conquest and annexation
of Lower Burmah. From the very commencement of the
campaign, Lord Dalhousie had laid down the principle
that, with a nation so ridiculously and mischievously
self-conceited and arrogant, whatever was conquered must
be annexed ; any other course would be regarded as a sign
of weakness.
The chief incident in the campaign was the storming
of the great temple-citadel of the Shwe Dagon Pagoda at
Rangoon. On the occasion of a visit which Lord Dalhousie
paid at a later date to Rangoon, he remarked to the British
General : 41 cannot imagine, General, how your men ever
got in at this place.5 The chief constituents of the garrison
were the picked guards, known as ‘ The Immortals of the
Golden Country ’, whose discipline compelled them to die at
their posts : on this occasion, however, they were the first
to flee, and they were in such a hurry that they forgot to
unloose some women and children who had been fastened up
among the guns as pledges for the valour of the defenders.
The curious de vice by which the courage of the ordinary
troops used to be ensured also proved of no avail on this
occasion : the king used to keep the wives and children
of the married soldiers as hostages, while ail bachelor
soldiers were chained up to the guns and embrasures of
the forts. While he foresaw the necessity of an ultimate
annexation of the whole Burmese Empire, Lord Dalhousie
was content to stay his hand after the capture of the cityLORD DALHOUSIE	13
that commanded the approach to the capital by river :
his reasons for thus acting were given in a private
letter : ‘ To march to Ava will give no peace unless the
army remains at Ava ; in other words, unless we absorb
the whole Burmese Empire : that necessity may corne some
day ; I sincerely hope it will not corne in my day.’
As had been the case with the Punjab, so now with Bur-
mah, Lord Dalhousie devoted much time and thought to
the question of the administration of the newly annexed
territory, and he personally controlled the measures taken.
He paid altogether four visits to see that his policy was
properly carried out. The nature of the problems to be
solved was distinct. For one thing, there was an entire
absence of any ruling class in Burmah, below the King
and the King’s officiais ; these latter were only the instru-
ments of the King’s oppression—the attitude of the people
towards them was naturally, therefore, one of distrust and
dislike, and disorder was the natural atmosphère in which
they moved. The change that took place under British
administration was naturally slow, but the final results
were good : a conviction was created among the people
that under British rule peaceful industry yielded an easier
livelihood than crime.
By the conquest and conséquent annexation of the
Punjab, Lower Burmah, and the outlying tracts of Sikhim,
Lord Dalhousie had added to the British dominions in
India territories equal to nearly twice the area of England
and Wales.
The annexations which were made by Lord Dalhousie
were forced on him by circumstances just as conquest had
been. It was becoming increasingly évident that the old
System of ruling, through the make-believe of sham royal-
ties, could exist no longer side by side with the object-
lesson which was being shown the people of India of the
very différent System under which the Government of India
itself was administering its own territories. If the Govern-
ment of India itself recognized, as it undoubtedly did, that
it existed only for the benefit of the governed, and not for
the profit of the rulers, it was only natural that it should
insist on the same policy for the Dépendent Native States.
The Times, in an article written in the year 1853, on the14
RULERS OF INDIA
results of the old System, under which native rulers, no
matter what the character of their rule, had been bolstered
up by British support, had thus expressed itself : ‘ We give
many of these princes power without responsibihty : our
hand of iron maintains them on the throne despite their
imbecility, their vices, and their crimes.’ Even Sir Henry
Lawrence had been obliged to acknowledge of many of the
native Indian rulers of the time that, if they could not plun-
der strangers, they must harry their own people. The time
seemed ripe then for a change, and Lord Dalhousie deter-
mined to apply to the Dépendent Native States of India
the principle that already actuated the Suprême Govern-
ment, namely, that government is not designed for the
profit of princes but for the welfare of the people.
The whole question practically centred round the privilège
of adoption. Under Hindu Law, every man has the right
of adopting a son on failure of a male heir, to allow of the
proper discharge of ail due religious ceremonies, on which
the welfare of the deceased parent dépends in his future
state in the other world ; the adopted son thus became the
spiritual persona of his adoptive father, and succeeded to his
property. This was recognized by the Government as
a right to succession to property, but not to government.
As regards the right of succession to government, the prin-
ciple had been laid down by law that, where the govera-
ment of a State was in question, the consent of the para-
mount power was necessary to confirai such an adoption ;
it was further recognized that the paramount power had
full legal right to withhold its assent if it thought fit; a
récognition of adoption was to be regarded, moreover, as
a spécial mark of favour.
A poet has well expressed the principle on which the
Sovereign Power is bound to act in such cases :—
Are crowns and empire,
The government and safety of mankind,
Trifles of such light moment to be left
Like some rich toy, a ring, or fancied gem,
Like pledge of parting friends ?
Can kings do thus,
And give away a people for a legacy ?LORD DALHOUSIE
15
On this principle Lord Dalhousie proceeded to act. Thus
the doctrine of lapse became, by force of circumstances,
the deliberately formulated policy of the Government of
India at this time. One of the earliest examples of the
application of the new policy was the Principality of Satara.
This had been created by the British on the general break-
up of the Mahratta power in the early part of the nineteenth
century. The ruler of the State had adopted a successor
on his death-bed. As far back, however, as 1841, the prin-
ciple had been laid down that it was inexpedient to re-
constitute a subordinate State by reeognizing a death-bed
adoption. Lord Dalhousie and his responsible advisers
decided that in this particular case the principle must be
adhered to; Satara therefore lapsed to the British Govern-
ment, and thus became an intégral part of the British
dominions. In the next case, that of Sambalpur, the
chief had deliberately refused to adopt an heir, with the
express view that his people, after his death, might enjoy
the security of English administration : here the question
of adoption did not corne up at ail : it was a case of a
childless chief practically bequeathing his territory to
the British Government. Jhansi had been ceded by the
Peshwa to the British so far back as 1817 : in 1832, a Raja
had been created out of the local Subahdar : he had died
childless a few years later, after a weak and oppressive
administration. The Government of the day selected a
great-uncle to succeed him ; he also died childless after a
similar oppressive rule. The Government again selected
a successor, but, owing to the country having fallen into
disorder, had for a time to assume the administration
itself, the management being afterwards restored to the
Raja. He proved a fair ruler as judged by native stan-
dards ; he died in 1853, leaving no natural heir, but only an
adopted child. The question then arose whether the child
was to be allowed to succeed to the sovereignty of the State :
the Government, having in view the misrule of the previous
thirty years, and the calamities that had befallen the people
in conséquence, decided in the négative. Lord Dalhousie
held that sound policy combined with duty in urging the
British Government to refuse to recognize the adoption
and to take possession of Jhansi as an escheat. An ample16
RULERS OF INDIA
pension was given to the widow, and the territories were
brought under the direct administration of the Government
of India. Some other smaller States lapsed in the same
way. In one case, that of a certain Amir of Scinde, it
was discovered that he had obtained possession of certain
British districts under a forged document ; these, therefore,
naturally reverted to their rightful owners. In another
case that occurred in Orissa, the persistent practice by the
ruler of the rite of human sacrifice formed an all-sufficient
ground for the forfeiture of his territories. Even in these
days evidence every now and again crops up to show that
this practice has not entirely died out in some of the more
remote hill tracts.
Nagpur was perhaps the most important of the States,
taking extent of territory into considération, that were thus
annexed. This State comprised four-fifths of the existing
Central Provinces, excluding Berar. It had been originally
Gond territory, and had been conquered by the Mahrattas
in 1781. Years of terrible sufîering had foliowed this
conquest. When Mahratta rule disappeared, as it did in
1818, a portion of the old State was reconstituted by the
Marquess of Hastings as a subordinate Native State. This
was placed under the nominal rule of an infant descendant
of the second Raja ; an English Résident, Sir Richard
Jenkins, was appointed to administer it. The long minority
of the young Raja under the able administration of Jenkins
extended for some twelve years. This period has been
called 4 the golden âge of Nagpur ’. A change of scene
occurred when the young Raja attained his majority,
and was put in charge of the administration of his territory :
he at once proceeded to dissipate the treasure that had
accumulated during his long minority, and recommenced
the old Mahratta extortions upon his people. In 1853
the Résident wrote of him : 4 One of his choicest amuse-
ments is an auction sale, when some unfortunate widow
is ruled not to be entitled to her deceased husband’s estâtes.’
His sole idea of the treaty that had secured him the chief-
ship was that it secured for him British protection against
the vengeance of his subjects : 4 See,’ he had remarked to
a newly appointed minister, 4 that the provisions of the
Treaty are enforçed to protect me in the enjoyment of thoseLORD DALHOUSIE	17
pleasures of dancing and singing that I hâve loved from
my boyhood.5 He died in 1853, leaving no male heirs
and no legitimate daughters ; he had persistently refrained,
moreover, from adopting an heir. The question then arose
whether an adoption by one of his widows should be con-
sented to. Lord Dalhousie decided against the State being
thus artificially re-created. ‘ We set up a Raja at Nagpur,5
he wrote, 6 we afforded him every advantage a native
prince could command : his boyhood was trained under
our own auspices : an able and respected princess was his
guardian and the regent of the State. For over ten years,
while he was yet a youth, we governed his country for him :
we handed it over to him with an excellent System of ad-
ministration in full and practical operation, with a dis-
ciplined and well-paid army, with a full treasury, and a
contented people. Yet, after little more than twenty
years, this prince, descending to the tomb, has left behind
him a character whose record is disgraceful to him alike
as a sovereign and as a man : so favoured and so aided,
he has, nevertheless, lived and died a seller of justice, a
drunkard, and a debauchee. What guarantee can the
British Government now find for itself, or offer to the people
of Nagpur, that another successor will not imitate and
emulate this bad example ? And if that should be the case,
what justification could the Government of India hereafter
plead for having to exercise the power which it possessed,
to avert for ever from the people of Nagpur so probable
and so grievous an evil ? ’ The private rights of the family
of the deceased Raja were scrupulously respected by Lord
Dalhousie. The Court of Directors had declared that the
possessions of the Raja were fairly at the disposai of the
Government, but, in his regard for ail private rights, he
himself took a different view : he had the personal effects
of the late Raja realized, and thus created a fund called
‘ The Bhonsla Fund 5, for the benefit of the family : pen-
sions to the various members of the family and their dépen-
dants were assigned out of the large revenues that thus
accrued. Lord Dalhousie further ordered that the widows
should be treated with the greatest courtesy, in considération
of their rank, their sex, and their changed condition. This
treatment of the widows presented a marked contrast to
OSWELL	g18
RULERS OF INDIA
that which the late Raja himself had served oui to the
widows of his own subjects who happened to die possessed
of wealth that he coveted.
In Southern India, the last Nawab of the Karnatik had
died, ‘ of dancing girls and of ennui,’ wrote Sir Edwin Arnold,
in 1855, after some thirty years of misrule : he had left no
natural heirs : as far back as 1819, the definite conditions
had been laid down that the title was not to be regarded as
an hereditary one. It was therefore now decided by the
Court of Directors that the title of Nawab should be placed
in abeyance : liberal pensions were awarded to the members
of the family, and the rank of premier nobleman in Madras
was assigned to the leading représentative of the family.
Another case of lapse, but not of territory, was that of
the pension that had been originally granted, as far back
as 1818, by the Government of the Marquess of Hastings,
to the deposed Mahratta Prince, Baji Rao. It had been
distinctly stated at the time, that it was to be a life pension
only. Baji Rao only died in 1851. The pension was not
continued to his adopted son, the Nana Sahib, as he has
been generally styled : at the same time, the Government
treated him very liberally by granting him the land, where
his father had been residing, as a Jaghir for life. The
Secretary to the Government, in explaining the ample
provision that had been made for him, thus wrote : ‘For
twenty-three years the Peshwa received an annual clear
stipend of eighty thousand pounds, besides the proceeds
of the Jaghir : in that time he received the enormous sum
of more than two millions and a half sterling. He had no
charges to maintain, he has left no sons of his own, and he
has bequeathed property to the amount of two hundred
and eighty thousand pounds to his family. Those who
remain hâve no claim whatever on the considération of the
Government : neither hâve they any claim on its charity,
because the income left to them is amply sufficient.’ His-
tory records how the Nana Sahib made it a grievance that
the pension was not continued to him, and how he took the
first opportunity that présented itself, in the troublous
times of the Mutiny, to avenge himself, leaving a name
behind him that no one can envy, ‘ the infamous Nana
Sahib.’LORD DALHOUSIE	19
As regards the more important Sovereign States, the
policy of the Government had been to maintain the suc-
cession as far as was practicable : it was considered a matter
of the highest political importance that an orderly dévo-
lution of the succession should take place on the demise
of each prince : the Government had accordingly directed
its efforts to secure that an heir should be invariably forth-
coming, whether by public déclaration, or by testamentary
provision, or by adoption. Lord Dalhousie did not départ
from the principle thus laid down. In the case of the two
principal States that circumstances compelled him to deal
with, Hyderabad and Oudh, two different questions were
involved. As regards Hyderabad, the Nizam was bound
by Treaty to pay for the contingent of troops maintained
by the Government in his territories : the payments had,
however, fallen considerably into arrear ; in order, therefore,
to ensure more punctual payment in the future, a Treaty
was made in 1853 between the Nizam and the Government
of India whereby certain districts, comprising the territory
known as The Berars, were ceded to the British. This
territory is now included in the administration of the
Central Provinces, having been leased practically in per-
petuity from the Nizam by a Treaty made with him by
the Government of Lord Curzon. For ail practical pur-
poses this cession of territory may therefore be styled an
annexation.
As regards the important State of Oudh, far more im-
portant questions were involved. Repeated warnings
against misrule and tyranny had been conveyed to the
rulers of Oudh, both by dispatch and by personal ad vice
tendered by successive Governor-Générais, on their visits
to the State on various occasions. The King had been given
every chance of reforming his administration. In 1847
Lord Hardinge had visited Lucknow, and had solemnly
warned the King that, unless His Majesty reformed his
administration within two years, the British Government
would be forced to interfère by assuming the direct gov-
ernment of Oudh. In 1851, Colonel Sleeman, who was at
the time Résident at the Court of Lucknow, made such a
report of the state of things as compelled the Governor-
General to ask himself whether he could any longer be20
RULERS OF INDIA
responsible for such a spectacle of human misery and callous
misrule. In 1854 he asked Colonel Outram for a report :
this showed that matters, instead of improving, had been
steadily growing from worse to worse. The country,
Outram reported, was completely delivered over to anarchy
and the cruellest for ms of oppression. Lord Dalhousie
realized that the time for action had now corne, and in
sending his report of the state of affairs to the Home Gov-
ernment he wrote : ‘ I respectfully submit that the time has
corne when inaction on the part of the British Government
in relation to the affairs of the Kingdom of Oudh can now
be no longer justified, and is already converting our re-
sponsibility into guilt.’
He suggested that, while the King should be permitted
to retain his royal title and rank, he should be required to
vest the whole civil and military administration of Oudh
in the hands of the Company, and that its power should
be perpétuai in duration, as well as ample in extent. The
Home Government decreed the sterner policy of complété
annexation, a policy which involved the déposition of the
Hing. Though Lord Dalhousie himself had not advocated
this complété measure, he loyally carried out the orders.
This annexation of Oudh was the last and at the same time
the greatest of the annexations of territory made by the
Government, and the carrying it out was practically Lord
Dalhousie’s last public act. The minute he wrote on the
occasion contained these solemn words : ‘ The British
Government would be guilty in the sight of God and man,
if it were any longer to aid in sustaining by its countenance
an administration fraught with suffering to millions : with
this feeling on my mind, and in humble reliance on the
blessing of the Almighty, for millions of His créatures will
draw freedom and happiness from the change, I approach
the execution of this duty gravely, and not without solici-
tude, but calmly and altogether without doubt.’
Conquest and annexation only formed one part, and that
perhaps not the most important part, of the rule of Lord
Dalhousie. Great works of internai organization also formed
a very conspicuous feature of it. Owing to the recent vast
accession of territory, many changes in administration had
become necessary. The measure of the changes effectedLORD DALHOUSIE	21
by Lord Dalhousie in the map of India may be gauged by
the fact that he left to his successors to administer a country
whose area was a third and a half larger than the country
he had himself received charge of from his predecessor.
The first change in administration made was to relieve
the Governor-General of the charge of Bengal, for the
administration of which he was still responsible, and the
burden of which, with his other responsibilities, had become
intolérable. Bengal was for the future to be ruled by a
Lieutenant-Governor. In order that the Governor-General
might be in a position to maintain watch and ward over
provinces so far apart as the new Provinces were, and to
exercise supervision generally over the whole Empire,
the location of the Impérial Government for the greater
part of the year at Simla was decided on. Hitherto the
command of India had been held by the British, as became
a great océan power, from the sea : on the land side India
had been isolated from ail her powerful neighbours by
intervening States : under the new condition of things
created by Lord Dalhousie, India had practically been
converted into an inland Asiatic realm. A redistribution
of military power had thus become necessary, and the
head quarters of the Army was removed from Calcutta
to a station one thousand miles inland. Calcutta thus
ceased to be the political and military head quarters of
the Government.
Lord Dalhousie organized for his new Provinces a mixed
System of government by which he endeavoured to unité
military strength and promptitude with civilian exactitude
of justice and vigilance in administrative details. Local
usages and customs were to form the groundwork of the
whole System of judicial and revenue administration, and
the simple class only of British Laws, Enactments, and
Régulations, as culled from the Systems at work in the older
Provinces, was to be introduced. Under such a System
as this, the affairs of native life proceeded upon their pre-
vious footing with scarcely a perceptible change. In mat-
ters of revenue or criminal law there was of course a
change ; thus, if a man committed a crime, he found himself
dealt with by a strie ter judicial procedure, and fined or sent
to prison, instead of having his hand or foot chopped off.22
RULERS OF INDIA
This System was known as 4 The Non-Regulation System ’,
and was itself a striking testimony to the genius of Lord
Dalhousie. It proved to hâve within itself the capacity
of adaptation to the new wants and requirements of the
people, as they prospered and multiplied under British
rule. With the further development and progress of the
Provinces, other changes hâve become necessary, and these
hâve been introduced from time to time, as circumstances
hâve permitted.
Ail these administrative changes were but preliminary
to the great work of consolidation and development which
forms one of the distinguishing characteristics of Lord
Dalhousie’s rule in India. He has been styled the father
of the railway and the telegraph Systems, as the introduction
of both was entirely his work. In his usual picturesque
language, Sir Edwin Arnold has said of the railway System
in India as devised by Lord Dalhousie : 4 Railways may
do for India what dynasties hâve never done : what the
genius of Akbar the Magnificent could not effect by
government, nor the cruelty of Tippu Sultan by violence :
they may make India a nation.’ It is interesting to note
that, as a corollary to the development of railways, Lord
Dalhousie took every précaution to encourage freedom of
trade at the chief ports of India.
It is hard in these days to realize the immense difficultés
that the pioneers of the telegraph System had to encounter
in India, and for that matter throughout the East. Science
and perseverance, however, triumphed in the end over ail
difficultés. The casual remark of a mutineer as he was
being led out to execution, 4 It is that accursed string
that strangles us,’ afïords a remarkable illustration of the
utility of the telegraph in India at the time of the Mutiny.
Another great factor in Lord Dalhousie’s work of con-
solidation was his introduction of cheap postage. One
writer goes so far as to say : 4 It has done more than perhaps
his telegraphs or his railways, in revolutionizing the old,
stagnant, and self-isolated life in India.’ In old days, the
postmaster was often the station doctor, or some subaltern
who had plenty of spare time on his hands ; in the présent
day village schoolmasters are found in the remotest districts
acting in the same capacity.LORD DALHOUSIE	23
The Public Works Department was the création of Lord
Dalhousie ; he specially encouraged the training of skilled
engineers, and instituted Engineering Schools in the three
leading Presidencies, while at the same time he urged
on the Home Government the training of young men in
England for an Indian career in the Department.
Apart from the materj al benefits which Lord Dalhousie
conferred on the people of India, he laid India under an
eternal obligation by the inestimable moral benefits which
followed in the train of his educational System; he laid
the foundations of a national System of Education. To
him was due the development of that System of vernacular
instruction which Mr. Thomason had inaugurated among
the masses of the population in the Upper Provinces. The
celebrated dispatch of Sir Charles Wood in 1854 laid down
the lines which were to be followed : 4 Indian Education
was to be founded neither on English nor on Sanscrit or
Arabie, but on the modem vernacular languages of the
Indian peoples.’ Under the System thus developed by
Lord Dalhousie, a network of educational institutions
was spread over India ; this was his crowning act of con-
solidation. New forces, both intellectual and political,
hâve been set in motion by the liberal educational policy
of the Government. ‘ It is to the crédit of Lord Dalhousie,’
writes an authority, ‘that he was the first to begin that
process of binding together the Indian races, both by a
common System of éducation, and by a community of
interest, mercantile and political, which was altogether
unknown in Ancient India, and which forms the most
significant feature of the India of to-day.’ What the issue
will be it is impossible to foresee. Sir Edwin Arnold, in
summing up the results of Lord Dalhousie’s rule, has said :
‘ We are making a people in India, where hitherto there
hâve been a hundred tribes, but no people.’
This sketch, so far as it has gone, has delineated the born
ruler of commanding personality : a portrait of the man, as
he appeared to his contemporaries, may well be présented
in conclusion. Speaking of Lord Dalhousie’s general
characteristics, one authority has written :	‘ Small of
stature, but with a noble head, a most penetrating glance,
and a noble demeanour, the little man of Government24
RULERS OP INDIA
House first inspired awe in those with whom he came in
contact, then trust, and finally an ardent admiration, in
which loyalty to the master mingled strangely with personal
love. During eight years of trials, and sorrows, and suc-
cesses, he presented to our countrymen in India the loftiest
type, I had almost said the apotheosis, of the great qualities
with which we in distant lands love to associate the name
of Englishman.’
Lord Dalhousie’s administrative qualities were of no
mean order ; he possessed an enormous capacity for work,
and rarely allowed himself less than eight hours’ continuous
brain-work at his desk : sitting down at half-past nine in
the morning, he never quitted it, even while he ate his
lunch, till half-past five in the afternoon. Nothing was
allowed to interfère with his daily taie of work, neither
weariness, nor heat, nor the fatigue of an Indian march.
Sir Richard Temple, himself at one time a notable admini-
strator, wrote thus of him : 4 Every man who had business
with him felt that intercourse to be a pleasure : the harder
the afïair the greater the satisfaction, so completely trained
was his capacity for administration.’ Of his ordinary
routine work, the Chief Clerk of the Foreign Department
once remarked that, if Lord Dalhousie had been a writer
paid by the sheet, he would hâve earned a considérable
income. Towards his subordinates he was always scrupu-
lously polite : when it did become necessary to administer
a rebuke, he always did so in writing, and toned its severity
down in the act.
He exacted from ail under him that same austere con-
scientiousness in the performance of duty that characterized
himself. Ail who served him loyally, and there were few
who did not do so, regarded him as a trustworthy friend,
while at the same time looking up to him with a certain awe.
One of the principal factors that succeeded in winning the
allegiance and loyalty of his lieutenants, was their récogni-
tion of the fact that he owned the truest right to command,
the right of personal knowledge gained by personal work.
Yet another factor was his great power of sympathy :
the knowledge that ail those who worked immediately
under him had, that he watched with interest every incident
in their lives, naturally drew from them the best that theyLORD DALHOUSIE
25
had to give in return. He possessed great strength of will,
which was especially conspicuous in the résistance he ofîered
to the inroads of disease and ill-health, the results of his
dévotion to duty ; he never gave himself rest till he
had completed the task he had set himself to do. He
suppressed as much as possible, we are told, any mani-
festation of his distress or suffering, and the public was
scarcely aware that his strength and life were gradually,
but surely, ebbing away. The only occasion on which he
is ever known to hâve broken down was on the receipt of
the news of his wife’s death at sea, on her homeward voyage,
in 1853. It is recorded of him that he fell to the ground as
if stricken dead, and for two days he shut himself up with
his grief. But his old fortitude returned, and he again had
recourse to work as his sure and only consolation in his
grief. The contrast that was presented between the man
when he first came to India, and the man who left India,
must hâve struck everybody ; he came to India more or less
in the plénitude of youthful vigour and activity : he has
himself left on record what he felt like when he was leaving
India. The occasion was the installation of Lord Canning
as his successor in office : Sir John Lawrence hadasked him
a certain question to which he had replied : ‘ I wish I were
in Canning’s place, and he in mine, and then wouldn’t I
govem India ; but no, I could not wish my worst enemy
to be the poor, misérable, broken-down, dying man I am
now.’
The crowds that assembled to witness the departure for
his native land of ‘ the glorious little invalid5, as a con-
temporary writer styled him, were swayed with but one
feeling, a deep sense of regret, combined with admiration :
they realized that they were losing a man, the key-notes
of whose career in India had been dévotion to duty and
self-sacrifice, and they now also realized that he had
practically given his life for India. So indeed it proved :
within a short five years, which were years of sufïering
borne with exemplary patience and fortitude, the first
Marquess Dalhousie passed away in his own home, at the
early âge of forty-nine.CHAPTER II
THE TRANSFER OF INDIA FROM THE COMPANY
TO THE CROWN
Lord Canning, 1812-1862.
Lord Canning was the third son of William George
Canning, who, at one period of his celebrated career, had
been ofïered and had actually accepted the Governor-
Generalship of India. Circumstances, however, had pre-
vented him from proceeding to India.
He was educated at Eton ; among his contemporaries
there were boys bearing the distinguished names of Glad-
stone, Hallam, Elgin, Selwyn, and Granville ; their influence
was doubtless a potent one in helping to shape the boy’s
character.
His old schoolfellows retained a very kindly recollection
of Canning at Eton ; he obtained a good réputation also
for scholarship with the Head of the school, who at that
time was the famous Dr. Keate. One feature of the Eton
of Canning’s day was the great amount of leisure time
enjoyed by the boys, of which an old Eton boy has written :
‘ The perfect intellectual freedom bestowed on us by the
ease and leisure of our idle school had its good as well as
its bad side.5 A debating club, of which Canning was one
of the principal members, was the outcome of the freedom
thus enjoyed.
Passing from Eton to a private tutor, Canning then
proceeded to Oxford. Among his contemporaries at Christ
Church was Dalhousie, destined like himself to be one of
the Rulers of India. While at the Uni ver si ty he was an
assiduous student, and v*on many distinctions. On one
occasion he wras called upon to recite a Latin poem in the
Great Hall of his College. The scene has been thus de-
scri bed : ‘ It was a remarkable scene : in that magnificent
banqueting-hall are hung portraits of students who hâve
reflected honour upon the house that reared them by the
distinctions which they hâve wTon in after life. UnderneathLORD CANNING	27
the portrait of George Canning, the recollection of whose
brilliant career and untimely end was still fresh in the mem-
ory of men, stood the son still in the prime of youth, recalling
in his eminently handsome countenance the noble features
of the portrait, while repeating the prize poem which would
hâve gladdened his father’s heart.’ After taking his degree,
Canning married. Ail who knew Lady Canning, whether
in England or in India, where she eventually died, loved
and honoured her for her charm and grâce of character.
After having been for a short time a member of the House
of Commons, Canning became entitled to a seat in the
House of Lords, owing to the death of his mother in 1837,
when he became a Peer of the Realm. On Lord Ellen-
borough becoming Governor-General of India, he was offered
the post of Private Secretary, but he declined the appoint-
ment, and instead became Under-Secretary for Foreign
Affairs. He eventually obtained a seat in the Cabinet, as
a member of Lord Palmerston’s administration. His parlia-
mentary career, however, came suddenly to an end with the
ofïer of the Governor-Generalship of India, in succession
to Lord Dalhousie.
He had won a great réputation already, and as a tribute
to his good work Lord Palmerston gave his friend and old
schoolfellow, Lord Granville, permission to write out to him
while in India important Cabinet secrets. On the eve of
his departure to take up his new appointment in India
he was entertained at a banquet given in his honour by the
Court of Directors of the East India Company. The
speech he made on the occasion created a profound im-
pression : people who heard it felt that they were listening
to no common man. ‘ I know not,’ he said ‘ what course
events may take ; I hope and pray we may not reach the
extremity of war. I wish for a peaceful term of office, but
I cannot forget that in our Indian Empire that greatest of
ail blessings dépends upon a greater variety of chances,
and a more precarious tenure, than in any other quarter of
the globe. We must not forget that in the sky of India,
serene as it is, a small cloud may arise, at first no bigger
than a man’s hand, but which, growTing bigger and bigger,
may at last threaten to overwhelm us with ruin. What
has happened once may happen again.’ In the light of28
RULERS OF INDIA
after events, the speech appears almost a prophétie utter-
ance. Canning set sail for India in the autumn of 1855 ;
on the way out he stayed for a time in Egypt, and eventually
reached India early in 1856. He touched first at Bombay,
and at Madras, and was royally entertained at both places ;
he landed at Calcutta in the month of February. He at
once took over charge of his office, and plunged with char-
acteristic energy into his new duties. A casual remark he
made to a friend, at the end of his first week of office, serves
to illustrate the hard work that falls to the lot of a ruler
of India : ‘ So great has been the pressure of business, that
I hâve only found time for one look out of doors since my
arrivai.’ Much of this preliminary hard work was due
to his détermination to get to the bottom of every question
that came up for his considération, and it took him several
weeks of hard labour before he was able, as he expressed it,
‘ to get abreast of current events.’
Weighty problems confronted him at the very outset of
his career, as well as many minor problems, which caused
him as much labour in their way as the greater ones, his
peculiar tempérament making him treat small things with
the same conscientious care as large matters. In matters
of public business he was one of those men who are content
with nothing short of perfection. In order that the nature
of these problems may be properly illustrated, it will be
necessary to give a survey of the general situation in India
as it presented itself to Canning very shortly after his
arrivai in India. His great predecessor, Lord Dalhousie,
had recently written a narrative of his rule in India, and he
had prefaced it with this solemn warning : c No prudent
man would ever venture to predict unbroken tranquillity
within the Eastern Possessions of Great Britain.5 Out-
wardly, indeed, everything at the time seemed to promise
peace, but the promise proved illusive, and already the first
rumblings of the storm that was soon to burst had been
heard. Peace had soon to be broken beyond the frontiers
of India : the aggression of Persia in attacking Herat,
which was regarded as the key to Afghanistan, had neces-
sitated a déclaration of war, and the dispatch of an Army
from India. In India itself there existed ail the necessary
éléments of disturbance and disaffection.LORD CANNING
29
The Chief Commissioner of Oudh, Sir James Outram, had
welcomed Lord Canning, on his first arrivai in India, with
the words ‘ Ail is well in Oudh.’ Yet Oudh proved to be
full of explosive material : great dissatisfaction existed
among the landed classes in the Province, chiefly owing to
an opinion amongst them that the early British Adminis-
tration had attached more importance to the rights of the
tenantry than to those of the landlords. It was a for-
tunate thing for the British that, owing to the absence of
the late King in exile in Calcutta, there was not in Oudh
the same nucléus for disafïection that existed at Delhi.
The old Mogul Emperor, Bahadar Shah, still lived at
the old historié capital of the Mughals in semi-royal state.
Both Lord Dalhousie and Lord Canning had foreseen the
danger of the position thus created, and arrangements were
already in progress for changing the old King’s place of
résidence, and for taking away from him the title of King.
Meanwhile the palace had become a centre of intrigue :
opportunity had been taken of the war with Persia, and a
Proclamation had been posted on the walls of Delhi, an-
nouncing that the King of Persia was approaching to destroy
the British Raj. The city of Delhi had thus been prepared
to welcome the rebels when they eventually came.
Only seven years had elapsed since the Punjab had been
annexed : a natural anxiety, therefore, was felt as to what
its attitude would be during the crisis. One of the reasons
given by Lord Dalhousie for its annexation had been its
previous history of more or less incessant war, and the char-
acter of its people as a warlike nation, living only for war.
When the actual crisis occurred, however, these natural
fears proved groundless,and itwas found that the old feeling
of animosity, which Lord Dalhousie had commented on
at the close of the second Sikh War, had given place to
faithful loyalty. That this was so, was undoubtedly due
to the excellence of its administration under Sir John
Lawrence and his able colleagues. On the western fron-
tiers of the Punjab there were the tribes of the mountain
régions always spoiling for a fight. Beyond them was the
aged Amir of Afghanistan, Dost Mahomed, who had many
reasons for not liking the English. He seemed, however,
to hâve at last made up his mind that the English were30
RULERS OF INDIA
better as friends than as enemies, and he had concluded
a Treaty of friendship soon after Lord Canning’s arrivai
inindia. He had corne in person down to the Khaibar Pass
to meet the British Envoys ; when the Treaty was signed
the Dost remarked : 4 Now I hâve made a Treaty with the
British, and I will keep it till death.’ History has recorded
how faithfully he kept his promise through the grave crisis
of the Mutiny.
On the northern frontier of the Punjab was the State
of Kashmir, whose ruler had but recently signified his
intention of adhering to his alliance with the British Govern-
ment, in the words : 6 Now I grasp the skirts of the British
Government, and I will never let go.’
It was uncertain what the attitude of the warlike races
of Rajputana would be, with their long previous history of
chivalry.
It was well known that the great Mahratta houses had
no great reason to love the English. Among the most bitter
of the Mahrattas was the young Rani of Jhansi : Lord
Dalhousie had refused to allow her to adopt an heir and
successor to the late Raja. But perhaps the most bitter
enemy the English had amongst the Mahrattas was the
Nana Sahib. He had already excited the suspicions of
Sir Henry Lawrence \yhen on a visit to Lucknow, but
Lawrence’s warning about him had been disregarded ; his
animosity had been aroused by the loss of the pension
which his adoptive father, Baji Rao, had enjoyed for so
many years.
Yet another feature of the India of the time was the
religious disquietude that prevailed more or less every-
where. The System of popular éducation had, curiously
enough, something to do with this religious unrest ; other
causes might perhaps also hâve been found in certain acts
recently passed by the Government in the interest of widows,
and in certain breaches of religious neutrality on the^part
of some British officers. The Brahmans were beginning
to be afraid of losing their religious ascendancy : this fear
had begun indeed to penetrate to the ranks of the Army of
Bengal, the constituents of which were largely Brahmans or
men under Brahman influence.
The Muhammadans of India had a personal grievance.LORD CANNING	31
They were of the old ruling race : they now found themselves
in an inferior position, mere competitors for office with the
Hindus. A nucléus and a stimulus for disloyalty amongst
them existed in an organization known as the Wahabi
Organization, which had its head quarters among the tribes
on the North-West Frontiers of India, and its agents
amongst the Maulvis of the city of Patna.
Again, there were certain factors making for discontent
amongst the classes inter est ed in landed property, and
amongst the aristocracy : many landholders had lost some
portion of their old dignities, and in some cases even their
estâtes, under legal decrees ; some of the Princes felt the
succession to the sovereignty of their States insecure, owing
to the uncertainty as to adoption. It might therefore
reasonably be expected that these classes would not be
averse from a révolution.
The Native Indian Army had a long record behind it
of good and loyal service : British officers believed im-
plicitly in the loyalty of their soldiers, and this belief could
not be shaken even when clear signs manifested them-
selves that this loyalty was not so sincere as on the surface
it appeared to be. The history of the Indian Army had
not been without warnings that the Indian Sepoy could be
mutinous on occasion : his loyalty, moreover, had recently
been put to rather a severe test in a recent order of Govern-
ment directing that, for the future, the Bengal Army must
be prepared, by the terms of enlistment, to serve beyond the
sea, as was already the case with the Bombay and Madras
Armies. Though there was no open expression of disap-
proval of this order, there is evidence to show that it was
not received favourably by the Sepoys ; it is supposed,
moreover, to hâve been one of the arguments used by those
who were busy at the time in encouraging sédition, to per-
suade the Sepoy that his privilèges, his caste, and his religion
were in danger. The personnel of the Bengal Army of the
time was itself a continuai source of danger : it contained
a very large proportion of Brahmans and Rajputs, nearly
ail of whom were drawn from districts in Oudh, bound to-
gether by the same ties of religion, caste, and custom : to
many of them, moreover, the recent changes in the Govern-
ment of Oudh must hâve been more or less unpopular. Seat-32
RULERS OF INDIA
tered ail over Oudh, moreover, were some fifty thousand
recently disbanded soldiers, who had been serving under
the old régime.
Another cause of disquietude was the serious deficiency
of British officers attached to the Native Army ; recent
orders, also, allowing the Sepoy to appeal to Army head
quarters against the orders of his officers, must hâve tended
to weaken the influence of the officers with their men very
considerably. The chief danger, perhaps, lay in the dis-
proportion between the numbers of the Sepoys and the
British soldiers : the latter were outnumbered by five to
one. Sir Henry Lawrence had foreseen the danger that
might arise from this State of things : he had used the
warning words : ‘ We shall be unwise to wait for the occasion ;
corne it will, unless anticipated.’
The occasion had now arrived, and the Government found
itself face to face with the gravest cri sis that had ever
threatened the existence of the English in India. The term
Mutiny has been applied to this crisis with intention, as
being a more appropriate term than Rébellion : in its
immédiate origin it was almost entirely of a military char-
acter, with a military grievance as its exciting cause, and
in its course it was almost entirely confined to the Army.
Premonitory signs of trouble had arisen in connexion
with the Rifle Dépôts : these had been established at
different centres for teaching the men the use of the
recently introduced rifle, which had taken the place of
the old smooth-bore. New cartridges had been issued :
as the resuit of an altercation between a Sepoy of high caste
and a man of the low sweeper caste at one of the dépôts,
the Sepoys suddenly discovered that the grease made to
lubricate the cartridges was made of material that was
abhorrent to the religious préjudices of Hindus and Muham-
madans alike ; a general feeling of alarm spread amongst
the Sepoys in conséquence, and they began to suspect that
their rulers intended to make them out castes, in order that
they might accept the religion of their rulers. This feeling
of alarm and suspicion began to be manifested in the way
that discontent usually manifests itself in India, by acts of
incendiarism ; many cases of open insubordination also
occurred. Government made an attempt to allay the panicLORD CANNING	33
by allowing the Sepoys the concession of preparing their
own materials to grease their cartridges with : the mis-
chief, however, had been done : they began to suspect the
paper of which the cartridges were made, notwithstanding
the assurance given them that it was perfectly innocent in
its composition.
Upon a British General suggesting to Lord Canning that
the Rifle Dépôts should be broken up, his reply was : ‘ If we
give way upon this, I do not see where we can make our
stand.’ An incident that occurred shortly afterwards
seems to show that it might perhaps hâve been wiser to
break them up, until the excitement had subsided. Two
Sepoys were returning to their régiments from a course at
one of these dépôts : to their horror they found that their
old comrades in arms regarded them as out castes, and
refused to eat with them. The incendiary Ares, moreover,
that at once followed the orders to continue the rifle practice
at the dépôts, conveyed another warning that might hâve
been attended to. At one or two centres, indeed, things
appeared to be settling down more quietly, but there were
not wanting abundant signs that suspicion and alarm still
prevailed elsewhere. At one place certain consignments
of flour intended for the use of the troops were refused by
them ; many of the troops, too, openly refused to use the
new cartridges.
The first actual outbreak of mutiny occurred in May,
1857, at Mirât. The most remarkable thing about this
outbreak was the extraordinary dilatoriness of the respon-
sible military authorities in dealing with it : this want of
prompt decision was in marked contrast to that shown on
the occasion of the mutiny at Vellore many years before.
Many months of struggle, suffering, and sacrifice were the
outcome of what has been truly called ‘ this ineffable short-
coming ’. After having worked their will at Mirât, the
mutineers made for Delhi, which henceforth became the
chief centre of disturbance and the immédiate rallying-
place of the disaffected.
Its sudden seizure by the mutineers was the natural
sequel of the unaccountable inaction of the military authori-
ties at Mirât : no attempt was made even to follow them
up. Recognizing the vast importance of severing ail commu-
OSWELL	rj34
RULERS OF INDIA
nication between Delhi and the rest of India, one body of
the mutineers at once made for the Telegraph Office : a
brave telegraph clerk, who had remained in the office at
the imminent risk of his life, had just succeeded in getting
off a last message to Lahore, announcing the sudden appear-
ance of the mutineers, when he was eut down,and his instru-
ments wrecked. The main objective of the mutineers was
the arsenal, and especially the magazine, which they knew
to contain invaluable supplies of ammunition : their
object was, however, frustrated by one of the bravest acts
of the many brave acts that characterized the Mutiny :
the young British officer in charge, with his eight brave
companions, hoping against hope that relief would corne in
time from Mirât, at last in despair decided to blow up the
magazine rather than let it fall into the hands of the muti-
neers, knowing well that it would be at the risk of their
own lives ; more than 2,000 of the enemy were killed by the
explosion that ensued as it was blown up.
With Delhi now in the possession of the mutineers,
Lord Canning foresaw that the disturbance would soon
spread ; and his anticipations were realized. Within a few
weeks of its fall, Oudh and the Upper Provinces were prac-
tically lost, and the position elsewhere became a most
critical one.
A British force was besieged at Lucknow by an over-
whelming force of the enemy. The garrison at Cawnpur
lay practically at the mercy of the infamous Nana Sahib,
and ail Rohilcund was in a blaze. At Jhansi the young
Rani had raised the flag of rébellion, and had inaugurated
the act by the massacre of the British who were stationed
there. The troops of the Maharaja Scindia, of Gwalior,
had mutinied, though he himself had remained loyal.
The determined action of a British official at Nagpur had
alone saved the Nagpur Territories. Similarly, at the
capital of the premier Muhammadan State of Hyderabad,
the firmness of Sir Salar Jung had kept Muhammadan
fanaticism in check. At any moment it was felt Bengal
might be in rébellion. No one indeed could tell how far
the disturbance might spread, or how severely it might
develop.
Ail eyes were directed towards Delhi as the key to theLORD CANNING
35
situation : so long as it remained in the possession of the
mutineers, the position was unsafe. Ail agreed that it must
be recaptured at an early date at ail hazards. Troops
were therefore hurried up, and reinforcement after rein-
forcement was dispatched by Sir John Lawrence from
the Punjab. Great was the relief when, after a siégé that
lasted more than three months, Delhi again fell into the
hands of the British. The leading figure in the assault by
which it was finally recaptured was John Nicholson, whose
death in the hour of victory was mourned by ail.
The first step in the re-establishment of British aseen-
dancy had been taken ; much, however, remained to be
done. Sir Henry Havelock had been entrusted with the
task of relieving Lucknow. Of Havelock, a former Gov-
ernor-General, Lord Hardinge, had said : 4 If ever India
should be in danger, the Government hâve only to place
Havelock at the head of an army and it will be saved.’
The almost superhuman exertions made by Havelock and
his small force to reach Lucknow are a matter of history ;
the task, however, was too great, and it was not until he
had been joined by Outram with reinforcements that he
was able to effect the first relief of the Residency. Outram,
with that generosity that distinguished him, though his
senior in command, had allowed him to remain in com-
mand till the relief was effected. On his way to Lucknow
he had retaken Cawnpur, but only to find that not a
European remained alive : those whom the Nana Sahib
had not been able to kill by treachery he had cruelly
murdered. Even the women and children had not escaped
his vengeance. It was left to Sir Colin Campbell to effect
the final relief of Lucknow, and to remove to a place of
safety the garrison and the defenceless women and children
whom he found in the Residency. In doing this he had to
encounter the redoubtable Mahratta commander, Tantia
Topi, whom he defeated decisively.
Though Delhi had fallen, and Lucknow been relieved,
there was still a severe task before the British troops :
the work that still remained for them to do was practically
a work of conquest. Most of the mutineers were still in
the field, and the city of Lucknow itself still remained in
their hands ; not only Oudh, therefore, and Rohilcund36
RULERS OF INDIA
remained to be reconquered, but Central India also. This
is sufïicient to show how great was the problem that still
confronted the man responsible for the Government of
India. Not the least of his anxieties was the necessity
he was under of preserving a bold front and calmness of
mind in the face of the great crisis, to prevent the popu-
lation of Bengal, and other parts of India which were yet
quiet, from imagining that the Government was in a
difficulty, and was obliged to adopt extraordinary expédients
to meet the difficulty. His own words at the time, written
to the Bishop of Calcutta, Bishop Wilson, show the real
nobility of a man who could remain so outwardly calm,
when there was everything around him calculated to agitate,
unnerve, and provoke a weaker man : c The sky is black,’
he wrote, 4 and as yet the signs of a clearing are faint. But
reason and common sense are on our side from the very
beginning. The course of the Government has been guided
by justice and temper. I do not know that any one mea-
sure of précaution and strength which human foresight can
indicate has been neglected. For the rest, the issue is in
liigher hands than ours : I am very confident of complété
success.’
Another pressing anxiety was the attitude of his own
countrymen in India, who were nearly ail in favour of a
policy of vengeance, so opposed to his own inclinations,
which were ail toward conciliatory measures. As early
as July, 1857, Lord Canning had issued a Proclamation in
which he had insisted on the necessity for discrimination in
the treatment of rebels : this policy had been denounced
as too conciliatory and lenient, and the title 4 Clemency
Canning ’ had been given him in dérision. It is only fair
to say here that many of those who thus denounced him
were afterwards the first to acknowledge this title to be the
highest honour they could hâve bestowed upon him. An
extract from a letter which Lord Canning wrote in September
of the same year to Queen Victoria illustrâtes that attitude
of his countrymen during the darkest hours of the crisis
which he had to combat : 4 There is a rabid and indis-
criminate vindictiveness abroad even among those who
ought to set a better example.’ He wrote in a similar
strain to his old friend, Lord Granville. He had beenLORD CANNING
37
urging him to show to the English people that justice and
patience should guide the action of the Rulers of India
in dealing with the rebels, once they had ceased their résis-
tance, and he concluded his letter thus : ‘ Do this, and get
others to do it, and you will serve India more than you
would believe.’
One very grave problem that Lord Canning had to meet
was placed before him by Sir John Lawrence : the question
came up at the time when in the minds of many men it
had become doubtful whether the British Army was strong
enough to recapture Delhi. Sir John Lawrence had sug-
gested that the Peshawar Valley should be ceded to the Amir
of Afghanistan, in order to allow of the British and Sikh
régiments occupying the valley being sent to reinforce the
Army before Delhi. Sir John LawTenee had only made
the suggestion because he realized the all-importance of
the recapture of Delhi ; the proposai had not commended
itself to his lieutenants, Edwardes and Nieholson. Lord
Canning at once negatived the proposai : ‘ My answer to
your question about Peshawar,’ he wrote, is ‘ Hold on to
Peshawar to the last.’
At the commencement of the year 1858, Lord Canning
moved his head quarters from Calcutta to Allahabad, in
order to be nearer the scene of operations. He added to
his already heavy task as Governor-General the additional
one of the reorganization of the Province of which Alla-
habad was the capital; he acted practically as its Lieutenant-
Governor. His Military Secretary has described the tre-
mendous strain he put upon his health at this time by his
hard labours at the desk. Lady Canning shared in his
toil : she often copied out for him long confidential minutes.
In the midst of ail his other work he proceeded with his
control of the important work of reconquest. The task
was entrusted to Sir Colin Campbell, and his able lieutenant,
Sir Hugh Rose. It is no part of the scope of this sketch to
tell how they accomplished their task : it has been dealt
with elsewhere. It is sufîicient to state that the operations
which resulted in the final suppression of the Mutiny
extended over a period of two years. Though the success
of the actual operations was due to the Générais engaged,
their superintendence and direction rested,' with the38
RULERS OF INDIA
Governor-General, and the whole responsibility for the
successful issue was his, just as the responsibility would
hâve been his had the operations been a failure. A
splendid tribute to Lord Canning’s administration of the
war was paid by Mr. Wilson, the first Financial Member
of the Government of India, on the occasion of his first
Budget Speech, in the year 1860 :—
‘ The future historian of India,’ he said, c will dwell with
pride upon the fact that India was governed during this
period of disturbance by a nobleman who never, in the
midst of the greatest péril, allowed his judgement to be
swayed by passion, or his fine sense of honour and justice
to be tarnished by even a passing feeling of revenge.’
To Lord Canning, therefore, the gratitude of England is
due for settling conclusively the maintenance of British
supremacy in the East.
At a recent banquet given to the vétérans who had been
engaged in the Indian Mutiny, one of Lord Canning’s most
brilliant successors in the office of Governor-General of
India, Lord Curzon, uttered these ever-memorable words :
‘ Never let it be forgotten that the resuit of the Mutiny
was not merely an England victorious, but an India
pacified, united, and started once more upon its wondrous
career of advance and expansion.’ And he then pictured
the man to whom the crédit of ail this was primarily due :
‘ Neither let them forget the Viceroy, Canning, calm amid
the tumult, silent in the face of obloquy, resolute through ail
upon the great and crowning lesson of mercy.’ It seems
strange, in the light of after e vent s, to read of the attacks
made upon him by the European community in India, to
which reference has already been made, for those very
qualities of mercy and equanimity which are now considered
to hâve been his greatest claim to the admiration of men :
but so it was. The European community did not content
themselves with attacking him personally, but they em-
bodied their complaints in a pétition for his recall which
they addressed to the Queen. The character of these
complaints may be illustrated by the conclusion of the
pétition, which recommended a policy of repression as
opposed to a policy of conciliation. Their mistaken idea
that calmness and coolness implied an insufficient senseLORD CANNING	39
of the gravity of the situation on the part of the Governor-
General must be their excuse.
A curious outcome of this pétition was an attempt that
was made, though fortunately without success, by some
interested politicians in Parliament, to get the name of
Lord Canning excluded from the vote that passed both
Houses early in 1858, thanking the Indian Services, civil
and military, for their zeal in the suppression of the
Mutiny.
The accusation of undue leniency brought against Lord
Canning by the European community did not try his
calmness so much as did an accusation of undue severity
on the part of a responsible Minister of the Crown. In the
spring of 1858, Lord Canning had issued a Proclamation
addressed to the landholders, the chiefs, and the inhabi-
tants of Oudh. He had, after very careful considération,
arrived at the decision that the best way to meet the
particular case of Oudh, the case of an entire population
joining in rébellion, was to make confiscation of ail pro-
prietary rights in the soil the one declared punishment
for rébellion, instead of death, transportation, or imprison-
ment : at the same time, he had expressed his opinion that
such punishment should be enforced with an indulgent
hand, and should be altogether remitted on timely submis-
sion or other valid ground. The actual terms of the Pro-
clamation, moreover, made it abundantly clear that ail who
threw themselves on the justice and mercy of the British
Government would be liberally treated. A new Ministry
had recently corne into power in England ; Lord Ellen-
borough, the Minister referred to, was a member of it :
he thought, on reading the bare words of the Proclamation,
that it was unnecessarily harsh and severe, especially so far
as the confiscating clause was concerned : he wrote to that
effect to Lord Canning, and desired him to mitigate the
severity of the decree of confiscation. Lord Canning,
knowing, as is abundantly clear from his private corre-
spondence at the time, that his intentions were ail in the
direction of justice and humanity, remained calm under
the harsh criticism, and wrote a dignified reply, detailing
the circumstances that had led to the Proclamation, and
expressing his view that his policy, if steadily pursued,40
RULERS OF INDIA
offered the best and earliest prospect of restoring peace
to Oudh upon a stable footing. At the same time, he added
that, if, after a full considération of ail the circumstances,
that policy did not commend itself to Her Majesty’s
Ministers, he was prepared to place his résignation of his
high office in Her Majesty’s hands. One passage in this reply
was characteristic of the man : ‘ No taunts or sarcasm,
corne from what quarter they may, will turn me from the
path of public duty.’ Within eighteen months of his reply
Lord Canning was able to déclaré, at a great Darbar that
he held at Lucknow, that the tranquillity of the Province
was eompletely established. In 1861, moreover, a dépu-
tation of nineteen of the principal Oudh Taluqdars visited
him at Calcutta, and assured him that his administration
of Oudh had conciliated the confidence and goodwill of
the landed classes. ‘ The whole incident,’ his biographer
truly says, ‘ display s his characteristic qualities of thorough-
ness in préparation, wisdom in action, and magnanimity
under undeserved attack.’
The Mutiny was now finally crushed : with its causes
it is unnecessary to deal here : one indelible lesson it has
left behind it, which can be best expressed in the words of
a great English lawyer : ‘ The English raie in India
represents a belligerent civilization. England must be
prepared to fight as well as to civilize.’
A still greater task, if that were possible, than the sup-
pression of the Mutiny, now awaited Lord Canning, no
less a task than the pacification of the country. There
had long been a feeling in England that the Mutiny had
revealed certain defects in the machinery of the Government
of India : the general opinion in Parliament, as disclosed
by the debates on the subject, was that the relations
between India, and the Sovereign should be drawn doser,
and that this could best be brought about by a transfer of
the Government of India from the East India Company to
the Crown. A Bill to this effect was introduced by Lord
Palmerston, and was finally passed into law under the
administration of Lord Derby. The essential feature of
the change made by this Act was that the British Parlia-
ment became the final authority in Indian administration.
Steps were at once taken to bring the new Act into opéra-LORD CANNING
41
tion. A Proclamation was issued by the Queen of Eng-
land, addressed to the people of India, to announce the
new order of things. By the same mail that brought this
epoch-making Proclamation of Queen Victoria to Lord
Canning came the news that Lord Canning himself was to
be her first Viceroy. His reply to the Queen, acknow-
ledging his new dignity, was characteristic : 4 It is,’ he
wrote, 4 Lord Canning’s earnest hope and prayer that, so
long as this high f une tion shall be in his trust, it may be
administered in a spirit not mrworthy of your Majesty,
and that when he shall deliver it again into your Majesty’s
hands, it may be found to be without spot or stain from
any act or word of his.’ The Royal Proclamation was
translated into every language and dialect of India, and
read with befitting cérémonial in the great centres of popu-
lation, and at every civil and military station in India.
The Queen’s personal instructions to the Minister
entrusted with the task of drafting the document bore
the impress of her own benign personality. The Minister
was requested to frame it, 4 bearing in mind that it is a
female Sovereign who speaks to more than a hundred
millions of Eastern people on assuming the direct Govern-
ment over them, and after a bloody war, giving them
pledges which her future reign is to redeem, and explaining
the principles of her Government. Such a document
should breathe feelings of generosity, benevolence, and
religious toleration, and point out the privilèges which
the Indians will receive in being placed on an equality
with the subjects of the British Crown, and the prosperity
following in the train of civilization.’
Lord Canning himself also issued a Proclamation, calling
upon ail Her Majesty’s subjects to yield loyal obedience
to their Sovereign. It has been generally recognized that
these two Proclamations had a reassuring effect upon the
country at large. One excellent effect they certainly had :
they showed the people of India that they now possessed
a personal Sovereign, directly interested in their welfare,
in place of an impersonal and intangible abstraction
known as 4 The Company Bahadur ’. Any one who wit-
nessed the enthusiastic loyalty with which the Prince and
Princess of Wales were greeted throughout India on their42
RULERS OF INDIA
recent tour will be able to estimate the real value of such
a conviction in a country like India, where personality
is so great an influence.
Lord Canning did not content himself with merely
issuing these two Proclamations : he proceeded to make
several tours over India to enhance their effect. His
principal object was to enable him to receive the great
Feudatory Chiefs in Darbar, and to reward ail whose loyalty
during the rébellion had been conspicuous. These royal
progresses of Lord Canning were almost on a similar scale
to those of the Mogul rulers in their palmy day sof pros-
perity, and such as befitted the dignity of 4 The Great Lord
Sahib \
Indian literature is full of descriptions of great state
cérémonial, and this shows the importance that an Oriental
people attach to such display. The greatest expression
of such a feeling in modem days was the Darbar held by
Lord Curzon at Delhi, to celebrate the accession to his
throne of the King-Emperor, Edward the Seventh. At
these Darbars Lord Canning was able to assure the great
chiefs of the new and liberal policy inaugurated ; the right
of adoption was henceforth to be recognized by the British
Government, as it ne ver had been recognized before by any
Government, as affecting sovereignty as well as property.
Henceforth, he assured them, the right of adopting an
heir to their rights of sovereignty was to form an essential
part of their privilèges. He was able also to proclaim to
the great landowners a policy under which their privilèges
and position would be more sympathetically recognized
than under the old régime.
Spécial interest attached to the Darbar he held at Ambala,
where perhaps his most pleasing duty was performed in
rewarding, for their conspicuous loyalty, the great Cis*
Sutlej chieftains, the Maharajas of Jhind, Nabha, and
Patiala. Interest also attaches to a Darbar he held at a
later date at Lucknow, the object of which was to persuade
the nobility of Oudh to use their influence in checking the
crime of infanticide, then so common amongst the Rajputs
of that Province.
At that great banquet recently given to the Mutiny
vétérans, to which reference has already been made, LordLORD CANNING
43
Curzon mentioned the effect on the immense body of
spectators assembled at his great Darbar, of the appearance
of the small band of Mutiny heroes : it is interesting to note
that at one of the Darbars held by Lord Canning he received
the Volunteer Guard of one of the important gates of the
Lucknow Residency, who had rendered conspicuous service
during the famous siégé.
The next task that Lord Canning undertook on his
return from his tours was that of a reconstruction of the
machinery of Government as it affected its working in
India itself. One of the most necessary reforms was a
reconstitution of the Governor-General’s Council, executive
and legislative : this was effected by the Indian Councils
Act, which was passed in 1861. The change made was in
the direction of giving a more représentative character
than had hitherto been the case to the Council ; this was
done by introducing additional members into the Council
for the spécial purpose of législation. Half of these
additional members were to be non-ofïicials.
Lord Canning also had the work of the Council re-
distributed, with a view to facilitating public business.
The old System has been described as one in which a great
deal of work was done twice over and a great deal was
never done at ail. Under the new System, each member
was placed in charge of a separate department of public
business. The Council was thus converted practically into
a Cabinet.
Another reform was in the direction of reducing the old
disproportion that had existed between the numbers of
Indian troops and the European forces. The local European
army, too, was amalgamated with the Queen’s troops, and
ceased to exist as an independent force. Finance also
received its due share of attention : for the first time in the
history of the Government of India an English financier
was appointed a member of the Governor-General’s Council.
The first Financial Member was Mr. James Wilson, who
arrived in India at the close of 1859, and made his first
Budget Speech early in 1860. Additional taxation had
been rendered necessary by the heavy expenses connected
with the events of the Mutiny, and one of the features of
this first Budget was the imposition of direct taxes. A44
RULERS OF INDIA
curious claim was preferred by the Presidencies of Madras
and Bombay : they claimed exemption from the additional
taxation on the ground that their armies had not rebelled.
The words in which the claim was disallowed mark the
statesman : ‘We are one great dependency under one
Sovereign, and we hâve one clear duty before us, to unité
with ail our efforts and ail our means in maintaining the
Empire prosperous and inviolate.’
A claim had also been put forward by the great land-
owners of Bengal that, under the Permanent Settlement,
they could claim exemption from the general taxation of
the country. This claim was also disallowed ; it was
pointed out that the author of the Permanent Settlement,
Lord Cornwallis, had laid down the principle that ail who
enjoy the protection of the State must pay for it in accor-
dance with their means.
The last year of the Viceroyalty of Lord Canning was
marked by certain anxieties, both public and private.
Among his public anxieties were floods over large tracts
of country due to an exceptionally heavy monsoon : there
was, too, a great outbreak of choiera in the Upper Provinces
of Bengal, and in the Punjab. Among his private anxieties,
the greatest was the death of Lady Canning. She died
from the effects of malarious fever, towards the close of
the year 1861, and was buried in the beautiful park at
Barrackpur, where the Governor-Generals of India hâve
a country résidence within a few miles of Calcutta.
Lord Canning himself inscribed these words on her
tomb : ‘ Honours and praises written on a tomb are at
best a vain glory.’ Lady Canning was remarkable for her
nobility of character, and her loss was mourned by large
numbers throughout the length and breadth of India. Lord
Canning was himself temporarily prostrated by the blow.
One of the last public measures of Lord Canning’s Vice-
royalty was arranging for the administration of Burmah
and of the Central Provinces, a newly created Province, by
Chief Commissioners.
He finally handed over his office to his successor, Lord
Elgin, in March, 1862, and left India a week later ; he has
been described as looking pale, wan, toil-worn, and grief-
stricken on the day of his embarkation.LORD CANNING
45
The farewell addresses that were presented to him were
ail marked by a tone of sincere regret : one of these addresses
concluded with these words : ‘ Safe may you return to
your native land : the good wishes of ail attend you ; in that
land of the West, if justice and humanity are ever honoured,
you cannot but hold a distinguished place.’
Lord Canning returned home only to die : in June of the
same year the end came. Like his great predecessor,
Lord Dalhousie, he had given his life for India. He was
only forty-nine at the time of his death. He received the
high honour of burial in the Abbey of Westminster, where
only England’s Sovereigns and noblest sons are buried.
The magnificent eulogy which his biographer has pro-
nounced on Lord Canning may fittingly conclude this
sketch of a great and good man : ‘ Whatever the origin of
the Mutiny, an unexampled and appalling crisis had to be
met : Lord Canning met it in a manner of which every
Englishman may be proud, with firmness, with magna-
nimity, with calm, inflexible justice. On a stage crowded
with heroic personages, he stood an impressive central
figure, rising high above the ephemeral hostility with a
dignity which, as the scene recedes and we are able more
justly to appreciate its proportions, places him high on the
list of those great oôicers of State whose services to their
country entitle them to the esteem and gratitude of every
loyal Englishman.’CHAPTER III
THE PACIFICATOR
Sir Henry Lawrence, 1806-1857.
Henry Lawrence’s father was a man who had done good
service in India as a soldier ; of his six sons, four also did
distinguished service in the same country, and two, John
and Henry, did specially conspicuous service.
Henry was born in Ceylon, and after a short school
career in that island was sent to England, where he joined
the Military Academy of Addiscombe. Having obtained
a commission in the Bengal Artillery, he went out to India
to join his régiment at the early âge of seventeen.
He arrived in India in time to takepart in the first Burmese
war : thus he early obtained practical expérience of military
problems, and learnt many lessons which were to be of
inestimable value to him in later years ; it was at this
period of his life that he had his first expérience of a military
mutiny : three Sepoy régiments had demurred to the
sea-trip to Burmah, as préjudiciai to their caste, and one of
them, having refused to lay down its arms when ordered
to do so, was promptly fired into by the British artillery
by orders of the offieer commanding. The mutiny was
suppressed, but food for reflection was provided for Law-
rence’s mind as to its original cause, and he could not help
coming to the conclusion that the exercise of more thought
and judgement on the part of the military authorities might
hâve prevented it altogether. The chief military event
of the war was the capture of Arakan, in effecting which
many hardships had to be undergone : the troops suffered
much throughout the campaign from a very violent type
of fever : Lawrence himself became so ill that he was
invalided home, and was ordered to go by the longest sea
route, so as to get the full benefit of the voyage ; as it was,
the effects of the fever never really left him.
On his return to India, he was accompanied by his brother47
SIR HENRY LAWRENCE
John, who was coming out for the first time as a young
civilian in the Company’s service. He was posted to a
station where his elder brother, George, already was :
John was posted there soon afterwards, and so the three
brothers had the happiness of ail being near each other for
some two years or so. Henry, who had already spent much
time in reading historical and military works, took up the
study of Oriental languages, in order to qualify for civil
and political employment, and, with a view to entering the
Horse Artillery, he also went in for riding. He spent some
time on the canals of the North-West with the great
engineer officer, Colonel Cautley : he thereby acquainted
himself with the duties and difficulties of canal engineering
and irrigation operations. His exertions to make himself
a thoroughly efficient officer were rewarded by his at length
obtaining Staff employment, and he was appointed to the
Revenue Survey. He was engaged on this for some five
years, and it was his work in this direction that established
his character and réputation, and led to his récognition in
high quarters ; the real benefit to himself, however, lay
in the Sound and intimate insight that it gave him into
native life and character. 4 Here,’ says a writer, 4 he first
really learned to know the natives of India, and the best
class of natives, the agricultural population : it was their
villages, their fields, their crops, their interests of every
kind, with which his eyes, hands, thoughts, and heart were
now occupied for five years. Instead of living in a European
station, he pitched his tents among the people, under their
trees, and by their streams, for eight months out of twelve.
He saw them as military men seldom can see them, and as
ail civilians ought to see them, in their homes and daily
life, and thus learnt to sympathize with them as a race and
to understand their wants.’ His previous expériences in
the Irish Ordnance Survey were now of good service to him,
and he was able to make certain suggestions in the direction
of more practical methods combined with greater economy :
his suggestions were ail tried and proved eminently success-
ful in putting matters connected with Revenue Survey
generally on a sounder basis.
When the Afghan troubles broke out, Lawrence was
ordered to rejoin his régiment, but he was soon afterwards48
RULERS OF INDIA
appointed to the Political Staff on the Punjab frontier, at
Firozpur. This appointment has been described as the
turning-point in his career : his connexion with the Sikhs
and their country thus began : he was also brought into
close relations with Sir George Clerk, then Mr. Clerk, who
was already recognized as a statesman of the highest rank.
Lawrence threw ail his energy into the task of administra-
tion of the Firozpur State : this was one of the States that
had lapsed to the British on the death of its chief. His
first essay in government met with. such success that
Mr. Metcalfe, the Governor-General’s Agent, congratulated
him on the great improvement effected by his vigorous
rule : the measure of his success may be gauged by the
fact that the surrounding independent chiefs requested him
to act as arbitrator in their disputes and boundary questions.
The death of the Ruler of the Punjab, the Maharaja Ranjit
Singh, in 1839, weakened the relations between the Sikhs of
that country and the English : this necessitated increased
vigilance, energy, and tact on the part of Lawrence. He
was not found wanting : his part was to watch the chiefs
with the utmost vigilance, to guard against the action of
the crafty and ambitious, and to guide and support the
well disposed.
Recent events in Afghanistan had rendered it ail the
more necessary to tread warily, for the alliance with the
British against Afghanistan had never been popular with
the Sikhs generally. The news of the rising at Kabul and
the serious state of things in Afghanistan generally, having
reached Lawrence early, he at once informed his chief,
and obtained from him permission to get the consent of
the Sikh Darbar to the passage of a brigade of British troops
through Sikh territory to Peshawar. Sir George Clerk
now ordered his transfer to Peshawar in the following
complimentary terms : ‘ It is because I feel much con-
fidence in your knowledge of the Sikh authorities, in their
reliance on your fair dealing, in your expérience as a District
Officer and a people’s protector, and in your activity and
decision to meet emergencies of every shape, that I hâve
selected you for the présent to proceed to Peshawar.’ He
was now brought into direct connexion with the Sikhs :
their support at this crisis was of the utmost conséquence,SIR HENRY LAWRENCE	49
but British disasters in Afghanistan were having a bad
effect upon their attitude : their refusai of the request of
the officer commanding at Peshawar for the loan of some
guns showed sufficiently how unfriendly it was becoming ;
that eventually it became more friendly was due to the
combined and prolonged efforts of Lawrence and his chief.
But even then their attitude only remained friendly just
as long as the British in authority themselves displayed
vigour and boldness in the conduct of operations, and the
indécision of Lord Ellenborough went far to counteract
ail the efforts of his subordinates : he could not make up
his mind to give definite orders to the Générais who were
in command of the relieving forces, Pollock and Nott,
whether to advance or to retire ; he himself was in favour of
retirement. At last, he threw the responsibility on General
Nott : he passed orders allowing him to retire via Kabul.
This was ail that the Générais wanted, and their action was
now prompt and vigorous ; it had, moreover, an excellent
effect on the Sikhs ; they at once showed their willingness
to co-operate.
Lawrence accompanied the Sikh contingent, which the
Darbar had provided in return for an offer of the Passes and
Jalalabad, should the campaign be a successful one. The
gallant stand made at Jalalabad under such men as Sale
and Havelock, and many other heroes, had been the one
redeeming feature in an otherwise gloomy situation. The
operations were completely successful. Lawrence was
présent on the occasion of the dramatic appearance in the
English camp of the English prisoners. Amongst them
was his brother, George Lawrence, for whom he had at one
time petitioned to be exchanged as a prisoner of war. It
is of interest to note that George Lawrence had owed his
safety to the high opinion that Akbar Khan had of his
character, and to his strict adhérence to ail the promises
he had made to his captor. Lawrence had now learnt to
know the Sikhs well : he had first learnt to know them in
the stern and orderly days of Ranjit Singh, then in the
period of comparative anarchy when the soldiery rose to
practical supremacy in the State ; afterwards, and more
intimately, during their vacillating relations with the
English ; and finally, he had commanded and led them
OSWELL	J)50
RULERS OF INDIA
during the fighting in Afghanistan, and had acquired a
clear perception of their faults and character, of their good
and their bad qualities ; he had, moreover, secured the
confidence and regard of their chiefs and leaders. A taie
he published at a later date, entitled The Adventurer in
the Punjcib, gives a picture of the people of that interesting
country and their ways. His administration of the Kaithal
State, which was his next charge, was noted for his summary
Revenue Settlement, which had the efiect of greatly
increasing the agricultural resources of the State, by an
increase in the ploughs at work of fifty per cent.
He next held for a period of two years the appointment
of Résident at the Court of Népal : this period was to him
one of comparative rest, and he spent it largely in literary
labours.
He was recalled from Népal by the events of the first
Sikh War :	Major Broadfoot, the Political Officer in
the Punjab, had been killed at the battle of Firozshah,
and Lawrence was required to fill the vacancy thus
created.
The outcome of this war was the appointment of a
Council of Regency to govern during the minority of the
young Maharaja. At the urgent request of the Council,
British troops were to be allowed to occupy Lahore for a
time only. Lord Hardinge gave orders that the Sikhs
should be told plainly that they would eventually be
withdrawn, and the Sikhs left without any interférence in
their government, except that of friendly counsel alone.
Lawrence was appointée! British Agent : this was the most
important office that had so far been conferred upon him :
his duty was to watch and control the Council of Regency
of a State that, though smaller than before the war—for
its Southern boundary was now the river Béas, instead of
the Sutlej—was still the most important State in India.
He had been specially chosen to hold this appointment
because of his intimate knowledge of the Sikhs. His task
was no light one : the problems presented were many and
intricate, but his judgement ne ver failed him in the hour
of trial. His first task was to get the numbers of the Army
reduced : this was effected by degrees. Most men reverted
to the plough, some enlisted in the British Army, and more51
SIR HENRY LAWRENCE
would probably hâve done so had it not been for certain
military régulations in that Army on the subject of head-
dress and the wearing of beards. He was also called upon
to recapture the strong Fort of Kangra, which had rebelled,
and to suppress what in common parlance is called a
Cow-Row. Perhaps his chief difficulty was due to the
intrigues of the Rani in connexion with the afïairs of
Kashmir. That State, together with Hazara, had been
ceded to the British at the close of the first Sikh War, in
lieu of the larger portion of the indemnity that the Sikhs
were called upon to pay for the expenses of the war. The
British had sold it to Gulab Singh, the Ruler of Jammu,
who was thought to be the fittest man at the time to rule
it : he had, moreover, been loyal to the British during the
recent events. The Governor of Kashmir was a Muham-
madan nobleman, Sheikh Imam-ud-Din by name : this
man, instigated by the Rani, had opposed the entry of
Gulab Singh to take up his rights of sovereignty. Lawrence
promptly marched with a large force to support the auth-
ority of the new ruler : the Sheikh thereupon surrendered
at discrétion. That Lawrence was thus able to carry the
Council and Sikh soldiery with him so loyally was a triumph
of personal influence, for in their heart of hearts the Khalsa
hated Gulab Singh as thoroughly as the Rani did. The
Rani’s powers for misehief were curtailed by a new Treaty
between the British and the Sikh Darbar, which was signed
at the unanimous wish of the Sikh Sardars, who were anxious
to prevent her from putting herself at the head of the
administration, as she had been proposing. The Treaty
was known as the Treaty of Bhairowal : its main object
was to exclude the Rani from the assumption of power.
By the terms of the Treaty the actual administration was
transferred to the British Government during the minority
of the young Maharaja. The British Government thus
praetically became the guardian of the State : the country
was to be ruled by a Council of eight leading chief s, under
the control and guidance of a British Résident, whose power
was to extend without limit over every department. Law-
rence became the first Résident, and was now virtually
Ruler of the Punjab. The acquiescence of the new Council
of Regency in ail Lawrence’s measures for the good goverm52
RULERS OF INDIA
ment of the eountry was a proof of his tact and states-
manship. His guiding precept given to ail those working
with him was : ‘ Settle the eountry, make the people happy,
and take care that there are no rows.’ He was fortunate
in having as his coadjutors such men as Abbot, Lumsden,
Nicholson, and Edwardes, not to mention his own brother
John. The confidence of the people seemed outwardly
won, but the Rani’s constant intrigues prevented it from
being ail plain sailing. Her powers for mischief were at
last put a final end to by her removal, as a state prisoner,
to Benares : and not too soon, as she had been aiming
at the assassination of one of the leading members of the
Council of Regency, and at the corruption of British Sepoys ;
she was further found to hâve been instigating the Governor
of Multan, Mulraj, to rebel, as at a later period he actually
did. The real danger to permanent peace was the temper
of the Sikh soldiery and of the other warlike members of the
community. That Lawrence himself fully recognized the
rocks ahead, his own words show : ‘ At no period of
Anglo-Indian history has any great conquest or crisis been
immediately followed by complété peace and security in
the countries annexed to our dominions, or by the universal
goodwill of a people whom we hâve beaten in the field.’
Fortunately, he himself possessed the qualities demanded
by the situation ; vigilance, sagacity, and vigour, and above
ail common sense, were among his leading characteristics.
His rule lasted for the comparatively short space of six
months ; the actual amount of work achieved during this
time afïords a striking testimony to the vigour of his
administration : it comprised a more or less complété
survey of the whole eountry, and the readjustment of the
fiscal and excise Systems ; oppressive duties and Govern-
ment monopolies were abolished, and the construction of
roads was commenced ; and further, a simple code of laws,
founded on Sikh customs, had been framed by a selected
body of fifty headmen of villages under the supervision
of a prominent Sardar, Lehna Singh, a man who had given
Lawrence valuable aid in the general work of administration.
In the midst of ail this good work, Lawrence’s health
unfortunately gave way ; as a short spell of leave failed
to re-establish it, he was obliged to take furlough to England.SIR HENRY LAWRENCE	53
Pending the arrivai of his successor in office, Sir Frederick
Currie, his brother John acted for him.
When he left India early in 1848 in the company of Lord
Hardinge, who had just vacated office in favour of Lord
Dalhousie, everything seemed to promise permanent peace ;
but appearances proved deceptive : a local outbreak at
Multan soon developed into a serious rising of the whole
Sikh nation, and within a short time of his arrivai in India
Lord Dalhousie found himself involved in the second
Sikh War. That such a war was bound to corne, sooner
or later, had been generally foreseen. Henry Lawrence
himself had said : ‘ There was something in the character
of the Sikh people, a fickleness of national character,
combined with their known pride of race, and a long un-
checked career of victory, which contained the éléments
of future disturbance in the apparently settled appearance
of the country.’ At the same time, it had been his hope
that the Punjab would remain permanently a friendly
buffer State on the British frontier. The second Sikh War,
and its final outcome, the annexation of the country, which
was the only possible course open to the British, destroyed
this hope for ever.
Lawrence was in England when the news of war having
broken out reached him. He was extremely anxious not
to be absent from his charge during the crisis, and he
decided to return to duty if he were allowed to do so. He
consulted the Duke of Wellington on the subject, and he
expressed his concurrence with Lawrence’s proposai. The
Board of Directors simply told him that his return was
entirely optional. He returned to India as Sir Henry
Lawrence, the distinction of a Knight Commandership of
the Bath having been conferred upon him while he was in
England. He first visited Multan, the scene of the original
outbreak which had precipitated the war, and then pro-
ceeded to Lahore : he was présent at Chillianwala. In the
interval between this battle, and the final battle of Guzerat,
which left the Punjab prostrate, he was in constant com-
munication with Lord Dalhousie.
Annexation having been determined on, he was called
on to make a draft of the Proclamation that was to be issued
to the Sikh nation, announcing the fact : the first draft54
RULERS OF INDIA
had to be modified to bring it more into keeping with the
views of the Governor-General. The slight différences of
opinion that had arisen between the Governor-General
and Sir Henry Lawrence had been due to a natural anxiety
on the latter’s part lest a too great severity in the wording
of the Proclamation might lead to the entire alienation of
the people. Lord Dalhousie insisted on its being modified ;
nevertheless, in his actual policy, he did eventually adopt
and utilize many of Sir Henry’s views. This Proclamation,
which was issued in the spring of 1849, announced that
the Sovereignty of the Punjab had passed over to the
Queen of England.
Sir Henry Lawrence had, previously to the issue of the
Proclamation, tendered his résignation of his office, but the
tactful compliment paid him by Lord Dalhousie, who had
told him that he wished the people of the Punjab to continue
to hâve the benefit of his sympathetic administration, had
led him to withdraw it. The terms in which the Governor-
General had expressed his wishes show abundantly that,
whatever other différences of opinion there might hâve been
between the Chief and his subordinate, they were united on
the one point of the necessity for sympathy between the
rulers and the ruled. ‘ The Governor-General,’ so ran the
letter, ‘ particularly desired that he should continue in his
leading position in the Punjab, if only for the spécial reason
that it would ensure his having the best opportunity for
effecting his great object : the fair and even indulgent
considération of the vanquished, the smoothing down of
the inévitable pangs of subjugation to these proud and brave
enemies, with whose chief s and leaders no man was so
familiar as he, or so appréciative of what was noble in their
character.’
Eventually, the administration was placed in the hands
of a Board of three members, consisting of Sir Henry
Lawrence, his brother John, and Mr. Mansel, with Sir Henry
Lawrence as President.
When Sir Henry Lawrence had been Résident at Lahore
he had issued certain instructions to his officers which
embodied his own views of what kind of administration
was best suited to the circumstances of the country. ‘ In
a new country,’ he had said,£ especially a wild one, prompt-55
SIR HENRY LAWRENCE
ness, accessibility, brevity, and kindness are the best
engines of government : hâve as few forms as possible,
and as are consistent with a brief record of proceedings.
Be considérâte and kind, not expecting too much from
ignorant people. Make no change unless certain of decided
improvement in the substitute : light assessment, con-
sidering the daims and privilèges, even when soniewhat
extravagant, of the privileged classes, especially when they
affect government, and not the peasantry.’ The circum-
stances were now much the same, and the administration
of the new triumvirate was conducted on more or less the
same lines. Sir Henry Lawrence’s own especial aims were
directed towards effecting the conciliation, and creating the
goodwill which he regarded as of paramount necessity to
the welfare of the Empire. Certain différences of opinion
arose between him and his brother in the details of adminis-
tration. The subject of finance was one of the matters
in which the two brothers did not see eye to eye. Henry
Lawrence’s own conciliatory methods doubtless conduced
to the contentment and peace of the Province, but the
financial management of John Lawrence alone made it pros-
perous : while John’s maxim was, ‘ To make ends meet,’
Henry’s was, ‘ In public as in private life, judicious liberality
is in the end economy ’ : he held that money was saved
by keeping men contented, preserving the peace, and
getting expeditiously through work, and that it was gained,
and the revenue increased, by expenditure on roads and
canals.
Another matter on which the brothers disagreed was on
the subject of the création of an influential aristocracy
such as existed on the other side of the Sutlej, in the great
houses of Patiala, Jhind, and Nabha : Henry would hâve
liked to create similar great houses in the new Province.
John, however, agreed with the principles laid down by
Lord Dalhousie : he would hâve no new families créât ed ;
Personal weight and force of character was the only influence
that he would recognize over and above that of the British
administration.
There was one subject indeed, in which there was some-
thing more than a mere différence of opinion between the
brothers : actual friction arose : this was in the case of56
RTJLERS OF INDIA
the treatment of the old Jaghirdars. These Jaghirdars
were men of position who had received grants of land from
Ranjit Singh, or who had acquired land by the sword,
and who held them on rent-free tenures. The question
arose as to how many of these rent-free tenures were to
be disallowed, and how many retained.
Lord Dalhousie had decided most of the cases, but he
had left certain classes of cases which were to be decided
on their merits. John was interested in the question as
Revenue Officer, and Henry as Political Officer. Naturally,
the different points of view from which they looked at the
question left room for much divergence of opinion. The
friction became so acute that the matter had eventually
to be referred to Lord Dalhousie. His opinion coincided
in the main with that of John Lawrence. Sir Henry
Lawrence, feeling that his position as head of the admini-
stration was becoming a merely nominal one, thereupon
tendered his résignation, and so, for that matter, did
John Lawrence. That of Sir Henry was accepted, and
Lord Dalhousie, in communicating the fact to him, informed
him that the decision had also been corne to of changing
the form of administration ; one man was henceforth
to be responsible as Chief Commissioner. To take the
sting out of the announcement, he wrote to Sir Henry
Lawrence in these terms : 4 Ail the world unités in ac-
knowledging the talents and merits of Sir Thomas Munro.
I cannot therefore illustrate the strength of my own con-
victions on this head better than by saying that, if Sir
Thomas Munro were now President of your Board, I should
still hold the opinion I hâve expressed regarding the office
of Chief Commissioner.’ The Board was accordingly
dissolved, and John Lawrence appointed Chief Commis-
sioner.
The office of Governor-General’s Agent in Rajputana
was conferred on Sir Henry. His departure from the
Punjab was made the signal for a great démonstration
of sorrow in which ail classes, chief s and peasantry alike,
joined. One high official thus wrote of him : 4 The sway
which he exercised over classes of men widely different in
every feeling was almost marvellous. There were the
conquerors and the conquered, the European officiais and57
SIR HENRY LAWRENCE
the Sikh Sardars, some of the best specimens of English
gentlemen and of the roughest of Asiatic chiefs, ail alike
lamenting over the departure of the man who seemed to
be the personal friend of one and ail.’ On the question
that had caused the split between the two brothers, it may
be noted that Lord Canning, on a visit he paid to Lahore
after the Mutiny, adopted more liberal measures towards
the old Jaghirdars. This was only in accordance with the
policy adopted by Government after that crisis, which
was ail in the direction of strengthening the influence
of the hereditary aristocracy of India : it was the same
policy that led to the création, moreover, in the Central
Provinces, of whole classes of feudatory and political
chiefs out of the leading landholders.
Sir Henry Lawrence ruled in Rajputana for a period of
four years. On his first arrivai in a country so different
from any other that he hadbeen in,he was disappointed at
the signs of the degeneracy of the great houses, the members
of which had at one time been noted for their gallantry
and honour. One feature specially struck him : this was
the feudal System that prevailed under a strongly developed
tribal organization. It took him some time to get accus-
tomed to this System, and to learn to appreciate the
many excellent qualities of the new race he was called on
to rule ; it did not take him long, however, to earn a
réputation for sympathetic and just administration.
One illustration of his sympathetic treatment of a matter
that was affecting a large number of the old nobility will
suffice. Under the new policy of the suprême Government
in connexion with the subject of adoption, many adoptions
in different parts of India had been entirely set aside : a
certain amount of irritation had been caused in Rajputana
by this policy. An important case had recently occurred
there, the case of the Karauli State. It was a curious
case, for it was not a case where the Government had set
aside an adoption, but where their approval of one had
unexpectedly clashed with certain privilèges and rights
of adoption claimed by the Thakurs of the State ; it was
an illustration indeed, of the many difAculties that the
British Government has to contend with in governing
Oriental peoples. The late chief of the State had died,58
RULERS OF INDIA
leaving an adopted son : the adoption had been approved
of by Government, though not without some preliminary
hésitation on the part of Lord Dalhousie, and the matter
seemed to hâve ended here. But Sir Henry Lawrence,
having ascertained that the Thakurs, a class corresponding
to the Barons of English mediaeval history, felt aggrieved
at their claim to adopt having thus been set aside, exam-
ined into the matter, and decided that, while adoption was
the proper course, the chief himself who had died had no
legal right to adopt, as he was a minor and unmarried,
and that the claim of the Thakurs was therefore a just and
lawful one ; their choice had fallen on another prince,
other than the one whose adoption the Government had
approved of. Sir Henry Lawrence thereupon laid his
views of the matter before Lord Dalhousie, who ordered
efîect to be given to them. The resuit, we are told, of
this decision on the feelings of both chiefs and people
was very marked : ail felt that a régime had arisen, not
only sympathetic and well-intentioned, but vigorous and
unflinching in its justice. Sir Henry Lawrence set his
face vigorously against certain heinous malpractices rife
in the country, notably the crime of female infanticide,
Sati, and the barbarous maltreatment of prisoners : but he
worked through the chiefs : he aimed at interesting them,
and leading them to realize that these and kindred matters
were the proper subjects for the exercise of their position
and functions as rulers, and that to them would accrue
the crédit of success. The inauguration some years after-
wards, by Lord Mayo, of his schemes for the éducation
and enlightenment of the Rajputana chiefs and nobles,
which resulted in the foundation of the college at Ajmir,
named after himself, The Mayo College, was the natural
complément of Sir Henry Lawrence’s great work in the
direction of their enlightenment.
During his tenure of office in Rajputana, Sir Henry
Lawrence had been offered the chief appointments in
Hyderabad and Oudh, but had declined them. It had
been his intention to take furlough to England in 1856,
but the outbreak of war with Persia led to a change in his
plans. Sir James Outram, who at the time was Chief
Commissioner of Oudh, was appointed to the command of59
SIR HENRY LAWRENCE
the Persian expédition. Lord Canning’s choice for the
vacant appointment in Oudh fell upon Sir Henry Law-
rence : he at once accepted the charge with ail its re-
sponsibilities : the country was known to be in a serious
state of discontent, disaffection, and sédition : it was the
great réputation that Sir Henry Lawrence had already
won in the Punjab as a pacificator that led to his choice
by Lord Canning. A striking testimony to the réputation
he had left behind him in Rajputana is the story told of
how, on hearing of his subséquent death at Lucknow, the
Rao Raja of Karauli, on whose behalf he had interfered
so successfully in the matter of adoption, was so deeply
grieved as to abstain from ail food for several days.
The story of the annexation of Oudh was still a very
recent one : a chronic state of anarchy, arising from a
prolonged period of misgovernment and misrule, during
which many of the inhabitants had been either destroyed
or driven away by oppression, had nécessitâted décisive
action on the part of the British Government. Sir James
Outram had been the first British administrât or, and as
long as he had remained in office much had been done in
the direction of the fulfilment of the promises contained
in the Proclamation that had announced the annexation ;
but in the interval between his departure and the arrivai
of Sir Henry Lawrence much irritation had been caused
both amongst the Taluqdars and amongst their clansmen,
the peasantry, at certain action that had been taken
whereby many of the former had been deprived of portions
of their Estâtes, contrary to what they considered to be
the terms of the Proclamation. Active brigandage had
set in under one Fazl Ali, and a Maulvi had been preaching
a Jihad, or religious war, against the infidel English. The
restoration of law and order was the first task that Sir
Henry Lawrence applied himself to : he dispersed the
bands of brigands, and imprisoned the Maulvi : it was
afterwards discovered that this man had long been actively
instigating and fomenting revoit in many other Provinces ;
later on, indeed, he became one of the most prominent
leaders in the Mutiny. Sir Henry Lawrence next pro-
ceeded to ascertain how far the promises and engagements
made at the time of the annexation had been fulfilled,60
RULERS OF INDIA
and to take steps for their fulfilment, where that had not
been the case : thus he arranged for pensions and gra-
tuities for the members of the old royal family, and for
their more courteous treatment : he also devised measures
for an increase of employment for many of the officiais and
soldiery of the old régime : he inquired into the tenures
of the Taluqdars, and held out promises, of the entire
fulfilment of the terms of the Proclamation regarding their
estâtes. The immédiate efïect of these conciliatory mea-
sures was to allay much of the discontent and ill-feeling
against the new régime that had been so prévalent. But
Sir Henry Lawrence knew well that things were far from
right : there was disaffection in the Army, which had mani-
fested itself even before he had taken up his position at
Lucknow, and there was a general feeling of unrest and of
expectancy beginning to pervade the whole community.
On his way to Oudh from Rajputana, he had had occa-
sion to pass through Agra : he had expressed his fears of
the actual state of things in some conversations with his
civilian friends. 4 Yon Brahmans,’ he had said, 4 will
be shut up in the Fort before we meet again ’ ; he had
also addressed Lord Canning on the same subject. With
his usual foresight, therefore, he proceeded to turn his
attention to precautionary military measures. Having
been in Lucknow some years before, he knew something of
the features of the place. He first had the old Sikh Fort of
Machhi Bawan repaired and equipped with military stores ;
he arranged too for a better distribution of troops. Besides
the signs in other parts of India of the trouble brewing,
incidents had occurred in Lucknow itself which ail pointed
in the same direction ; the demeanour of the Nana Sahib,
moreover, in openly parading the streets of Lucknow,
had excited the strong suspicions of Lawrence. One
curious incident had occurred in the Sepoy Hospital. An
English surgeon, wishing to show a Sepoy that there was
no harm in some medicine he was about to administer
to him, had put the bottle to his lips : ail English medicine
was promptly boycotted, and the surgeon’s house fired
by the Sepoys out of revenge ; this alone showed how the
spirit of disaffection was spreading in the Army ; it also
showed Lawrence the necessity of being prepared for the61
SIR HENRY LAWRENCE
worst. A local outbreak on the part of the recruits of a
régiment of Oudh Infantry put him more than ever on the
alert. He now decided to préparé the Residency for
defence. The correspondence that he had with Lord
Canning early in May, 1857, is of spécial interest. He
fully realized that the essence of the disturbances would be
found to lie with the Sepoy troops, and he made certain
suggestions for removing some of their actual grievances,
especially in the direction of increased pay. The most
interesting parts of this correspondence are certain conver-
sations he records which he had held with native officers :
in one case a striking illustration is given of the general
dislike prevailing at the time in the Bengal Army to Crossing
4 the Black Water ’, as they called the sea. One native
officer was asked whether he would prefer 100 rupees at
Aden to 50 at Baroda : he replied, 4 Of course I went
where I was ordered, but life is precious ; anything in
India is better than wealth beyond sea.’ Another con-
versation is of spécial interest, as it helps to some slight
compréhension of the inscrutable workings of the inner
mind of the Oriental : it serves to show that a man’s
own individual convictions, however enlightened he may
be, are easily allowed to go by the board, when the
general belief of his neighbours, credulous as it may appear
to him to be, sets in the opposite direction. Sir Henry
Lawrence had conversed with a native officer, a Brahman
of twenty years’ standing in the service, and a man noted
for spécial intelligence and good character : the officer
had said to him, 41 only tell you what every one says,
and what every one is saying will be believed ’ ; he added,
41 tell you they are like sheep, the leading one tumbles,
and down ail the rest roll over him.’ When asked whether
he himself believed the rumour he was referring to, that
the Government were bent on forcibly proselytizing, he
gave no direct answer, but simply said, 41 only tell you
what every one is saying ’ ; he thus allowed it to be assumed
that he did believe it—a truly Oriental position. But similar
instances to this are continually coming to the notice of
those whose work brings them closely into touch with the
people of India. The wild rumours that spread through
Poona, and indeed throughout India, at the time plague62
RULERS OF INDIA
measures were being first introduced, and which culminated
in the assassination of two British officers engaged in the
humane task of combating that dreadful disease, is but one
illustration out of many of this fact.
The Sepoys, generally, recognized Sir Henry Lawrence’s
own sympathetic demeanour and policy ; this largely
accounts for the fact that he was able to retain the faithful
services of so many during the crisis that soon befell.
With the actual outbreak of the Mutiny, Sir Henry
Lawrence completed the préparations that he had com-
menced with such foresight. The Machhi Bawan Fort
was now garrisoned, and the Residency more completely
prepared to withstand a long siégé. At the same time,
he enjoined ail his officers to show a firm and cheerful
aspect, together with the utmost watohfulness and prompt-
ness in dealing with the first germs of insurrection. He
had expected the co-operation, in the maintenance of order,
of the chiefs and people of substance whom he had so
recently conciliated ; many of them did at first show
satisfactory signs of goodwill, though later events proved
too much for their loyalty. Lord Canning had written
to thank him for his services, which he had described as
invaluable ; and invaluable indeed they were : for a
time, indeed, it seemed as if the peace of the Province was
not to be disturbed. But Delhi was a factor not to be
ignored : the people of the country generally had con-
sidered that, with its capture by the rebels, the Iqbal,
or Good Fortune, of the Company, had departed, and,
so long as this opinion held, no amount of conciliation
could maintain loyalty for long. As time passed, and
no news arrived of any measures having been taken
against Delhi, Sir Henry Lawrence saw signs of failing
loyalty ail round him. At the same time, it is to the
crédit of the Taluqdars of Oudh, that, as the Mutiny
spread throughout the Province, most of them were helpful
in aiding and protecting the English community. The
story of old Hunwant Singh, a typical Rajput chief, will
serve to illustrate the attitude of very many of them at
this crisis : he had protected and aided Captain Barrow
and his party into safety, but when he was urged to join the
British side with his clan, he replied : ‘ No, I obeyed theSIR HENRY LAWRENCE	63
orders of the Nawab to avoid opposing your annexation,
but I now hold myself free to act as I think fit.’
At length, at the end of May, a mutiny broke out in
Lucknow, and, though the mutineers were defeated in the
engagement that ensued, several British officers were killed.
This rising in Lucknow was the first mutiny in the heart of
India after the Mirât and Delhi outbreak, and gave the signal,
it has been said, for the spread of the revoit. Throughout
the month of June, Sir Henry LawTence went steadily on
with his préparations for the great defence. The news of
the fall of Cawnpur to the mutineers at once necessitated
still more vigorous measures, as the mutineers were soon
on the march for Lucknow. An attempt was made to
check their advance ; it was, however, unsuccessful, and
they were thus enabled to cross the river.
The investment of the Residency commenced with
dramatic suddenness on the afternoon of June 30 ; by
midnight of July 1, the Machin Bawan garrison wras with-
drawn by Colonel Palmer, who succeeded in effecting
the withdrawal without the loss of a single man. The
siégé of the Residency had now commenced in earnest,
and the gallant garrison, who hâve contributed one of the
most inspiring pages to the history of the British in India,
were not to be finally relieved until after nearly five months
of strenuous résistance and endurance.
The man who had planned the defence, ‘ and whose
foresight, under Providence, alone rendered it possible for
that defence to be successful, was fatally wounded by a
shell from the enemy’s batteries within ten days from the
commencement of the siégé, and, within four days of his
being wounded, was dead. Among his last instructions
to the officer commanding the garrison were the ever-
memorable words 4 Never give in’. History has recorded
how those instructions were obeyed.
Before the news of his death reached England, he had
been nominated to succeed provisionally to the office of
Governor-General of India, in the event of the death,
résignation, or coming away, of Viscount Canning, and
pending the arrivai of a successor from England. This
fact speaks volumes for the high réputation he had won
during his thirty-four years’ service in India.64
RULERS OF INDIA
The principles of conduct that had actuated him through-
out his whole career had always been of the highest.
Like his brother John, he possessed a deeply religious turn
of mind; he was the same devout, religious, and God-
fearing man, and he showed his religious convictions ever
in his acts and in his bearing. At the same time he never
obtruded religion outside his own immédiate home-circle, or
the circle of his most intimate associâtes. The secret of his
unique influence among the people of the country was his
récognition of the allowances that were due to many of
their préjudices and habits, and, along with this récognition,
his ever-ready sympathy and considerateness, his generosity
and frankness, and his appréciation of their many good
quali ties. The resuit of this combination of qualities
was the récognition by the people on their side that their
welfare was his only thought. This kindness and con-
sidération was shownto ail classes alike in India,both Indians
and Europeans ; it was indeed part of the essence of the
man. The establishment of the Lawrence Asylum and
other kindred institutions for the benefit especially of the
children of the domiciled European community, was but
one way in which these qualities were exhibited.
The spirit by which, indeed, he worked for India may
be seen in the epitaph on his tomb in the grounds of the
Residency at Lucknow : ‘ Here lies Henry Lawrence, who
tried to do his duty.’CHAPTER IV
THE SUPPRESSION OF THE GREAT REVOLT
Clyde (1792-1863) and Strathnairn (1801-1885).
The names of Lord Clyde and Lord Strathnairn will
always be identified with the operations that ended with
the complété suppression of the Indian Mutiny. Great
military leaders may often be allowed to rank as rulers
equally with great administrators, for without the work
done by them there would often be no work for admini-
strators to do. More especially then may Lord Clyde and
Lord Strathnairn be allowed to take rank as Rulers of India,
for without the work done by them in the suppression of
the great revoit, British rule in India might hâve disap-
peared for ever during that time of storm and stress.
A separate account of each of these great military com-
manders is given in this sketch, for, though one was Com-
mander-in-Chief and the other his lieutenant, the work
of the lieutenant was, if anything, of greater importance
in its ultimate effects than the work of the commander.
The time covered by the operations of each was much the
same.
The task they had to perform was no light one. The
numbers of disciplined and trained Sepoys that took part
in the revoit may be estimated from the fact that, out
of seventy-four regular régiments of the Bengal Native
Infantry, forty-five actually mutinied, twenty were dis-
armed, three were disbanded, and only six remained true
to their sait.
The operations, moreover, extended over vast areas.
The neutral attitude of the people generally alone pre-
vented the task from being an impossible one. The Mutiny
was primarily a military rising aided and abetted by a
proportion of the hereditary criminal classes, and by ail
those who had little or nothing to lose ; but, as Lord
Lawrence has recorded, the industrial classes throughout
OSWELL	jj66
RULERS OF INDIA
India were on the English side, though for a long time
they feared to act. On the one side they saw the few
English in the country shot down or flying for their lives,
or, at the best, standing on the défensive, hard pressed ; on
the other side they saw summary punishment in the shape
of the destruction and plunder of their houses dealt out
to those who aided the English. But when the English
showed signs of vigour and began to assume the offensive,
and vindicate their authority, many of these people came
forward and identified themselves with the English cause.
If the attitude of the great bulk of the people was neutral,
the great Princes of India proved conspicuously and actively
loyal ; this fact was one of the most instructive lessons of
the crisis. ‘ The shock was a terrible one,’ writes the
historian, 4 but it left British power more firmly established
than ever. Foes and friends rose up where their appearance
was least expected. And one lesson will ever be indelibly
engraved on the pages of its history, namely, that while
the Indian Princes whom we mistrusted brought their
armies and their influence to our aid, the Sepoys whom
we trusted turned against us. From the day when this
expérience was taken to heart dates the consolidation of
our Indian Empire.’
The Mutiny had already been in progress some weeks
before the news reached England, and a still longer period
elapsed before Sir Colin Campbell reached the scene of
operations. It will be necessary, therefore, to give some
account of its progress previous to the military operations
carried out by him and by Sir Hugh Rose, which ended
in its final suppression.
The first outbreak took place at Mirât early in May,
1857, and owing to some weakness and hésitation of the
çommanding officer at that important cantonment the
mutineers got control of affairs : they released the pris-
oners from the jail, and set fire to the cantonments. They
then hurried off to Delhi unmolested. They soon obtained
possession of that city, and proceeded to set up the titular
King of Delhi as Sovereign Lord of Hindustan, though
they treated both him and his family with contempt and
insolence. From this moment the revoit took on a more
serious complexion; Delhi became the rallying-point, andCLYDE AND STRATHNAIRN	67
‘ Onwards to Delhi ’ the cry of the great body of the rebels
and those who had attached themselves to their ranks.
The other points round which the Mutiny had centred
in its early days were Cawnpur and Lucknow. The chief
instigator of the revoit at Cawnpur was a man who had
ail along been professing himself a friend of the English : ail
the time, however, he had been awaiting his opportunity,
and had been secretly spreading discontent throughout
India. His opportunity had now corne : the Sepoys in
the cantonments had risen in revoit, and the ofïicer com-
manding, Sir Hugh Wheeler, believing in the professions of
friendship which the Nana Sahib, as this man was designated,
had so profusely offered, invited him to lend him some troops
to guard the Treasury. The Nana at once threw off the
mask and put himself at the head of the rebels, and laid
siégé to the small British garrison. By an act of gross
treachery he obtained the surrender of the force, and by
an act of still grosser treachery had them massacred nearly
to a man when they were proceeding to leave Cawnpur
by boat, under a safe-conduct signed by his own hand ;
and finally, the blackest crime of ail, which has won him
for ail time the unenviable désignation of 4 the infamous
Nana Sahib ’, had the few survivors, the women and the
children, hacked to pièces by the butchers of the place,
and their bodies thrown into a well. He had then cele-
brated what he was pleased to call his ‘ glorious victory 5
by proclaiming himself Peshwa, or Mahratta Sovereign
Lord of Hindustan, disregarding the fact that another
Sovereign Lord of Hindustan had only recently been
proclaimed at Delhi, in the person of the Muhammadan
représentative of the Moguls.
At Lucknow the British had been fortunate in having
as their ad viser Sir Henry Lawrence, who, with wise
prescience and foresight, had taken précautions beforehand
to préparé the Residency to stand a siégé, with the resuit
that when the crisis came the small but heroic garrison
of some seventeen hundred troops ail told were able to
withstand for months the overwhelming numbers of the
rebels, which hâve been estimated to hâve amounted at
one period of the siégé to not far short of one hundred
thousand men.68
RULERS OF INDIA
Sir Henry Lawrence had died from a wound early in
the siégé ; his dying words had been ‘ No surrender \
The general order issued to the troops by Lord Canning,
when that gallant defence had corne to an end with the
final relief, was as follows : ‘ There cannot be found in
the annals of war an achievement more heroic than this
defence, which has exhibited in the highest degree a noble
and sustained courage, which, against enormous odds and
fearful disadvantages, against hope deferred, and through
unceasing toil, and wear of body and of mind, still held
on, day after day, and finally triumphed.’
As regards the rest of India, communication throughout
the country had bec orne more or less interrupted. Agra
had been invested, and the great arsenal at Allahabad
had been in serious danger. Though there had been only
a few local risings in the North-West Provinces, a State of
general disorder prevailed.
In Bengal, the Province of Behar was practically the
only one that was disturbed ; this was due to the dépré-
dations of the rebel Zamindar, Koer Singh, who was the
only landholder in ail Bengal to take an active share in
the revoit.
The most glorious incident in this part of the disturbed
provinces was the gallant stand made at Arrah by two
civilians assisted by a small force of Sikhs and English—
eighty in ail. For a whole week they successfully withstood
the attack of some three thousand of the enemy on the
small bungalow they had to defend, which was commanded
by a house on which guns had been posted ; they were
eventually relieved by a small British force. The principal
hero of this defence, Mr. Richard Vicars Boyle, has recently
died at the advanced âge of eighty-six.
Though there was anxiety about other parts of India,
a state of quiétude generally prevailed, largely the resuit
of the judicious tact displayed by responsible officers on
the spot, both Indian and English ; thus in the South of
India the services rendered by Sir Salar Jung, the great
Muhammadan Minister of the Nizam, in keeping under
control the great Muhammadan peoples, who were naturally
excited on hearing of the proclamation of a Muhammadan
Empire in the North, were inestimable.69
CLYDE AND STRATHNAIRN
Similarly, on the West of India, the judgement and reso-
lution of the Governor of Bombay, Lord Elphinstone,
very largely contributed to tbe state of quiétude that
prevailed there : the fact that the peace of Kathiawar
was maintained by the Princes of that part of the country
without the presence of a single British soldier, speaks
volumes for his influence with them.
That the Punjab remained quiet, and not only so, but
contributed materially to the defence of the Empire, was
due to the décisive action of Sir John Lawrence and his
famous lieutenants,
The Sikh Chieftains of Patiala, Jhind, Nabha, Kapurthala,
and others, behaved with conspicuous loyalty ; they not
only came forward with offers of military assistance, but
provided guards for English ladies in out-stations, and
assisted very materially in the operations against Delhi,
as well as in the reoccupation of the disturbed territory
round Delhi.
It is curious to note that at the very time that the dis-
quieting news of the disturbed state of afïairs in India
reached England, the leading English journals in London,
were commenting, as the anniversary of Plassey approached,
on the perfect serenity of the Indian sky. When England
woke to the real fact s of the situation, the nation made
one of those characteristic efforts which she has so often been
called upon to make at a sudden crisis : within a few weeks
thirty thousand men were on the high road to India.
The Commander-in-Chief in India when the Mutiny
broke out had been General Anson : he had died suddenly
from choiera, when commencing his march against Delhi.
It had therefore become necessary to select a new Com-
mander-in-Chief, and the choice of the Government fell
upon Sir Colin Campbell.
Sir Colin Campbell was a Scotchman, born at Glasgow in
1792. Having entered the Army at the âge of sixteen, he
had early distinguished himself by his gallantry and courage
during the Peninsular Campaign. He had been severely
wounded on one occasion in leading a forlorn hope, and
had been obliged to go to hospital : another attack was
made, and he left hospital before his wounds were healed
to take part in it : this was of course a breach of military70
RULERS OF INDIA
discipline, but it was passed over on account of the personal
gallantry that he had again displayed. He had also taken
part in the war between America and England of 1812, in
the China War, and in the second Sikh War : 4 for steady
coolness and military précision5 in which he received
the distinction of a K.C.B., and, said Sir Charles Napier to
him, on presenting the insignia to him, 4 No man has won
it better.’
After the Sikh War he had hoped to hâve been able to
retire from active service, but he could not be spared.
On the outbreak of the Crimean war he was again called
on to serve in command of 4 The Highland Brigade It
is recorded that when Lord Raglan sent for him after the
great battle of the Alma to congratulate him on the share
his troops had taken in helping to win the battle, he preferred
the simple request that he might be allowed to wear, for
the rest of the campaign, the highland bonnet, instead of
the cocked hat to which he was entitled as a General : he
wished to pay a compliment to his men, and it is almost
needless to say that they highly appreciated it.
When the Crimean War came to an end he had fully
anticipated that his fighting days were over : he had
reached the âge when the great majority of men consider
themselves entitled to rest : but, fortunately for her own
interests, England has ne ver allowed âge to stand in the
way when she wants the services of men whom she has
learnt to trust. Is not Field-Marshal Earl Roberts a
conspicuous illustration of this fact ? A thoughtful writer
has said in this connexion, 4 Place a bar as regards âge in
the military, civil, or legal service, and y ou will hâve done
something to eut yourself off from the use of the greatest
men.’ Sir Colin Campbell was sixty-five years of âge
when he was again called on by his country to assist them
in a great emergency. The Government made him the
offer of the suprême command in India on July 11, 1857.
He was asked, 4 When will you be ready to start ? ’
4 To-morrow ’ was his reply, and on the very next day,
July 12, he set out for India. The spirit in which he had
accepted the charge may be seen from his utterances on
the occasion of his appointment : 4 Never did a man
proceed on a mission of duty with a lighter heart and a71
CLYDE AND STRATHNAIRN
feeling of greater humility, nor yet with a juster sense
of the compliments that hâve been paid to a mere soldier
of fortune like myself, in being named to the highest
command in the gift of the Crown.’
Sir Colin Campbell took up his command in India in
August, 1857 ; he was destined not to lay it down again
till June, 1860. As Commander-in-Chief, he had control
of ail the military operations, but he personally conducted
only the Northern ones, leaving to his lieutenant, Sir
Hugh Rose, the conduct of the operations in the South
and in Central India. He was fortunate in finding a man
like Lord Canning at the head of afïairs in India, for his
ever ready co-operation and advice in the subséquent
movements of the Army were of inestimable value to him.
Possessed as he was of a deep sense of responsibility,
and determined to leave nothing to chance, Sir Colin
Campbell prepared ail his plans most carefully beforehand :
his conduct of the campaign was characterized by an extra-
ordinary care for details, and by a close supervision of distant
operations ; his extreme caution, indeed, earned for him
the sobriquet of £ Old Khabardar ’ from his men. It is
recorded of Admirai Lord Nelson that, when he was asked
by another famous naval commander, Lord Dundonald,
what tactics he should pursue when he came up to the
enemy’s fleet, his characteristic reply was : 4 Tactics be
hanged ! Go straight at him.’ Similarly, many of Sir Colin
Campbell’s officers would hâve preferred greater indepen-
dence of action than he allowed them, and a more vigorous
policy. In the end, as history has recorded, his operations
were eminently successful, but success was not to be won
without a stupendous effort. The measures taken by him
comprised three separate movements : two columns were
to advance from the West and the South, and the great
central movement to the North was to be led personally
by himself. Until the plans for his own advance north-
wards were matured, he remained in Calcutta hurrying
up reinforcements, among which was a naval contingent.
After a prolonged siégé of more than three months, Delhi
was finally captured from the rebels late in September,
1857. The final assault cost the life of the gallant John
Nicholson, who, since his arrivai from the Punjab, had been72
RULERS OF INDIA
the life and soûl of the siégé. ‘ Nicholson is dead 5 was
the hushed whisper that struck ail hearts with grief. It is
said that to this day the superstitious frontier tribes, where
his rule is still remembered, hear the hoofs of his war-horse
ringing ail night over the Peshawar Valley, and they are
said to hold a belief that until that Sound dies away the
rule of the Feringhi in the valley will endure. A memorial
to his memory was erected during the Viceroyalty of Lord
Curzon, at Delhi.
The fall of Delhi was celebrated by a banquet in the
halls of the historié Diwan-i-Khas, the audience chamber
of the Mogul emperors : the soldiers pledged the health of
the Queen, and loud and prolonged cheering proclaimed
the re-establishment of British supremacy.
With the transportation of the old Mogul Emperor to
Burmah, and the death of his sons, the end of the Mogul
dynasty had arrived.
With the fall of Delhi, the first real step in the suppression
of the Mutiny had been made ; till that event, ali had felt
that the prestige of British supremacy was still trembling
in the balance.
The news reached the Commander-in-Chief when he was
still in Calcutta : he at once wrote to the General Officer
commanding at Delhi, to congratulate him on his brilliant
success.
Ail eyes were now turned to Lucknow. Already, as early
as July, Sir Henry Havelock had made several most gallant
attempts to relieve the Residency, but he had been unable
to achieve his purpose. Choiera, dysentery, and floods
had ail co-operated in hampering the movements of his
force : fatigue and exposure did the rest, and he had been
compelled to hait while waiting for necessary reinforcements.
These came to him about the middle of September : they
were under the command of Sir James Outram, who, being
the senior officer, would now naturally hâve taken the
command of Havelock’s force as well ; but with that gen-
erosity and nobility of character that hâve earned for him
the title of ‘ The Bayard of India ’, he had relinquished
the command in favour of Havelock. He said to him :
‘ To you shall be left the glory of relieving Lucknow, for
which you hâve already struggled so much. I shall aceom-CLYDE AND STRATHNAIRN
73
pany y ou only in my civil capacity as Commissioner, placing
my military services at your disposai should y ou please,
and serving under y ou as a volunteer.’ The Commander-
in-Chief’s comment upon this generous conduct was brief
but to the point : 4 Outram has behaved very handsomely.’
Lucknow was finally entered by the eombined forces of
Havelock and Outram late in September, 1857, five days
only after the fall of Delhi.
Among the numerous heroes of the final attack was an
officer named Olpherts : the tribute that Outram, himself
the bravest of the brave, paid to his gallantry must hâve
made him thrill with pride : 4 Believe me, my dear heroic
Olpherts,’ Outram remarked, 4 bravery is a poor and
insufficient term to apply to a valour such as yours.’
The final relief, however, was not yet : still the hard-
pressed garrison felt the temporary relief thus accorded
them most welcome : it brought the siégé, with ail its
horrors, practically to an end, but the garrison could not
be withdrawn as yet to a place of safety : the position to
be held was extended a considérable distance as far as the
Alambagh, but beyond that the investment was complété,
and it remained so till the final relief by the Commander-
in-Chief in per son, late in November.
Sir Colin Campbell had only left Calcutta late in October:
marching with his usual caution, he reached Oudh early in
November. A guide to the Residency reached his camp
soon after his arrivai in the person of a Mr. Kavanagh, a
member of the Uncovenanted Civil Service of India. He
had a perfect command of Hindustani, and a faculty for
disguise ; these eombined enabled him to leave the Resi-
dency and to reach the camp safely. The Victoria Cross
was his reward for his brave act. Only after some severe
fighting was Sir Colin Campbell able to relieve the force
invested at Lucknow ; he succeeded in safely withdrawing
ail the garrison to the Dilkusha. Sir Henry Havelock only
lived long enough to know of this final relief : he died
two days after, and his loss was mourned by ail. Sir Colin
Campbell finally got ail the women and children and the
wounded safely to Allahabad, but he had to encounter a
large force of rebels under the redoubtable Tantia Topi
on the way : his victory was a décisive one ; thus another74
RULERS OF INDIA
great step in the final suppression of the revoit had been
taken. The city of Lucknow still, however, remained in
the hands of the rebels, and was only finally recaptured
in the spring of 1858.
Jung Bahadur, the Nepalese ally of the British, gave
Sir Colin Campbell material assistance in the operations
for its recapture. A graphie picture of the extraordinary
scene presented on the occasion has been left on record
from the pen of one of the foremost war correspondent s
of the world, the late Sir William Russell : ‘ It was late
in the evening when we returned to the camp through
roads thronged with at least twenty thousand camp fol-
lowers, ail staggering under loads of plunder—coolies,
syces, khidmatghars, dooli-bearers, grass-cutters, a flood
of men covered with clothing not their own, carrying on
head and shoulders looking-glasses, mirrors, pictures,
brass pots, swords, firelocks, rich shawls, scarves, em-
broidered dresses, ail the loot of ransacked palaces. Luck-
now was borne away piecemeal to camp, and the wild
Ghurkas and Sikhs, with open mouths and glaring eyes,
burning with haste to get rich, were contending fiercely
against the current, as they sought to get to the sources
of such unexpected wealth.’
Outram had been anxious to carry out a movement for a
crushing rear-attack on the rebels when they fled from Luck-
now, but Sir Colin Campbell, actuated doubtless by a desire
not to weaken his forces in view of the fresh efforts expected
of them, had forbidden him to do so, if, by so doing, he
would lose a single man. As it was, large numbers of the
rebels got clear away, and Oudh and Rohilcund were only
reconquered after several more stubborn fights. The
last body of rebels finally surrendered to Brigadier Holdich
towards the close of 1859 ; amongst the men taken was
one Jwala Pershad, who had been one of the Nana’s prin-
cipal advisers on the occasion of the terrible Cawnpur
massacres.
The operations in Behar resulted in the death of the
rebel Zamindar, Koer Singh, and in the graduai pacification
of the Province ; the most notable incident in the final
operations was the relief of Azamgarh by Colonel Lord
Mark Kerr, who forced his way through an ambuscadeCLYDE AND STRATHNAIRN	75
of several thousand Sepoys, which had been cleverly devised
by Koer Singh.
Sir Colin Campbell remained in India long enough to
see the Mutiny finally suppressed, and the pacification of
the country commenced. He finally left India in 1860,
with the title of Lord Clyde conferred on him for his ser-
vices. He was afterwards created Field-Marshal ; he died,
generally beloved and regretted, in 1863.
On the stone that marks the spot where he lies buried
in the great Valhalla of England’s worthies, Westminster
Abbey, these words are inscribçd :—
‘ He died lamented by the Queen, the Army, and the
People.5
The operations in Central India had been entrusted to
Sir Hugh Rose, but before they can be dealt with some
account of his antécédent career is necessary.
He learnt the rudiments of military science in Berlin,
where he was born, and at the âge of nineteen he entered
the British Army. The tact he displayed as an intelligence
officer in dealing with disturbances in Ireland brought
him early promotion. He won fresh laurels at Malta, not
only on account of his military qualifications, but in con-
séquence also of the courage and humanity he displayed
during an outbreak of choiera among the troops : he
visited every man of his régiment who fell ill, and encour-
aged ail around him by his activity and cheerfulness.
In Syria he had shown conspicuous gallantry when on
spécial duty with Omar Pasha during certain Turkish
operations against the Egyptians : putting himself at the
head of a body of Arab cavalry and charging down upon
the enemy’s advanced guard, he had saved Omar Pasha
from a surprise. He was awarded a sword of honour and
a décoration by the Sultan of Turkey in récognition of his
courage on this occasion, and Frederick William, the King
of Prussia, also decorated him with the Cross of St. John
of Jérusalem ; he had not forgotten his former young
friend, as he called him.
He soon afterwards received the appointment of British
Consul-General for Syria. An incident that occurred
during this period of his career will serve to illustrate his76
RULERS OF INDIA
cool presence of mind, a characteristic that never seems to
hâve deserted him throughout his military career. Civil
war was going on between two hostile sections of the
population : he found the opposing forces firing at one
another one day, and without hésitation, and at the immi-
nent risk of his life, he rode between them, and, by the
sheer force of a stronger will, stopped the fight. At another
time he was instrumental in saving the lives of some
hundreds of Syrian Christians : he gave them his personal
escort as far as Beyrout ; on the march, he gave his horse
up to many a weary woman, and proceeded himself on
foot. When a great épidémie of choiera, moreover, raged
at Beyrout, he was the only European, with the exception
of a medical officer and some Sisters of Mercy, who remained
behind to visit the sick and dying.
He was Secretary of the Embassy at Constantinople in
1851, and acted for a time as Chargé d’Affaires for Lord
Stratford de Redcliffe. As it happened, the Sultan was
at the time being pressed by the Russian Minister to sign
a secret Treaty, which he was unwilling to do. The Grand
Vizier requested Sir Hugh Rose to write to the British
Admirai suggesting the expediency of a visit of the British
fleet to Turkish waters, the mere hint of which, he thought,
would help to stiffen the back of the Sultan in his refusai
to sign the obnoxious Treaty. Sir Hugh Rose acceded
to his request, and though the British Admirai did not act
on the suggestion, the desired effect was accomplished,
and the intrigues of the Russian Minister were bafîled.
During the Crimean War he was Queen’s Commissioner
with the French Army, holding rank as Brigadier-General.
The French commanders repeatedly thanked him, and
the French Marshal recommended him for the Victoria
Cross, for the conspicuous gallantry he had displayed on
three occasions at least during the operations before
Sébastopol.
One incident that occurred in connexion with Sir Hugh
Rose during the progress of one great battle particularly
impressed the imagination of a Russian officer, who tells
the story : ‘ He had seen through the mist,’ he said, ‘ a
tall gaunt figure riding leisurely down the road under a
withering fire from the whole line of pickets : the horseman77
CLYDE AND STRATHNAIRN
turned neither to the right hand nor to the left, nor could
the Russians hit him. Suddenly they saw him fall headlong
with his horse. After a few minutes, paying no attention
to the firing, the mysterious horseman got up, patted his
horse, and led the animal leisurely back up the road. The
Russians were so awestruck that an order was sent along
the line to cease firing on the man.’
He received the honour of knighthood from the British
Government for his services during the Crimean War. An
opportunity was soon after this given him of winning, in
the East, a still more distinguished réputation than he
had already won in the West. He was to show that, in
addition to being a gallant soldier, he was also a born
commander.
The chief interest of the campaign in Central India, with
which his name will always be identified, centres round
the names of the fortresses of Jhansi, Kalpi, and Gwalior.
The capture of Jhansi was regarded as of the greatest
importance for the success of the other operations that the
Commander-in-Chief was conducting further north : he
had humorously remarked in a dispatch he sent to Sir
Hugh Rose, 4 Until this takes place, Sir Colin will be con-
stantly obliged to be looking to his rear, and this constant
looking over his shoulder will give him a stifï neck.’ It
was the great stronghold of the rebels in Central India, and
was strongly fortified.
Jhansi had gained almost as unenviable a notoriety
amongst the English as Cawnpur had. Nowhere in India
did the people display a more intense hostility to the
English. In June, 1857, some seventy English men and
women were murdered in a most délibérâte way. The
principal inhabitants and leading tradesmen of the town,
headed by Muhammadan priests and fana tics, marched
with their victims to the place of execution, singing verses
from the Koran, and in particular one merciless text
therein contained, 4 Death to the Infidel.’ The prisoners
were then ail marshalled in regular order near an old
mosque, and they were hacked to pièces by the butchers
of the city, just as the victims of the Nana’s vindictive
hâte had been at Cawnpur.
This was ail due to the influence of that bitter enemy78
RULERS OF INDIA
of the English, the Rani of Jhansi, who had ne ver forgiven
Lord Dalhousie for refusing his sanction to the adoption
she had proposed, and for bringing into force the doctrine
of lapse, whereby the sovereignty of Jhansi had passed
from her family to the British.
The Nana, or, as he had styled himself, the Peshwa, sent
an army of some 20,000 men under the command of Tantia
Topi to assist her in repelling the attack on Jhansi.
Until this force was disposed of there was no chance of
Jhansi being taken. Tantia Topi was the first to attack :
he was totally routed by the British, losing 1,500 men,
ail his heavy guns, and his camp équipage. Having thus
disposed of the rebel commander, Sir Hugh Rose was at
liberty to turn his attention again to the capture of Jhansi.
Every préparation had been made there to resist his attack :
even native women were to be seen working on the walls,
and carrying ammunition, and the Rani of Jhansi herself
and her attendant ladies, ail richly dressed, used daily to
visit a high tower called 4 The Black Tower ’, in the cool of
the evening, to watch the progress of the fight. After the
British had succeeded in scaling the walls, the fighting
inside was very tierce : the enemy defended themselves
with the fury of despair : after the gates had been forced,
theyset fire to trains of gunpowder on the floor of the palace,
and even to the powder in their pouches.
In one of the severest fights Sir Hugh Rose had one of
his spurs shot off and his charger wounded. There was
one great fight in the palace stables, and amongst the
trophies captured there was an English Union Jack :
it had been given many years before by Lord William
Bentinck to a former ruler of Jhansi, with permission to
hâve it carried in front of him as a reward for his fidelity.
The Rani had herself let down from a turret window of
the palace : a horse was in waiting for her below ; it
had been brought there with the connivence of a native
contingent serving with Sir Hugh Rose : she mounted,
placed her little stepson on the saddle in front of her,
and rode off.
It is pleasant to record, after the barbarous treat-
ment the English ladies and children had been
subjected to by the people of Jhansi, that the BritishCLYDE AND STRATHNAIRN
79
soldiers treated the enemy’s women and children with
conspicuous humanity. Sir Hugh Rose himself has left
it on record that ‘ the recollection of the atrocious murders
could not make the English soldiers f orget that in an English
soldier’s eye the women and children are always spared :
so far from hurting them, the troops were seen sharing
their rations with them’.
The final capture of Jhansi took place in April, 1858.
The next objective was Kalpi, whither the Rani of Jhansi
and her ally, Tantia Topi, had retired. Before Kalpi could
be taken, there had to be some severe fighting between
that place and Jhansi. Tantia Topi was again encoun-
tered, and was again decisively defeated, this time with the
loss of 600 men and 15 guns. The battle was one of the
most trying of the whole campaign : the British soldiers
dropped down in numbers from sunstroke, and even their
General himself fell three times from the same cause : he
rallied himself, however, by sheer strength of will, until
victory was won ; the doctor had to pour cold water
over him, and give him restoratives, to keep him going at
ail. Tantia Topi and the Rani had meanwhile been
reinforced by the Nawab of Banda, another rebel nobleman,
who apparently had been nursing some grievance against
the British Government. Sir Hugh Rose was compelled
to make forced marches to Kalpi, to prevent their cutting
his communications with Sir Colin Campbell. One incident
that occurred on the way will help to illustrate the spirit
that animated ail ranks, notwithstanding the hardships
incidental from these forced marches during the Indian
hot weather. At one of the halting-places, the General
found a party of sick and wounded lying on the ground
in their great coats, with their knapsacks under their heads
for a pillow. He asked if they had any complaints.
‘ Complaints, sir ! ’ said the doctor in charge, ‘ they haven’t
a single thing which they would hâve in an English hospital
in camp, or at home, or in the field ; but,’ he added,
‘ they hâve no complaints but one, and that is that they
cannot march with you to-morrow against the enemy.’
The men, raising their heads from their knapsacks, smiled
in assent. And so it was with ail the soldiers under Sir
Hugh Rose’s command. ‘ These noble soldiers,’ he testified,80
RULERS OF INDIA
4 never profïered one complaint. They fell in their ranks,
struck down by the sun, and exhausted by fatigue, but
they would not increase the anxieties of their General or
belie their dévotion by complaint. No matter how great
their exhaustion, or how deep their short sleep, they always
sprang to my call to arms with the heartiest goodwiü.’
It is no wonder that, with soldiers animated by such a
spirit, Sir Hugh Rose was able to pass from one victory to
another, without suffering a single reverse or check. In
the battle that took place almost under the walls of Kalpi,
and which preceded its capture, the enemy were again
defeated, and the Rani and Tantia Topi were driven into
the fortress, only, however, to leave it precipitately again
as the British advanced to the attack. The severity of
the fighting may be estimated from the fact that, before
commencing their attack, the rebel Sepoys had taken an
oath by the sacred waters of the Jumna river, and had
primed themselves with opium. After the capture of
Kalpi, Sir Hugh Rose issued a general order to his troops
in these terms : ‘You hâve fought against the strong,
and you hâve protected the rights of the weak and defence-
less of foes as well as of fri ends.	I hâve seen you in the
heart of the combat preserve and place children out of harm’s
way. This is the discipline of Christian soldiers, and this
it is that has brought you triumphant from the shores of
Western India to the waters of the Jumna.’ The capture
of this important place completed the plan of the campaign
as originally devised, and Lord Canning telegraphed to
Sir Hugh Rose : 4 Your capture of Kalpi has crowned a
sériés of brilliant and uninterrupted successes. I thank
you and your brave soldiers with ail my heart.’
Sir Hugh Rose, thinking the campaign over, now applied
for the sick leave he so urgently needed, but the end was
not yet. Another capture yet had to be effected, that of
the strong fortress of Gwalior, which had fallen into the
hands of the rebels with ail its guns. The Maharaja
Scindia had been on his march to co-operate with Sir Colin
Campbell in Rohilcund : he had been attacked by
Tantia Topi and the Rani of Jhansi, and the whole of his
army, with the exception of a few of his immédiate body-
guard, had gone over to the enemy. The Maharaja81
CLYDE AND STRATHNAIRN
himself, after a brave attempt to get them to return to
their allegiance, was fired on by his own gunners, and
just managed to get away in safety to Agra. As a pre-
liminary step to the capture of the great fortress, Sir Hugh
Rose took the cantonments of Morar. The Rani of
Jhansi received her death-wound in one of the engage-
ments that preceded the final capture of Gwalior. She
was fighting at the head of her troops, dressed in a
red jacket and trousers, and with a white turban on her
head, and she was wearing at the time the famous pearl
necklace which had formed part of the plunder of Scindia’s
palace when the rebels seized it : tradition had it that
this necklace had originally formed part of the Portuguese
regalia which had been taken by the Mahrattas hundreds
of years before. As the Rani lay mortally wounded in
her tent, she distributed her ornaments to her troops :
the whole rebel army mourned her loss ; she was only
twenty when she died, but yet she had earned the répu-
tation of being the bravest and best military leader of the
rebels. Her body was burnt with great ceremony by her
troops on the field of battle.
The Maharaja returned to his capital the day after
its capture from the rebels by the British : he was over-
come with joy at the turn events had taken, and insisted
on giving a dinner to Sir Hugh Rose, served by his old
servants. He was also very anxious to présent a medal,
with his device, a serpent, engraved on it, to ail the officers
and men of the Central India Field Force ; Lord Canning,
who was referred to in the matter, approved, but the
Home Government refused its permission.
The rebels had now ail been dispersed, but it was not
till the spring of 1859 that an old associate betrayed the
hiding-place of Tantia Topi ; he was captured and hanged
in April of the same year.
The military operations in Central India came practi-
cally to an end with the capture of Gwalior. What those
operations had meant to the force engaged may be realized
from the description given by an authority : 4 In five
months the Central India Field Force traversed 1,085
miles, crossed numerous large ri vers, took upwards of
150 pièces of artillery, one entrenched camp, two fortified
OSWELL82
RULERS OF INDIA
cities, and two fortresses, ail strongly defended, fought
sixteen actions, captured twenty forts, and never sustained
a check against the most warlike and determined enemy
led by the most capable commanders then to be found in
any part of India.’
The victorious General received the thanks of both
Houses of Parliament, and was créâted a Grand Commander
of the Bath.
The secret of Sir Hugh Rose’s success will be found in the
qualities that distinguished him throughout his military
career, which hâve been thus summed up : ‘ Ever at the
post of danger, he never spared himself or others. What
he did was always done courageously and thoroughly : his
whole career was an example of earnestness and thorough-
ness, and of unflinching dévotion to duty. In India, we are
told, the rebel Sepoys could make nothing of the General
who routed and destroyed them. His rapid marches
and indomitable energy struck terror into their hearts ;
he had grasped the great principle of Indian warfare :
“ When your enemy is in the open, go straight at him,
and keep him moving ; and when behind ramparts, still
go at him, and eut off ail his chances of retreat when
possible : pursue him, escaping or escaped.” He realized
to the full in his own person Napoléon’s idéal of a military
commander : he was indeed the head and soûl of his army.’
In 1859, Sir Hugh Rose was appointed Commander-
in-Chief of the Bombay Army, and on the departure of
Sir Colin Campbell, now Lord Clyde, from India in 1860,
he received the appointment of Commander-in-Chief in
India. His words on receiving his appointment were char-
acteristic of the man : 41 will endeavour to bear with
humility my élévation, which I am convinced I owe more
to the signal mercy of God than to my own merits. I feel
that with His blessing I can do an immense amount of good,
but I shall fail in doing what I ought to do, if I give way to
anything like feelings of pride.’
When, after holding this appointment for five years, he
finally gave up office, he did so to the universal regret of
both officers and men of the Indian Army. At a farewell
entertainment given to him at Simla, Sir Robert Napier,
afterwards Lord Napier of Magdala, voiced the general83
CLYDE AND STRATHNAIRN
opinion about him in the speech he made on the occasion :
‘ Never has the Army of India had a Chief more earnestly
solicitons to secure its efficiency than Sir Hugh Rose.
Never, I believe, has the Army of India been in a more
efficient condition than it is at the présent moment ; never
has the Army of India had a Chief whom it would hâve
followed to the field against a foe worthy of it, with fuller
confidence of success than the Army would feel under its
présent Commander-in-Chief.’
On his return to England, Sir Hugh Rose was raised to
the Peerage as Lord Strathnairn of Strathnairn and Jhansi.
He was thus greeted by The Times, on behalf of the English
nation : ‘ We welcome the vétéran General home after
a career which would hâve entitled a Roman General to
a Triumph.’
He was eventually promoted to the rank of Field-Marshal.
He died suddenly at Paris in 1885.CHAPTER V
THE RECONSTRUCTION OF INDIA UNDER THE
CROWN
Lord Lawrence, 1811-1879
The proverb ‘ The child is father of the man ’ gives a
sufficient reason for commencing the sketch of a man with
some details of his boyhood : one influence that always
tells on the future character of a man is the influence of
heredity,by which is meant the influence of a man’s ancestry ;
the characteristics of parents generally descend to their
children. There is a current saying in England that a boy
takes after his mother, and a girl after her father ; this
is often true, and it is largely due to the fact that .as a rule
the influence of the mother is all-important on the future
career of a man. Lawrence’s parents both possessed
considérable character, and while his religious character
was derived from his mother, his taste for a life of action
and adventure was derived from his father.
His father was by profession a soldier, and his influence
upon his two sons was very great ; four of these sons
served with more or less distinction in India, and two of
them with such distinction as marks them out as heroes :
namely, John Lawrence, the subject of the présent sketch,
and Henry Lawrence, ‘ The Hero of Lucknow.’
Lawrence’s school career extended over a period of eight
years. A scientific educationalist has observed that the
books of a boy’s own choice hâve much to do in determining
a boy’s character ; Lawrence’s reading at school was of a
more or less desultory character, but his favourite studies
were Plutarch’s Lives, and this book had much influence for
good upon the character of the boy. Another influence
that is potent in determining a boy’s character is his
school environment ; one of Lawrence’s schools was at a
place in the North of Ireland, called Londonderry, a place
noted for its heroic résistance during a famous siégé ; theLORD LAWRENCE
85
influence that this school exercised over Lawrence was a
life influence. Many years afterwards, when he was deliv-
ering a public address in India in his capacity as Viceroy,
he acknowledged the influence that the scene of his old
school had had upon him ; he then told his hearers
‘ how the blood of the old defenders of Derry warmed
within him as he fought in India against fearful odds,
during the great Mutiny, and nerved him for his work \
When asked what he intended to be when he grew to be
a man, he replied : ‘ A soldier I was born, and a soldier
I will be.’ But afterwards, when he found that his parents
could not afford it, he relinquished his own wishes out of
deference to the wishes of his parents.
He finally decided to accept an offer of an East India
writership, as the office of a civilian was then called, and
thus availed himself of the great opportunity of his life.
The world-poet Shakespeare has said, 4 There is a tide in
the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to
fortune.*
Such a time now came for Lawrence in his acceptance of
the offer of a career in the great Indian Civil Service.
Lawrence spent two years in the old East Indian College at
Haileybury, preparing himself by a course of study for his
new life in India. This course over, he proceeded to India.
The voyage to India in those days took several months,
whereas now it only takes about two weeks. Laurence
took over five months on the voyage, and eventually arrived
in India in the year 1830, at the âge of nineteen. His
first station was Calcutta, which in those days wras a much
less healthy city than it is now. Lawrence suffered seriously
in health in conséquence ; so much so, indeed, that he often
bitterly regretted having corne to India at ail, and wished
himself back in England again ; and he was often heard to
say that an offer of an appointment of £100 a year would
hâve taken him straight home. History has recorded
similar expériences on the part of Clive at Madras. What
the loss to England would hâve been had both these men
left India during their early days of dépréssion can be hardly
realized : without Clive, England would, in ail human
probability, not hâve gained India ; without Lawrence,
England would also, in ail human probability, not hâve86
RULERS OF INDIA
regained India, when she was so nearly losing it during
the dark days of the great Mutiny.
While in Calcutta, Lawrence went through a further
course of préparation for his Indian career in the study of
the Oriental languages. The languages he studied give us
a due to the administration of India in those early days.
Persian, the language of the Court ; Hindi, the language of
the people. A judicious admixture of office work with
camp life was the System adopted by the administrators.
The use to which LawTence put his opportunities, during
his first official charge inwhatwas called the Delhi Territory,
throws a good light on the work of the District Officer of
those days ; an extract from a report of his tells us what
that work was : ‘ I became well acquainted with the duties
of an administrât or, both in a large city and in an important
agricultural district. I came into contact with ail classes
of the people, high and low. I made acquaintance wdth
most of the criminal classes, and understood their habits
of life. I saw ail the different agricultural races of that
part of India. I learned to understand the peculiarities of
the tenure of land, the circumstances of Indian agriculture,
canal and well irrigation, as well as the habits, social
customs, and leading characteristics of the people ; the
expérience and crédit I thus gained stood me in good stead
in after years.’
These concluding words show that Lawrrence recognized
that the only royal road to success lay in hard and regular
work.
The success he achieved in later life was entirely due to
this hard work and regular training of his early career
in the historié neighbourhood of Delhi. From this period
of his career also may be dated that sympathy with the
agricultural classes of India that was always one of his
marked characteristics. The agricultural character of
the Delhi Territory, and the great âge of many of the
villages, together with the industrious character of the
honest Jat peasantry, ail appealed to the sympathies
of Lawrence ; and ail had their effect on his agricultural
policy when he eventually became Viceroy of India.
The Territory of Delhi was one that had seen great famines;
we are told how 4 the famine of ’17, that is 1817 of theLORD LAWRENCE
87
Hindu calendar,1 lives in the mouths of the people, and in
the village songs. Grain sold at the price of pistachio nuts,
and wheat at the price of raisins ; the trader lived, and the
Jat died ; the carts remained useless, for the oxen were
dead ; and the bride went to her husband’s house without
the due formalities.5 Other famines occurred while
Lawrence wras serving there : ail this was never efïaced
from his mind, and a favourite saying of his gives the
key-note of his policy of settlement : it forms a part of
the instructions given to an assistant, and such as he
always enjoined on ail his officiais : 4 Government revenue,
of course, must be paid ; but do not be hard—the calf
gets the milk that is left in the cow.’ He had a great liking
for tent life, as giving him so many opportunities of under-
standing the character of the classes connected with land :
he never lost the liking for these classes that he thus
acquired ; one great feature of his district tours was his
accessibility at ail hours to visitors. This first official charge
gave Lawrence spécial scope for impressing his own person-
ality on the work of the district ; it was a non-regulation
district—District Officers of the présent day hâve not the
same opportunities for independence of action. The System
of Lawrence may be briefly described in these words :
4 Associating with the people in daily intimacy, listening
to their pétitions, ministering to their sick, sometimes
nursing them with his own hands, always ready to listen
to anybody, and seeing everything with his own eyes.’
In this way the character of Lawrence was formed, and
the foundation laid of the eminence to which he rose.
This first charge lasted nine years, from 1830 to 1839 ; an
attack of Indian fever then compelled him to take furlough
to England ; his first period of Indian service was a good
augury for the success of his Indian career.
Promotion soon followed upon the return of Lawrence
from furlough. The Viceroy of those days, Lord Hardinge,
was a great judge of character; like the celebrated William
Pitt,4 he had a keen eye for a man5 ; he had noted Lawrence
when he met him for the first time at Delhi, in 1845 ; he
1 The Hindu Lamvat, or Era, commences in 57 b.c. The reference is
probably to the great famine between the years 1760-1770; some years
before the Territory came under British rule.88
RULERS OF INDIA
had noted him as the vehement, swift-riding man, with the
honest and eager face, careless of dress and appearance,
who seemed never to count work too hard, or to think
any duty too little to be done with his own hand, and had
marked him out for his purpose, when the opportunity
came. That opportunity came when Lord Hardinge wanted
a man to administer the country recently won from the
Sikhs, situated between the ri vers Béas and Sutlej ; the
words with which Lord Hardinge appointed him were
brief and to the point : 4 Send me up John Lawrence.’
The aptness of this choice was soon to be illustrated ; when
the second Sikh War broke out, Lawrence was suddenly
called upon to meet a great crisis that arose owing to the
hostile attitude assumed by several of the old chieftains in
his administrative charge ; many of them had become
discontented because of the policy he had adopted of treating
as simple nobles, and not as ruling Rajas, those whom the
former Sikh rulers had so treated, and of regarding those
chiefs only as ruling chiefs whom the Sikhs had also so
regarded. This had ail been in keeping with his policy of
making the people generally contented : his own words in
connexion therewith are characteristic of the man :—
‘ It is a mistake to think that by making Rajas and chiefs
powerful you attach the country ; one lakh given in réduction
of assessments and making people comfortable and happy
in their homes is better than three lakhs given to Rajas.’
The aggrieved chiefs then attempted to revoit on the
outbreak of the second Sikh War, and it was this crisis that
Lawrence met with his usual promptness of action : where-
ever rébellion raised its head, Lawrence and his ofl&cers,
by a sériés of hasty marches, were there beforehand, ready
to grapple with the insurgents. At every halting-place
the headmen of the villages were assembled in scores, and
a sword and a pen were placed before them to select by
which instrument they wished to be ruled, and invariably,
we are told, the pen was grasped with enthusiasm. This
historié incident is commemorated in the statue of Lawrence
at Lahore, where he is represented as offering the pen or
the sword. Lawrence’s policy was justified by the event ;
the people remained contented and did not rise in rébellion ;
this proved that what had been a grievance to the Rajas wasLORD LAWRENCE	89
a blessing to the people, for the hand of the old Sikh Rajas
had been very heavy on the property and lives of men.
With the close of the second Sikh War, Lawrence’s next
great opportunity came. TheViceroy at this period was
Lord Dalhousie, and, having first appointed Lawrence as
one of three administrators, to administer the new Province
for the preliminary work of pacification, he soon appointed
“ him as sole administrator for the great task of organization.
Thus Lawrence became Chief Commissioner of the Punjab.
His new charge gave him an opportunity of showing the
stuff he was made of, and his own words are a key-note to
his administration. 41 should like to fix my own impress
on the administration. I desire earnestly to show what a
man bred and educated as a civilian can do in a new
country ’ ; and he well succeeded in leaving the impress
of his master-mind on the Province, and in impressing his
officers, ail of whom were picked men, young and enthusi-
as tic, with his own individuality. In a speech the German
Emperor once delivered, after referring to the Founder
of the Christian religion as 4 the most personal personality
who ever walked on earth amongst men ’, he turned round
to his sons, who were présent, and said to them : 4 And
you too must each strive to do his best to become a person-
ality, and to grow up with your tasks.’ And so Lawrence
grew up with his tasks, and so he became a personality,
and during his connexion with the new Punjab Province
he became still more of a personality than he had been even
before. He and his officers certainly had great advantages,
for, the Province being a» newly acquired one, the System
of administration was what is called a non-regulation
System, and the officers were therefore untrammelled by
routine and régulations :	promptness of action and of
decision were the key-notes of the System, and thus indivi-
duality was fostered. There were régulations and rules,
of course, but the principle underlying the whole System
was the spirit, and not the letter, of the régulations. This
has been defined to be of the essence of a true despotism ;
and the rule of the British Government bas been some-
times, and not altogether incorrectly, styled, 4 A despotism
tempered by benevolence.’ Under this System, moreover,
each officer had just so much of a charge given him as he90
RULERS OF INDIA
could efficiently manage, and so as to get a complété
knowledge of the people and become personally acquainted
with ail the men of mark and influence : each officer,
further, had undivided responsibility, which, as a well-
known writer shows, in an essay on ‘ Organization in Daily
Life is of the very essence of organization ; each officer,
moreover, united in himself the functions of judge, revenue
officer, and magistrate, and, further, native customs and
institutions formed the basis of the simple laws and pro-
cedure followed. The whole System, in a word, may be
described as personal government based on law and order.
The natural effect of such a System was that wrongs, when
ascertained, were speedily redressed, and every man in
the country knew whom to go to if he had a grievance.
Lawrence tolerated no ignorance or incompétence in his
officers. Every man was required to know his work
and to do it, and to see that the men under him knew
and did it too. The work was not light work ; each officer
was expected to hâve his finger, as it wrere, on the puise
of the whole district, and to be ready to go anywhere at
a moment’s notice. His motto had to be that of the famous
British artillery, ‘Ubique,’ to be ready to go anywhere
and everywhere where duty calls. This naturally necessi-
tated the upkeep of a good stable. That Lawrence and his
officers could ride, and ride well, is proved by a storÿ told
of Sir Charles Napier, the Military Commander in the
Punjab, and of Lawrence, the Civilian Ruler : Lawrence
w as anxious to know where Napier wranted his new canton-
ments placed, that he might get the roads construeted,
but he ne ver could get any answer out of Napier. One
day Lawrence and his officers were out riding, when they
met Napier and his officers ; Lawrence asked Napier
point-blank where he wished the new cantonments to be :
‘ Corne along,’ said Napier, 6 and I wdll show you ’ ; he
then set ofî with his officers at full gallop across country,
with Lawrence and his officers at full gallop behind him ;
finding they wrere ail as good horsemen as himself and his
officers, he at last suddenly pulled up in the middle of an
open plain, and said : ‘ Here is the place for the canton-
ments. ’ The open plain selected became the site of the
Mian-Mir Cantonments.LORD LAWRENCE
91
The unwritten law that guided Lawrence and liis officers
in the administration of the Punjab was, to see things with
their own eyes, to do things with their own hands, and to
inquire into things for themselves. The resuit was know-
ledge on both sides, knowledge of their officers on the part
of the people, and knowledge of the people on the part of
their officers. The necessary corollary was the dispelling
of préjudices and ignorance, two of the main causes of
discontent ; the final resuit was contentment, the one
thing necessary in a newly acquired province. It was a
contentment that stood the test of the dayof trial that came
a few years later in the great Sepoy Mutiny. And the
whole secret lay in the spirit that animated ail the officers
of the administration, from the Chief Commissioner,
Lawrence himself, downwTards to the junior officers, a spirit
that may be expressed in the words of the old Roman
writer : 4 Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto,’
which put into plain English means : 4 I am a man, I con-
sider nothing relating to man as outside my sphere of
interest.’ Shakespeare has expressed the same idea in his
words, ‘One touch of nature makes the whole world km.’
There was in them that required touch of nature that caused
them to keep in touch with their people ; in other words,
4 They loved the people, they lived among the people, and
for the people.’ An illustration of this spirit is shown
in the famous Proclamation issued by John LawTence
in the earlier days of his administration as Commissioner
of the Southern Districts, when there were fears of a rising
of the people at the time of the second Sikh War, 4 What
is your injury, I consider mine ; what is gain to you,
I consider my gain ; return to me as children who hâve
committed a fault return to their fathers, and your faults
will be forgiven you.’
The dignity of knighthood crowned this period of
Lawrence’s career, and formed his personal reward. The
time covered by this period of service was some fifteen
years, from 1842-1857.
This period of peaceful administration came to an abrupt
close with the sudden outbreak of the Mutiny.
The Mutiny was not an altogether unexpected event,
but every one was unprepared for the actual outbreak : one92
RULERS OF INDIA
very curious feature of the Indian Mutiny may be noted
here : it was that of a practically Hindu army striking
for the restoration of a Muhammadan monarchy, a thing
no one had ever dreamed of. Various causes hâve been
given for the Mutiny. Lawrence’s own idea was that
it originated entirely in the army fearing for the destruction
of their caste owing to the issue of the famous greased
cartridges. But a variety of other causes were really at
work, as is proved by the fact that some of the populace
also rose. However, these causes need not be dealt with
in this sketch, as they hâve been sufficiently dealt with
elsewhere. Lawrence, as usual, was prompt to recognize
the crisis, and his first step was to secure the Punjab by
disarming ail disaffected troops. He also secured the great
arsenals and the artillery ; he sent out ail over the country
patrols of picked men to crush at once any signs of dis-
affection ; his motto was 4 Obsta Principiis ’, 4 Check the
first beginnings.’ But what had a specially good effect
on the peace of the Province was the maintenance of
an attitude of calm and cool self-reliance on the part of
the handful of English officiais in the Province. The
bold front shown by Lawrence at Peshawar in disarming
the disaffected Sepoys there had an excellent effect on
the minds of the people ; an anecdote is told in connexion
with Peshawar which is characteristic ; an old Muham-
madan remarked : 4 If Peshawar holds firm, it is well ;
otherwise ’—and he concluded by rolling up the skirt of
his muslin robe significantly between his finger and his
thumb. The attitude of the Banias in the wealthy cities
of Lahore and Amritsar was an index to the severity of
the crisis, and marked the fact that ail men looked to the
capture of Delhi as the one thing necessary before the "
Mutiny could be crushed ; the Banias refused to lend money
till Delhi had fallen. Lawrence succeeded in enlisting on
his side the active services of ail the great ruling chiefs,
and ail, including also the petty chiefs, with two exceptions,
nobly responded to the call. The Raja of Jhind openly
declared at once that he should side with the British,
under wdiom he had lived happily for fifty years. This
loyal attitude received its due récognition from the Viceroy,
Lord Canning, at a great Darbar held at Lahore after theLORD LAWRENCE
93
suppression of the Mutiny. c In other parts of India/
he said, ‘ I hâve received many distinguished chiefs of
ancient lineage,who hâve proved themselves faithful feuda-
tories of the Crown, and many of lower degree who hâve
been dutiful subjects in the midst of great discourage-
ments and dangers. But in the Punjab I find a whole
nation of brave and loyal men/
Lawrence recognized the all-importance of the recapture
of Delhi, and he devoted ail his energies to the dispatch
of ail available troops and transport to Delhi ; and the
magnificent material of the reinforcements sent to Delhi
by Lawrence excited the admiration of ail. One régiment
was the crack régiment of the Guides, a régiment originally
consisting of sportsmen of ail nations wearing their own
clothes. The choice of this régiment was justified ; it
was in action during practically the whole period of the
siégé of Delhi, a period covering four months, and out of
800 men who went to Delhi only 250 men returned alive.
Another famous corps was the corps of Mazhabi Sikhs ;
they were descendants of a body of sweepers whom Guru
Govind sent to Delhi to fetch the body of his martyred
father, and whom he received into the Sikh Khalsa for
their daring courage. Lawrence also sent ail available
European troops ; the Punjab was thus practically denuded
of its best troops, and that it remained loyal was the best
proof of the success of Lawrence’s methods of admini-
stration, and of the contentment thus created.
The eventual success of the British at Delhi was very
largely due to the work of the reinforcements sent by Law-
rence. What the work that fell on the troops at Delhi was
may be gauged by the fact that over thirty actual battles
were fought, and the troops had constantly to be on the
watch against night attacks, so that it was truly said of the
soldiers at Delhi that they were soldiers by day, sentinels
by night.
The effect of the capture of Delhi by the British was
instantaneous, and was felt as far as Kabul. As one
illustration of the calm after the storm, may be noted the
fact that, within three months after the fall of Delhi, seven
hundred new village schools were founded in the Punjab.
The attitude of Sir John Lawrence, when once the Mutiny94
RULERS OF INDIA
had been quelled, was very different from his attitude while
it was in progress ; what his motto was when rébellion
was to be feared has been recorded, ‘Use ail possible severity,
only check the beginnings.’ The words of one of his
officers expresses his attitude well : ‘ The sooner blood be
let, the less of it will suffice.’ But, when rébellion had
once been crushed, then he was ail for justice and mercy,
and he opposed ail cries for vengeance ; an illustration
of this is given in the case of the great Mosque of Delhi ;
he refused to consider any idea of its destruction, as sug-
gested. He was for stern justice on ail ringleaders and on
ail murderers, but for mercy for ail others.
‘ Mercy,’ he said, ‘ is demanded by the mercy which God
has shown us. There is a Judge over both them and us.
Inasmuch as we hâve been preserved from impending
destruction by His mercy alone, we should be merciful to
others, reflecting that, if He were to be extreme to mark
what we hâve done, and still do, amiss, we should forfeit
that protection from on high which alone maintains us
in India.’
Delhi was eventually placed in his charge ; it had been
incorporated in the Punjab, and his merciful administration
soon restored confidence to the city. The closing scene
of the Mutiny was the reading out of the Queen’s Pro-
clamation in the great Bazaar of the city.
Sir John Lawrence was not slow to mark his appréciation
of the work his officers had done, and his generous récog-
nition was ail the more appreciated by them because of
his natural characteristic to be sparing of praise, a charac-
teristic not uncommon with Englishmen, and not always
intelligible to the average Oriental, who loves to bask in
the sunshine of favour.
As regards Lawrence’s own rewards, the Viceroy fully
recognized his work in saving India for England. ‘ Through
him Delhi fell ’ were the Viceroy’s words. The Govern-
ment showered honours upon him, and the nation acclaimed
him. The feelings of Lawrence himself are expressed in his
own words : ‘ It is owing to an overruling Providence,
and to that alone, that a single Englishman was left alive
in the Punjab.’
Many of his friends were disappointed that he did notLORD LAWRENCE
95
receive the higher honour of being created a Peer of the
Realm, but this disappointment was not shared by Lawrence
himself : he had something in him of the mind of the old
Stoic philosopher, when rewards were in question. The
story is told how on one occasion one of Cato’s friends
visited the Hall of Worthies, the Valhalla of Rome, where
statues of Rome’s great men were, and looked in vain for
a statue of Cato ; on his return he told Cato this ; Cato’s
answer was : 41 had much rather my friends would ask,
“ Where is Cato?” than be able to say, “ Here is Cato.” 5
Upon the Punjab being made into a Lieutenant-
Governorship, in the year 1859, Lawrence was appointed
Lieutenant-Governor, but he proceeded home on furlough
almost immediately; during his stay at home he was given
a seat in the India Councü, and remained there till the
offer came to him of the appoint ment of Viceroy of India.
The news of his appointment was received with a universal
acclaim of approval ; ail felt that he was the right man in
the right place. His o\vn simple humility was illustrated
by his remark, when the announcement was made to him :
4 The Governor-Generalship is too good a post for a fellow
like me.’ One of the reasons that pointed to the spécial
fitness of Lawrence for the exalted office of Viceroy was,
that it was generally felt that he was the only man who could
effectively carry on the hard task that lay before the Viceroy,
the task of pacifying the people and healing the wounds
caused by the Mutiny and its suppression. His sympathies
with the people were well knowm, and his command of the
vernacular was such as no Englishman of his time possessed
in an equal degree. How hard that task was he himself
fully appreciated, as his own words show : 4 It is a task
which the bravest and the best may shrink from ; it is one
in which a great man may break his heart, and lose his life,
and which, even should he, by God’s help, accomplish it,
will never be appreciated.’ He had other difficulties than
those of administration to contend wdth, difficulties which
were likely to arise from his own countrymen rather than
from the people of India, and of a more or less personal
character. The history of British rule in India bears
abundant testimony to the fact that England always
sends of her best and noblest sons to administer her Empire96
RULERS OF INDIA
beyond the seas. Lawrence was one of her best and noblest
sons in work and character, but not a member of one of
her noblest families in a social sense ; he did not belong
to the great aristocratie families of England to which most
of India’s Viceroys do belong ; he was a commoner, as
the saying is, and he remained a commoner throughout his
Viceroyalty. The history of British India shows, moreover,
that most men sent out from England to rule India hâve
generally had a distinguished career in their own country
before coming to India ; Lawrence had certainly had a
most distinguished career, but it had been in India as a
civilian ; he had risen from the ranks of the Civil Service
of India, and many members of that service, he anticipated,
might not unnaturally regard him as only primus inter
pares, first only among his equals.
While, however, recognizing the difficulties of the task
before him, he at the same time recognized the great
opportunities for good that the appointment would bring
him, and he therefore accepted it, and duly landed in
Calcutta in 1864.
Lawrence’s career as Viceroy was a more or less peaceful
and uneventful one ; he had already, when he became Vice-
roy, been connected with India in one capacity or another
for a period of thirty-four years ; his chief work, therefore,
lay behind him, and what has been here recorded of that
great work has shown clearly enough the stuff he was made
of ; his réputation was already made, therefore, when he
became Viceroy, and he could only add fresh lustre to a
great réputation. One of the chief features of his admini-
stration was the settlement of difïicult frontier questions
on both the North-Western and North-Eastern Frontiers ;
he had spécial influence with the then Amir of Afghanistan,
the great Dost Mahomed, who from having been, as it bas
been well said, ‘ by turns the rejected friend, the enforced
enemy, the honourable prisoner, the vindictive assailant,
of the English in India,’ had, by the tactful treatment of
Lawrence, become the firm ally of the English. Russia
recognized what this alliance meant to her : the Russian
papers of the day, when the Amir, Shir Ali, came to meet
Lord Mayo at Ambala in 1869, wrote : 4 The first stone of the
wall was laid which the Anglo-Indian Government is hasten-LORD LAWRENCE
97
ing to build across the path of the Russians in Central Asia.’
The policy of Lawrence in dealing with the frontier tribes
may be expressed in the words of the poet :—
By slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and, through soft degrees,
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
This policy was eventually successful. One question that
attracted the attention of Lawrence was the question of
the training and éducation of young chiefs, a question that
Lord Mayo, who afterwards succeeded him as Viceroy,
gave effect to ; Lawrence himself went no further than
advice ; he earnestly pressed native rulers to hâve their
sons, and their daughters too, carefully trained ; at a
great Darbar at Lahore he said to the assembled chiefs :
‘ I urge you to instruct your sons, and even your daugh-
ters. The art of governing wisely and well is a difiicult one,
which is only to be attained by much thought and care
and labour ; of ail famé that great men may acquire,
that alone is worth having which is accorded to a just and
a beneficent ruler. The names of conquerors and heroes
are forgotten, but those of virtuous and wise chiefs live for
ever.’
Perhaps the chief interest of the administration of
Lawrence as Viceroy centres round landed estâtes : he
regarded as of spécial importance the interests of the
peasantry and tenantry, rather than of the proprietors,
whose rights and interests he considered sufficiently con-
served as a general rule, though at the same time he dealt
with these rights impartially and justly,
It has often been said that what the people of India
want is to be let alone, and there are many men who say
that the right policy to pursue with Orientais is one dictated
by expediency only. A policy of laisser-faire., or, as an
old proverb has it, ‘ Let sleeping dogs lie,’ is the one best
suited to India, they say. Lawrence, on the other hand,
held that the real standard of ail Government action in
India should be ‘ the conscience of England ’ ; as he
himself expressed it, ‘ In doing the best we can for the
people, we are bound by our conscience and not by theirs.’
Such a view entailed a policy of progressive action. In
OSWELIJ	q98
RULERS OF INDIA
pursuance of such a policy, therefore, Lawrence took up
the cause of the peasantry and the tenantry, both of the
Punjab and of Oudh. He recognized the value to the
Empire of a prosperous and contented peasantry ; his
own idéal, as given in his own words, was that of 4 a country
thickly cultivated by a fat, contented yeomanry, each riding
his own horse, sitting under his own fig-tree, and enjoying
his rude family comforts ’.
He held with the poet Goldsmith :
111 fares the land to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulâtes and men decay :
Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,
A breath can make them, as a breath has made ;
But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride,
When once destroyed can ne ver be supplied.
The ou te orne of his policy in this direction was the
Punjab Tenancy Act and the Oudh Rent Bill. He also
prepared the way for the improvement of the condition of
the ryots in Bengal, which was afterwards effected in the
Bengal Tenancy Act. Other matters that occupied his
attention were irrigation and the improvement of the
means of communication, both being matters which were
pressed upon his attention by the great famine of Orissa,
which occurred during his Viceroyalty. At no time more
than during the progress of a famine does the value of
water become more prominent. A great Finance Minister
of India has well and truly said : 4 Water in India is more
than gold, it is life.’ The création of the Department of
Irrigation was due to the initiative of Lawrence. The
condition of Orissa, too, during the famine, showed him the
all-importance of the improvement of communications.
It was said of Orissa and its inhabitants at this time :
6 The people, shut up in a narrow province between pathless
jungles and an impracticable sea, were in the condition
of passengers in a ship without provisions.’ There was
a great extension also of railways, canals, and good roads,
due to his far-seeing initiative. Enough has now been said
of Lawrence’s administration as Viceroy, and though ali
that has been said throughout has been showing his char-
acter, this sketch may well be concluded with a picture ofLORD LAWRENCE	99
Lawrence, no longer as an administrator and a ruler, but
as a man,
The motto on the tomb of John Lawrence, where he
lies in Westminster Abbey, amidst England’s heroes and
great men, is 4 Be Ready 5. The motto on the tomb of his
great brother, Henry, who lies in the quiet cemetery near
the site of the old Residency at Lucknow, where he met with
the death of a hero, is, 4 Here lies a man who tried to do
his duty.5 These were the guiding principles of Lawrence’s
life as a man. Readiness to undertake any responsibilities
imposed upon him, and a stern détermination to do his
duty under ail circumstances.
His own wprdstQ his son-in-law, wh© after^ards feecame
his biogra]mer,jmow us this side of his character : ‘ It
was a proud moment to me when I walked up the steps of
Government House feeling that, without political influence
or interest, I had been chosen to fill the highest office under
the Crown, the Viceroyalty of the Queen. But it will be
a happier moment to me when I wralk down the steps with
the feeling that I hâve tried to do my duty.’
These were his leading characteristics. Another, and
one which often marks the greatest of men, wTas simplicity :
he bore with simplicity and modesty the honours that were
showered upon him when he gave up the Viceroyalty and
was created a Peer of the Realm.
The poet’s words may well be applied to him :—
As the greatest only are,
In his simplicity sublime.
He had the powers for work that hâve characterized so
many of India’s great Viceroys, and notably Lord Mayo.
41 work like any old buffalo,5 he remarked on one occasion.
He liked brevity in ail his official correspondence, recog-
nizing with the old Roman poet, 4 Ars longa, vita brevis,5
4 Art is long, life is short.5 What his attitude towards
religion was, and how religion may be said to hâve per méat ed
ail his work, has already been referred to : his sense of duty
was but the practical outcome of his deeplyreligiousfeelings;
with him, as with the great English poet, duty was but the
‘stern daughter of the voice of God5, the performance of duty
being the necessary outcome of the dictâtes of conscience.100
RULERS OF INDIA
The présent President of the United States of America,
President Roosevelt, some time back published a little
book styled The Strenuous Life. It has been sufficiently
shown that the life of Lord Lawrence was in ail respects
a strenuous life, and this sketch may well conclude with
his motto, itself the key-note of that strenuous life,
‘ BE ready;CHAPTER VI
THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE QUEEN’S RULE
IN INDIA
Lord Mayo, 1822-1872
Most of the Viceroys sent out to govern India on behalf
of the Sovereign arrive in India at a mature âge, by which
time they hâve usually distinguished themselves in one
capacity or another, and hâve become men of mark, before
the opportunity cornes to them to make themselves, if
that is possible, a still greater name.
Lord Mayo was no exception to the rule : if, therefore,
his great character and qualifies are to be estimated aright,
some account must be given of his earlier career, before he
took up the appointment of Governor-General of India at
the mature âge of forty-six.
Lord Mayo was fortunate in his home training : the
sympathetic interests of his parents made it a complété
success. The close companionship with parents which
a home training naturally présupposés, and which alone
gives it its full value, impressed the individuality of both his
father and mother on the boy ; while to his father’s com-
panionship he owed that high standard of duty which
characterized him throughout his life, and that physical
strength and robustness which nothing seemed to tire,
and which was the resuit of systematic athletic training,
to his mother’s companionship he owed his great capacity
for work, and that conscientiousness in the discharge of
the minutest details of work which was so marked a feature
of his official career, both in England and India, a con-
scientiousness which was very largely the resuit of the right
principles which he had imbibed in the religious atmosphère
of his home. 4 Plain living and high thinking ’ may be
said to hâve marked the daily life of the family. The
importance on the after career of the man of such a home
training in his boyhood must hâve been incalculable. Early102
RULERS OF INDIA
impressions are very rarely, if ever, effaced. An old
philosopher, realizing the truth of this, is reported to hâve
once said : 4 Give me a boy to train from the âge of nine
to twelve, and I don’t care who has the training of him
afterwards.’ Lord Mayo’s own expérience of what he
owed to his parents, and of his own happy boyhood, had its
natural effect when he himself in his turn became a father :
he always treated his children as his companions and his
allies, and he found many a solace amidst the cares and dis-
appointments of public life in their companionship. He
well knew that only by such a companionship can a father
hope to gauge correctly the character of his children. He
always advised his sons while at school to mix generally
with ail the boys of their school, and not to make friend-
ships with only one or two ; only so, he knew, was it possible
to gain that one great advantage that is to be got from the
discipline of school, a knowledge of character, an acquisition
so useful in after life when a man has to deal with other
men, and when it may become necessary for him either to
work with or in opposition to them.
Lord Mayo was sent on a tour abroad immediately after
leaving school. Travel is usually regarded as the coping-
stone of a boy’s éducation, and is usually postponed until
after he has been to the University ; in Lord Mayo’s
case it preceded his University career, but it was by no
means a period of idleness : on the contrary, spécial studies
in such subjects as languages, music, and painting took
up a good deal of his time while he was travelling on the
Continent. He was also given the further opportunity of
associating with men and women of the world. Ail this
had the effect it was intended to hâve ; b y the time that
he returned to England at the âge of nineteen, he was no
longer a boy, he had become a man. On his return from
his continental tour he proceeded to the University.
* Not ail men who go to the University go there with the
object of preparing themselves for a profession : some are
attracted by the social advantages that accompany a
University life, more especially at the older Universities
of Oxford and Cambridge, with their residential System.
Lord Mayo did not remain long at the University ; he left it
at the âge of twenty-one, after taking his degreeTin order toLORD MAYO	1<»
enter upoiï the life of an English country gentleman. He
took up his duties in this capacity with that thoroughness
that marked ail that he set his hand to. He was perfectly
content to settle down quietly and live amongst his tenantry.
The views that he held on the subject of the relations that
should exist between landlords and their tenants showed him
to hâve been a liberal-minded landlord.
He had a very keen sense of the responsibilities and
duties of a landed proprietor : to the care and attention
which he paid to the whole subject while thus personally
managing his own estâtes was doubtless due the thorough-
ness with which he afterwards tackled the many problems
which were presented for his solution in the same field
when he became Viceroy of India. The breeding of
horses and cattle occupied much of his attention at this
period of his career ; another very favourite occupation
was the planting of trees. But what most engrossed his
attention was the subject of field sports, a subject closely
connected with every country gentleman’s life in the British
Isles. He himself was a keen hunter and sportsman gener-
ally. His estâtes lay in Ireland : he knew every inch of the
country he hunted over, and was one of the hardest riders
in that country of hard-riding men. As a Master of Fox
hounds he thoroughly identified himself with the people :
thus he laid the foundations of that sympathy with his sur-
ïoundings which made him feel himself at home wherever he
was, whether in Ireland or in India. Life in the country
has many advantages, though they are not always appre-
çiated by those who are called on to live there throughout
the year. To Lord Mayo perhaps its spécial advantage
was that it kept his nature sweet and wholesome, and helped
to keep permanent within him that innate geniality and
kindliness that always distinguished him, and which made
him so popular with ail classes throughout his life.
It is the ambition of most country gentlemen of means
and leisure to serve their country in Parliament ; an
opportunity of satisfying this ambition came to Lord Mayo
at the early âge of twenty-six. He had only recently written
a book on his travels in Russia : it was marked by an inti-
mate acquaintance with the condition of the cultiva tors of
the soil in that country : this book had attraçted public104
RULERS OF INDIA
attention. He had also distinguished himself by his
strenuous labours on behalf of the famine-stricken peasantry
of Ireland during the prevalence of a great famine.
His observation of men and affairs in Russia, where he
found the peasantry, who were naturally the most loyal
and patriotic of ail classes in Russia, treated as mere slaves,
and considered fit only to be repressed, taught him many
valuable lessons which he was afterwards to apply in his
work of government in India : his determined efforts to
unité ail classes, and to make ail feel that they were members
of one corporate community, and that no classes were to be
recognized as outside it, as the Russian peasants appeared
to him to be, were largely the resuit of lessons so leamt.
He soon made himself a name in Parliament. In his
criticism of public affairs he wisely refrained from wandering
over a wide field of criticism, and thereby lessening its
value, but confined his attention to those matters he knew
well, matters which he had most at heart, and indeed
thoroughly understood, especially Irish affairs. Thus he
steadily stored up expérience, and obtained that réputation
for wisdom and judgement which eventually caused him
to be recognized as the right man for the position, when
the Government found themselves in need of a Chief
Secretary for Ireland. With this high appointment he
felt that his work had received full récognition, and that
he was now on the high road to honour and distinction.
His apparent youth, for he was only thirty when he was
appointed, was to be no bar to a most successful period of
office. The wisdom of the choice made by Government was
justified by results ; thus it came about that he was
three times Chief Secretary within the period of twenty-one
years that practically covered his Parliamentary career.
Dévotion to Ireland and to Irish affairs marked his con-
duct of the office of Chief Secretary for Ireland ; other great
qualifies of head and heart there were in addition, which
were ail factors in the success which he achieved. The
key-note of his policy was struck in the remark he made
when he was first appointed : 41 am a new hand, but I am
not afraid of the work.’ Courage in facing his respon-
sibilities, no matter how great they were, marked him out
as essentially a strong man : his sympathy with his sur-LORD MAYO	105
roundings, a quality which has already been referred to,
and which was afterwards destined to be so potent a factor
in his successful administration of India, was another
quality in him making for success in Ireland. Moreover
he possessed in an eminent degree such valuable qualifies
as simplicity, straightforwardness, and good humour.
Presence of mind and coolness in the face of great dangers,
combined with promptness of decision in meeting great
emergencies, were also some of his characteristics. Further,
he possessed an infinité capacity for taking pains : no
matter, however minute, ever escaped his attention. ‘ He
had the very finest qualifies,5 it was said of him, ‘ as the
chief of a great office : early in his habits, regular in his
work, and unceasing in industry, he set a great example :
he knew the secret of getting out of everybody the maximum
of work which each might be capable of.5 One incident
will serve to illustrate this great capacity for work, and his
conscientiousness in its performance. He had on one occa-
sion a great speech to préparé to read in Parliament on
the state of Ireland : after he had written his speech,
which itself took him many days, he spent twelve con-
secutive hours in checking his materials and figures, and,
according to his custom while thus engaged, ate nothing
the whole time.
But ail these qualifies combined would not hâve enabled
him to attain to the degree of success he did attain to,
had they been unaccompanied by the most valuable
quality of ail that an administrator can possess, the faculty
of conciliation ; this faculty he possessed in a pre-eminent
degree.
With this conspicuous success before them, it is no won-
der that when it became necessary to appoint a Viceroy
of India in the place of Lord Lawrence, who was vacating
office, the choice of the Government should hâve fallen
upon Lord Mayo.
Mr. Disraeli, who was at this time head of the Govern-
ment, thus expressed the sentiments that had actuated the
Government in making the appointment : ‘Upon Lord Mayo,
for his sagacity, for his judgement, for his fine temper,
and for his knowledge of men, Her Majesty has been pleased
to confer the office of Viceroy of India. I believe that he106
RULERS OF INDIA
will earn a réputation that his country will honour, and that
he has before him a career that will equal that of the most
eminent Governors-General who hâve preceded him.’
As in Ireland, so in India, dévotion to duty was to be
the key-note of Lord Mayo’s career. The address he
delivered at a public meeting just before he sailed for
India marks the spirit in which he entered upon his respon-
sible office. ‘ Splendid as will be the post, and difficult as
will be my duties, I go forth in full confidence and hope
that God will give me such strength and wisdom as will
enable me to direct the Government of India in the interests
and for the well-being of the millions committed to our
care. In the performance of the great task I ask for no
favour. Let me be judged according to my acts. And
I know that efforts honestly made for the maintenance of
our national honour, for the spread of civilization, and
the préservation of peace, will always command the sym-
pathy and support of my countrymen.’
The great literatures of the East are not wanting in recog-
nizing the praise and honour due to rulers whose sole
thought is the welfare of their subjects. One of India’s
most famous Sanscrit dramatists has voiced this feeling :—
Honour to him who labours night and day
For the world’s weal, forgetful of his own :
Like some tall tree which with its leafy shade
Refreshing rest affords to weary men,
But with its crown endures the solar beams.
The lesson they teach is that if a ruler is to win the
hearts of his subjects, and so obtain from them that loyal
obedience which alone will make his rule a success, he must
be prepared to serve as well as to command. This was to be
the secret of the successful administration of Lord Mayo
in India ; he was the servant as well as the ruler of his
people.
With the thoroughness that marked ail that he undertook,
Lord Mayo made full use of the voyage to India to store up
facts that might be of use to him in his administration,
and which might conduce to the welfare of the country he
had been called upon to govern. Before he assumed the
reins of government at Calcutta he paid short visits toLORD MAYO	107
Bombay and Madras, in order that he might acquaint
himself with the problems of government on the spot.
The work of the Viceroy of India is not light : apart
from his responsibilities as head of the Government, a vast
variety of personal duties also de volves upon him. The
routine of office work alone involves immense labour, and
itself takes up a vast amount of time ; ail day long boxes
of papers are pouring into his office from each of the great
departments of State. The Viceroy himself is also the
head of one or more important departments : Lord Mayo,
for instance, held in his own hands not only the Foreign
Department, wffiich is the spécial province of ail Viceroy s,
but the Public Works Department as well : ail this meant
so much additional work. There is also the daily conférence
with one or more of the Chief Secretaries of departments,
as well as the weekly meetings of the Executive and Legis-
lative Councils : ail the business of Government is brought
before these two Councils, and the Viceroy himself, as a
general rule, présidés over their deliberations.
Besides this routine of office work, there is always a great
amount of cérémonial business to be got through, more
especially when the Viceroy is at the capital of the Empire,
as he invariably is during some portion of the cold weather.
Visits hâve to be arranged for important chiefs and other
personages, and return visits made, ail entailing much
State ceremony.
There is also a good deal of business of an informai kind,
such as good feeling or good nature might dictate to a
Viceroy ; this will usually include the distribution of
prizes at colleges or schools, the annual address at Convo-
cation of the University, the unveiling of statues, and much
minor cérémonial. Another very important branch of a
Viceroy’s duties is of a social character, as pertains to his
exalted position as the représentative of his Sovereign ;
this portion of his duties was more than fulfilled by Lord
Mayo, who was noted for the magnificence of his hospitality
to ail ranks, and ail classes and races alike. He had the
happy knack of being able to throw ofï ail business cares
as he entered the guest-chamber, and he charmed ail who
enjoyed his hospitality, Europeans and Indians alike,
by his kindliness and joyousness, and by the entira absence108
RULERS OF INDIA
of ail officialism. The ease of conscious strength, indeed,
characterized the performance of ail his duties, whether
official, cérémonial, or social ; the charm of a great mind
and a great character shone most conspicuously at his
great and splendid entertainments. It was truly said of
him that his noble presence, the splendour of his hospitality,
and his magnificence of life seemed in him only a natural
complément of rare administrative powers. A famous
novel of the day is supposed to hâve had Lord Mayo in
view in the picture it presented of the idéal Viceroy.
The author of a well-known essay entitled Organization
in Daily Life, has shown how business may be most
efficiently carried on with the least expenditure of time and
energy by means of a properly organized System. Lord
Mayo knew by his previous expérience that this was the
secret of the quick dispatch of business : it might be
described as a strict economy of time. His whole day was
very carefully mapped out beforehand ; each day and each
hour of the day, indeed, had its own appointed duties.
He invariably rose at daybreak, and at once commenced
work, working generally, with short intervals for meals,
till dark ; the only récréation he then allowed himself was
a hard gallop before dinner. Very often he worked far on
into the night as well : with ail this mass of work, however,
he never missed his half-hour, snatched while he was
dressing for dinner, with his younger children, telling them
fables and stories. AU that he did, indeed, was marked
by a strong sense of responsibility. Duty, that ‘ stern
daughter of the voice of God ’, as a poet sings of it, was his
guiding star.
Enough has been said to show the immense range over
which a Viceroy’s duties extend, and the qualities that are
required of him, if these duties are to be performed success-
fully.
Lord Mayo’s policy towards the great chiefs and princes
of India forms by no means the least interesting feature of
his administration.
A great change in the attitude of the Government of
India towards the feudatory states took place after the
events of the Mutiny ; that crisis had proved conclusively
that the great body of the feudatories were loyal, andLORD MAYO	109
the Government of India had determined to bring them
into more intimate relations with itself than had hitherto
been the case. It had devolved upon Lord Canning to
initiate the new departure : it was now Lord Mayo’s
pleasant task to carry it on : this his conciliatory nature
well fitted him to do. At a great Darbar which he held in
Rajputana, he explained to the assembled chiefs how this
new policy meant the upholding and maintaining in ail
their customary rights and privilèges, of the ancient houses
of nobility ; at the same time he took care to impress
upon them that it also involved on their part co-operation
with the Government in making it a success. It was a
great speech, and a mémorable one : ‘ Be assured,’ he
said, ‘ that we ask you to do ail this for no other but your
own benefit : if we wished you to remain weak, we should
say to you, “ Be poor, and ignorant, and disorderly.”
It is because we wish you to be strong that we desire to
see you rich, instructed, and well governed. It is for such
objects that the servants of the Queen rule in India, and
Providence will ever sustain those rulers who govern for
the people’s good.5 In these concluding words he not only
struck the key-note of his own rule, but at the same time
showed what should be the guiding principle in the con-
duct of ail, whether they were rulers of States or great
landholders, who had people dépendent on them. Power,
he thus impressed upon his audience, was not given for the
selfish amusement or pleasure of princes. The assembled
notables fully understood that, put into plain language,
his advice to each of them was practically this : ‘ If you
wish to be a great man at my court, govern well at home.
Be just and merciful to your people. We do not ask you
whether you corne to us with full hands, but whether you
corne with clean hands. No présents that you can bring
will buy the British favour. No display which you may
make will raise your dignity in our eyes ; no cringing or
flattery will gain my friendship : we estimate you not by
the splendour of your ofîerings to us, nor by the pomp of
your retinue here, but by your conduct to your own people
at home.’ And by his attitude to them ail, according to
their appréciation of his kindly advice, he showed them that
he meant what he said. While dealing firmly with ail110
RULERS OF INDIA
who failed to co-operate with the Government in good
administration, he cultivated the friendship of ail who,
by loyally carrying out what they knew to be his wTishes
on the subject, showed that they were deserving of his
friendship. The resuit of this kindly and conciliatory atti-
tude of his was soon apparent in the intimate personal
friendship that many of the wiser chiefs and feudatories
enjoyed with him ; amongst these was the late Begum of
Bhopal, one of the famous female rulers that India has
from time to time produced.
Lord Mayo did not content himself with dealing with
the older génération of feudatory chiefs : he went further,
and to the root of the whole matter, by making arrange-
ments for the training in right principles of thought and
conduct of the younger members of the Indian aristocracy
generally, whether they were wards of Government or the
sons and relatives of the chiefs and great landed pro-
prietors.
In connexion with the treatment of minors and wards,
there were two points that he laid spécial stress on : in
the first place, provision should be made for a good local
administration for the State, and, in the second place,
such an éducation should be provided as should train tho
young prince in English rather than in Indian ideas of
his duties and responsibilities. Minors who would succeed
to the government of the more important feudatory States
should moreover, he thought, be placed under the care of
spécial English guardians and tut ors, while colleges and
schools should be established, where minors from the less
important States, and the sons and the near relatives of
the chiefs and nobles generally, might be educated.
The training given at these institutions was intended
to correspond as closely as the different conditions wTould
allow of to that imparted at the great English public school
of Eton. A book on Eton and some of its methods has
recently appeared : it contains an extract from the evidence
of James Hope Scott, as Counsel before the House of Lords,
vdiich wrill serve to illustrate what the essence of that
training is : ‘ Who ever ventured to say there was any other
school like Eton ? The English character made it, and in
return it makes the English character : it makes, my Lords,LORD MÀŸÔ -	111
the English gentleman, I will venture to say, as well as any
institution that can be produced for the purpose.’
Similarly, it has always been regarded as one of the
principal ends that these Indian institutions should hâve in
view, that their alumni should be recognized as Indian
gentlemen, possessing those qualities that form the con-
notation of the term gentleman, not the least important
of which is manliness.
The first outcome of this new departure was the estab-
lishment of a college of this type at Rajkot, in Kathiawar,
on the west of India. This college was fortunate in securing
as its first principal, and for the long period of twenty-five
years, the late Mr. Chester Macnaghten. A book he wrote,
entitled Serions Thoughts on Common Subjects, serves to
illustrate one part of his System. This book contains a
sériés of lectures that he delivered to his senior pupils : it
was the outcome of his earnest desire, without in any way
transgressing the rules of religious neutrality prescribed by
Government for its ofïicers in matters of religion, to bring
moral influence to bear in training the character of its
charges.
The Mayo College at Ajmir, in Rajputana, is the most
important of these institutions at the présent day, and is
named after Lord Mayo himself.
In thus inaugurating his beneficent policy of éducation
for the members of the aristocracy of India, Lord Mayo was
influenced by various considérations ; ail had their bearing,
however, upon fitting them for their future duties and
responsibilities as rulers and administrators, and upon
bringing them into doser relations with the Government
and its responsible head. He fully realized the benefits
that would accrue to the young princes and nobles from
the opportunity thus created for them of associating on
equal terms with those in their own rank of life, and
with Englishmen of position and character, from whom
they might imbibe English ideas of physical and moral
training.
The results of Lord Mayo’s policy in this direction hâve
on the whole proved it to hâve been the most bénéficiai
memorial of his dealings with the feudatory chiefs and the
lesser nobles. There are some çonspicuous examples at112
RULERS OF INDIA
the présent day of the excellent effects that hâve followed
this wise departure.
One of the many conspicuous features of Lord Curzon’s
administration of India was the thoughtful solicitude that
he devoted to this same subject of the training of the young
aristocracy of India.
He instituted many wise reforms, especially in the
direction of making their éducation less literary and more
practical in its character than it seemed to him at the time
to be. The colleges were turning out young men possessing
ail the qualifications that at one time were supposed to
suffice for a Fellow of Ail Soûls, at Oxford : they were
well born and well dressed, but with only a smattering
of learning. Without in any way wishing to make spee-
tacled pédants of the alumni of these institutions, Lord
Curzon wished to see a more practical éducation given them
in subjects likely to be of spécial benefit to them on assuming
the control of their states, in the case of young chiefs, or
of their estâtes, in the case of young landed proprietors,
They were still to be trained so as to become Indian gentle-
men, but practical and capable Indian gentlemen.
The end in view with Lord Curzon was the same as that
in view with Lord Mayo—to fit them for ail the duties and
responsibilities of their high estate, and for ultimately
takïng their place as coadjutors of Government in its task
of administration. By the institution, moreover, of the
Impérial Cadet Corps by Lord Curzon, for the more wealthy
members of the aristocracy, an incentive and inducement
has been held out to them to avail themselves of the educa-
tional facilities thus provided for them : a military career
has now been opened out for their ambition.
The présent Government, in its scheme for the institution
of a Council of Notables, has added a fresh inducement :
a political career seems to be opening out before them, and
an opportunity ofïering itself of serving the State in the way
that English noblemen and gentlemen hâve always been
glad to do.
In the light of recent events, it is not uninteresting to
note that Lord Mayo also suggested spécial measures for
promoting the éducation of the Muhammadan population.
Of Lord Mayo’s foreign policy, the most marked featureLORD MAYO	113
was his faculty of conciliation, whether he was dealing with
the greater powers of Russia and Persia, or with the smaller
power of Afghanistan. His magnificent hospitality was
ne ver so conspicuous as it was on the occasion of the visit
to India of the then Amir of Afghanistan, Shir Ali. He
had been invited to a Darbar at Ambala, and the magnifi-
cence of his réception so impressed him that he is reported
to hâve remarked ; ‘ I now begin to feel myself a king.’
; In the realm of internai administration Lord Mayo’s
reforms extended over a vast field ; how vast may be
estimated from the fact that he made himself personally
acquainted with every detail of administration in every
province, and in almost every district. The System he
adopted was that in vogue during the palmy days of the
Mogul Empire, when the Government was more or less
a peripatetic one, moving about on tour from camp to camp ;
a relie of this System exists to this day in the name given
to the lingua franco, of India, Urdu, which, in its origin,
means the camp language : it originated during the
Mogul period, from the necessity of having a readier means
of communication than existed in the polished and courtly
language of Persia, which remained, till well on into the
British period of rule, the official language of the courts.
The System of touring brought Lord Mayo into close
Personal contact with his district officers, whose confidence
he readily won by his génial presence, his love of sport,
and the entire absence of ail officialism in his frank and
open dealings with them. In the course of these tours
he travelled over twenty-one thousand miles.
The problems that engaged his attention covered such
subjects as finance, the army, public works, famine, éduca-
tion, statistics, agriculture, législation, and municipal
government.
Agriculture was a subject that especially appealed to
him, as himself a great landed proprietor : in the care
and solicitude he ever displayed in dealing with his own
tenants on his Irish estâtes, he présents an example for ali
time to ail landed proprietors. The outcome of his spécial
interest in this subject in India was the création of the
Department of Agriculture and Commerce. In fixing the
limits of the work of such a department, he displayed his
OSWELL	tt114	RULERS OF INDIA
practical common sense : he saw the folly of teaching the
Indian cultivator his own trade by the introduction of such
expensive luxuries as steam ploughs and ammoniac manures:
of such manures he pithily remarked, 4 We might just as
well ask the people of India to manure their ground with
champagne.’ À propos of this remark, a good story is told
of a cultivator in one of the Bengal districts : The district
magistrate, riding through his district one day, came to a
village, on the outskirts of which he stayed to watch the
operations of a cultivator, which seemed to him to be some-
what unusual : the man was spreading very large quantities
of the best stuff he could collect from the village manure-
heaps, on his fields. The district magistrate asked him
what he was doing : 4 Oh ! ’ replied the man in his own
vernacular, 41 am giving my fields an Englishman’s
dinner ! ’ The man’s one idea was quantity : quality
was quite a secondary considération ; and quantity was
the chief characteristic, he thought, of an Englishman’s
dinner, an idea which he had doubtless formed from the
exaggerated stories of Englishmen and their ways which
he had heard told at the evening gatherings round the
village pipai-tree.
The Department of Agriculture has done in the past,
and is still doing, under the fresh impetus it has received
from the Government, excellent service in collecting infor-
mation from ail over the world, with the view, not of teach-
ing the Indian cultivator to do what he knows best how to
do, but to assist him to help himself, and to show him by
means of experimental farms, and other methods, what
excellent results may follow from improved Systems and
improved ways of cultivation, even with the use of much
the same instruments, with perhaps a few simple modifi-
cations, that the cultivators hâve themselves been accus-
tomed to use for centuries past. Lord Mayo was deeply
convinced that the permanent amelioration of the lot of
the Indian peoples must rest primarily with themselves,
but that it was the duty of Government to put them in the
right path : the création of the Agricultural Department
was, he considered, a step in this direction. This also was
his aim in the steady impetus he gave to the administration
of Municipal and Local Boards. He looked forward to theLORD MAYO	115
time when the System of local self-government, as repre-
sented b y municipalities and district boards, would contri-
bute much to the health, the wealth, and the comfort of the
people coming within their sphere of influence. Time has
yet to prove whether these institutions hâve fulfilled the
expectations of their founders ; that many of them are
doing good work there is abundant evidence. Neither is
abundant evidence wanting that many of them might do
far better work than they at présent do.
Among the many problems that were thus engaging the
attention of Lord Mayo was that of prison discipline ; and
it was this problem that he was engaged on when he met
with his death at the hands of an assassin.
In the year 1872 he was visiting the great convict
settlements in the Andaman Islands, He had already
completed his tour of inspection in safety, when in his care
and solicitude for the health of the convicts, he determined
to inspect a site that had been suggested for a sanatorium.
It was quite dark before he returned to the jetty, where his
launch was in waiting to take him to the British man-of-war
which had brought him to the islands. His attendants
thought that they had taken every précaution for his
safety that human ingenuity could devise, but the crafty
subtlety of a vindictive Pathan convict made ail their
précautions useless. This man had stealthily followed the
party ail the way up the hill and ail the way down again,
waiting for an opportunity to carry out his long-cherished
purpose of taking the life of a great Englishman ; how
great the Englishman was whose hfe he was about to take
the man probably neither knew nor cared. His opportunity
came at last : the Viceroy had just stepped forward alone
to get into his launch ; at that moment he made his spring
from behind some stones where he had been crouching ;
he was suddenly seen, as one of the viceregal party expressed
it, fastened like a tiger on the Viceroy’s back. He had
barely time to plunge his knife in when he was pulled off,
but that short space had sufïiced for him to execute his fell
purpose. The Viceroy felt that he had been struck, but,
in order to allay any alarm among his attendants, he called
out : 4 They’ve hit me, but it’s ail right ; I don’t think I am
much hurt.’ Suddenly, however, he fell back : his last116	RULERS OF INDIA
words, as lie pàssed away, wére, 4 Lift up my héad.’ He
was carried in sorrow and in silence back to the man-of-war.
His remains were taken in state, first to the capital of the
Empire, which he had so recently left in the plénitude of
regai health and strength, and then to his native country,
there to be laid in the quiet resting-place which he had
himself chosen some years before he left home for India.
Such was the manner of the passing away of a great
Englishman, one of India’s greatest Viceroys.
The burst of grief that ensued throughout India and his
native Ireland, when the news was known, was a sufficient
token and testimony to his high character*
The writer of the notice of the life of Lord Mayo in
the Dictionary of National Biography has recorded how
the Queen bore testimony, in language of touching sim-
plicity, to the extent of the calamity that had 4 so
suddenly deprived ail classes of her subjects in India of
the able, vigilant, and impartial rule of one wdio so faith-
fully represented her as Viceroy of her Eastern Empire’.
The Secretary of State, in an official dispatch addressed
to the Government of India, described the late Governor-
General as a statesman 4 whose exertions to promote the
interests of Her Majesty’s Indian subjects, and to conduct
with justice and considération the relations of the Queen’s
Government with the Indian princes and states, had been
marked with great success, and had not been surpasâed by
the most zealous labours of any of his most distinguished
predecessors in the Government of India’.
This sketch of a great and good man may fittingly con-
clude with the words of one of England’s greatest poets
specially adapted :—
Such was he : his work is done.
But while the races of mankind endure,
Let his great example stand
Colossal, seen of every land,
And keep the soldier firm, the statesman pure ;
Till in ail lands, and through ail human story,
The path of duty be the way to glory.CHAPTER VII
THE CAPTURE OF DELHI
John Nicholson, 1822-1857.
It has been said that the best biography that could be
written of any man would be one written by his peers.
What a biography of John Nicholson might not FiekL
Marshal Earl Roberts hâve given to the world ! He was
pre-eminently one of Nicholson’s peers. Failing such,
a miniature presentment must suffice such as Earl Roberts
has placed in that portrait gallery of gallant heroes, not
the least striking portrait in which is one of himself, painted
by himself, his Forty-one Years in India. ‘ Being once
ordered,’ he writes, ‘ to report on the capabilities of Cherat
as a sanatorium for English soldiers stationed at Peshawar,
I spent two or three days surveying the hill, and searching
for water. It was not safe to remain on the top at night,
so I returned every evening to the plain below, where my
tent was pitched. On one occasion I was surprised to
find a camp had risen up during my absence quite close
to my tent. I discovered that it belonged to Colonel
John Nicholson, the Deputy-Commissioner, who was on
his tour of inspection, and very soon I received an invitation
to dine with him, at which I was greatly pleased. John
Nicholson was a name to conjure with in the Punjab—
I had heard it mentioned with an amount of respect—
indeed awe—which no other name could excite, and I was
ail curiosity to see the man whose influence on the frontier
was so great that his word was law to the refractory tribes
among whom he lived. He had only lately arrived in
Peshawar, having been transferred from Bannu, a difïicult
and troublesome district ruled by him as it had never been
ruled before, and where he had made such a réputation for
himself that while he was styled “A pillar of strength on
the frontier ”, by Lord Dalhousie, he was looked up to as
a god by the natives, who loved as much as they feared118	RULERS OP INDIA
him. Nicholson impressed me more profoundly than any
man I had ever met before, or hâve ever met since. He
was the beau idéal of a soldier and a gentleman. His
appearance was distinguished and commanding, with
a sense of power about him which to my mind was the
resuit of his having passed so much of his life among the
wild and lawless tribesmen with whom his authority was
suprême. My admiration was immeasurably strengthened
when I afterwards served as his staff-officer, and had
opportunités of observing more closely his splendid
soldierly quahties and the workings of his grand simple
mind.’ In these few words, Earl Roberts has depicted
with the pencil of a Master, the spécial characteristics of
the man who was a born ruler of men. And it is the
man who rules, and not the man who merely reigns, who
will ever command the obedience, if not indeed the rever-
ence, of an Oriental race.
The atmosphère of the home in which it was Nieholson’s
good fortune to be reared was one of religion with its
natural accompaniments of pleasantness and peace. This
was only to be expected from the antécédents of his parents.
His father and mother both belonged to Anglo-Irish
families, who had settled in the north of Ireland, and they
were distinguished for their earnestness and deep religious
convictions. And to this Nicholson was to owe that
serious outlook upon life that seems never to hâve left him
throughout his brief career. The example of his father,
moreover, whose death was caused by his self-sacrifice and
dévotion in the pursuit of his profession as a medical man,
cannot but hâve left a lasting impression on his character.
As a boy he first attended a day school : and it has been
mentioned by Captain Trotter in his Life of John Nicholson,
that his mother took him away from this school because
she thought that his childish fancy was being too early
excited by the glowing stories of past campaigns told by
the old drill-sergeant who attended the school. Possibly,
like Clive’s guardian, she may hâve wished to repress the
hero in him : and it was a fortunate thing for his country
that she did not succeed. He was afterwards sent to the
Royal School at Dungannon in County Tyrone, where he
remained till he was nearly seventeen. Here, though ofJOHN NICHOLSON	119
a somewhat retiring nature, he seems to hâve got on well
both with boys and masters, which after ail only means
that he was a natural boy, fond of distinguishing himself
in the playing-fields and fairly attentive to his books.
lt speaks well for him that his head master was able to
record of him that4 he was the soûl of honour Through
the influence of an uncle, he obtained a cadetship in the
Company’s service. He had to appear before the Board of
Directors to take the oath of allegiance to his future
masters. It is not recorded that he had to appear before
them as John Malcolm had to at an early âge, to be judged
by his personal bearing and appearance, as to whether he
was likely to do crédit to their service, but doubtless, had
he been so called on, he would not hâve failed in the ordeal.
Nicholson left England early in 1839, and arrived at
Calcutta in July of the same year. At Benares, whither
he was soon ordered to join the 41st Native Infantry, he
laid the foundations of that knowledge of the languages
of the country which was to be one of the factors in the
subséquent success of his career. He had not been at
..Benares long when he was posted to the 27th Native
Infantry, and was ordered to Firozpur, which was then
the frontier outpost of the North-West Provinces on the
borders of the Punjab. He travelled by way of Mirât and
Karnal, at both of which places he had the misfortune
to be robbed. It is possible that he had not taken the
précaution which even to this day often has to be taken
in the Northern Districts of India, of engaging as a watch-
man a member of one of the thieving tribes, on the principle
that 4 there is honour even among thieves \
One of his first préoccupations was to house himself.
This was not, however, so big a business as it sounds, and
he soon ran up a temporary wooden hut, such as visitors
to the vale of Kashmir who wish to avoid the heats of
Srinagar during the summer, run up for themselves at the
pleasant little hill-station of Gulmarg. He shared his new
abode with a brother officer. It is often said in India,
4 Make yourself a garden, and you are sure to be trans-
ferred.’ Nicholson found that building a house was the
signal for his transfer, and before the year 1840 was out,
he was ordered to Afghanistan, where the relief of the120	RULERS of india
garrisons of the Forts was proceeding as if they were sO
rnany Indian Cantonments, so great was the confidence
of the Government of the day that a permanent peace
had been assured by the recent operations of the British
Army. Their confidence was very soon to be rudely
disturbed, and the various units of the British forces in
Afghanistan were soon fighting for their very existence ;
and the small garrison at Ghazni, where Nicholson and his
régiment had been posted to, was to be no exception to
the general rule.
Not long after Nicholson had written to his mother,
‘ We are now comfortably settled in,5 the trouble began.
Towards the end of 1841, swarms of Afghans began to
appear round and about Ghazni ; and from December of
that year down to March, 1842, the garrison was so closely
invested that no supplies of food or water were procurable
from outside. As long as the snows lasted, snow had to
act as a substitute for water : but, with the melting of
the snows as spring set in, even that supply failed. Hunger
and thirst were now added to the grim enemies the defenders
had to encounter. And at last the bitter alternative of
death from slow starvation or surrender presented itself,
The Colonel in Command, Palmer, decided on surrender,
as he had not only himself to think of, but the lives of his
gallant Indian comrades. Honourable terms were offered
by the Afghans : the troops were to be allowed to march
out of the citadel with ail the honours of war, and weré
to be escorted safely to Peshawar as soon as the passes
became clear of snow. The promise was accompanied by
a solemn affirmation upon the most holy Quran. Thé
garrison moved to quarters provided for them in the town.
And then the value attributed by their treacherous enemies
to a solemn oath upon the Quran was soon seen. They
had been only a few days in their new quarters, when they
were attacked by their captors. A writer in the Dictionary
of National Biography has given a graphie account of thé
gallant stand made by Nicholson and a comrade named
Crawford : 4 With two companies of their régiment thesé
two young subalterns were in a house on the left of those
occupied by the British, and received the first and sharpest
attack. They were eut off from the rest : their house wasJOHN NICHOLSON	121
fired by thè enemy, and they were driven ffom room to
room fighting against odds for their lives, until at mid-
night of the second day of the attack, they found them-
selves exhausted with fatigue, hunger, and thirst, the house
nearly burnt down, the ammunition expended, the place
full of dead and dying men, and the position no longer
tenable. The front was in the hands of the enemy, but
Nicholson and Crawford did not lose heart. A hole was
with difïiculty dug with bayonets through the wall of the
back of the house, and thus those left of the party were
able to join Colonel Palmer.5 The whole force, or what
was left of it, still held out ; again the overtures of their
enemies had to be listened to : but even then the English
officers refused to treat until assurances had been given by
the Afghans of proper treatment being accorded to their
Indian comrades of the rank and file. These assurances
were given : then, but not till then, Colonel Palmer accepted
the Afghan terms, and gave the order to his officers and
men to surrender. It is recorded that Nicholson, before
he would listen to the order, thrice at the head of his
company drove the Afghan guard back at the point of the
bayonet, and at last, with tears of grief and rage standing
in his eyes, threw his sword down at the feet of his captors.
With his companions Nicholson was now a prisoner ; but
it was to be the first and last time in his life that he found
himself in such a galling position. After various vicissi-
tudes, the prisoners, who had been sent to join Akbar
Khan’s other prisoners among the Hindu Kush Mountains,
found themselves released on the approach of the Army
of Rétribution. About the same time some three hundred
of the Sepoys of the régiment that had made such a gallant
stand at Ghazni, were released from that slavery which
their treacherous Afghan captors had considered to be
a fair interprétation of the term 4 proper treatment \ Sir
Neville Chamberlain has recorded a characteristic incident
that occurred after the return of the prisoners to Kabul,
and of which Nicholson was the hero : ‘ Shortly after their
return, I was passing not far from a tent apparently sur-
rounded by Afghans, when I was struck by a stone. I put
my hand to my sword and approached the man, who was
«tooping down to pick up another stone, when, to my122
RULERS OF INDIA
surprise, who should my assailant prove to be but John
Nicholson, surrounded by other rescued prisoners, dressed
in their Afghan prisoners’ dress, when of course we both
burst out laughing, and shook hands heartily.’
Early in 1843 Nicholson became the Adjutant of his
régiment, and two years later, having succeeded in passing
the necessary examinations for a staff appointment, he
found himself an Assistant Commissary. The first Sikh
War broke out the same year. He had been anticipating
a long spell of service in the Commissariat Department,
not altogether with satisfaction : the only good thing he
could see about service as a Commissariat officer was the
opportunity it might possibly présent of his being able to
save money, and so be in a position to send his mother
some financial aid, in fulfilment of an old promise made
in childhood. His duties, however, throughout the cam-
paign, were discharged so well that he had attracted the
attention of Lord Hardinge : and when, at the close of
the campaign, the new ruler of Kashmir, Gulab Singh,
asked for the loan of two British officers to help him
discipline his troops on the European model, Nicholson
was one of those selected. He owed this appointment
very largely to Sir Henry Lawrence, the new Résident at
Lahore, who had given Lord Hardinge some details of
Nicholson’s early career. The men under whose influence
Nicholson was now gradually falling were destined to hâve
an all-potent influence in completing the moulding of a fine
character. In Afghanistan he had first met George Law-
rence, who had so impressed the imagination of his Afghan
captor, Akbar Khan, by his strict scrupulousness in keeping
his plighted word ; and George had introduced him to his
brother, Henry Lawrence. Another man he also met there
was Major George Broadfoot, whom his friends styled the
foremost man in India. Sir Neville Chamberlain was
another of his early Afghanistan friends. But perhaps the
two men who were to hâve the greatest influence on his
character were Herbert Edwardes and Henry Lawrence.
He never forgot the debt he owed the former, who was
himself a past master in the art of goveming fierce and
warlike tribes, and was therefore a man after Nicholson’s
own heart. And of Henry Lawrence’s attitude towardsJOHN NICHOLSON	123
Nicholson Sir John Kaye has said : 4 To such a man as
Henry Lawrence, the character and disposition of young
Nicholson were sure to recommend him as one to be regarded
with great hope and tender affection.’
This appointment, which was not much in itself, was,
however, to lead to better things ; and by the end of the
year 1846 his great opportunity had corne. Lord Hardinge
sanctioned his permanent appointment to the North-West
Frontier Agency, to which Henry Lawrence had nominated
him while he was in Kashmir ; and he found himself
gazetted as assistant to the Résident at Lahore. Thus he
was again, to his own great advantage, brought into con-
tact with a great personality. By the force of circum-
stances, Sir Henry Lawrence had now become something
more than his title of Résident implied : he had become
practically the Ruler of the Punjab. Greater opportunities
had thus been opened out for a display both of his own
powers and of those of his assistants. Some two years
before, Sir Henry Lawrence had written in the Calcutta
Review an article entitled 4 Romance and Reality of Indian
Life and these words occur in it : 4 The quality variously
designated romance or enthusiasm, poetry or ideality, is
not to be despised as the mere delusion of a heated brain ;
but it is to be valued as an energy imparted to the human
mind, to prompt and sustain its noblest efforts. We would
urge on the young especially, not that they should repress
enthusiasm, but that they should cultivate and direct the
feeling.’ Such a man was indeed calculated to draw out
and direct ail the enthusiasm that had ever lain latent in
Nicholson’s nature ; and if Nicholson himself felt the im-
press of a great personality, so did ail Lawrence’s assistants :
and he himself, indeed, was not slow in acknowledging the
debt he owed to these young subaltems. In his Lives of
Indian Officers, Sir John Kaye has recorded how Sir Henry
Lawrence wrote to him on one occasion : 41 was very
fortunate in my assistants, ail of whom were my friends,
and almost every one of whom was introduced into the
Punjab through me. Each was a good man. The most
were excellent officers.’
Nicholson joined his new appointment early in 1847.
He was soon dispatched on a spécial mission to Amritsar,124
RULEES OF INDIA
the sacred city oî the Sikhs. Having accomplished this
to the satisfaction of his Chief, he received an appointment
which gave him practically independent charge of a District
known as the Sind-Sagar Doab, lying between the rivers
Jhilam and Indus. His first duty was to protect the
people from the exactions of the subordinate revenue
officiais, his second to attend to the discipline and drill
of the Army. He also received spécial instructions as to
the manner he was to deal with the Nazims, or Governors,
and other respectable men of the District : these were
characteristic of the man who gave them : 4 Much may
be done by cordiality, by supporting their just authority,
attending to their moderate wishes and even whims, and by
those small courtesies that natives look to, even more than
they do to more important matters.’ A profound know-
ledge of Oriental character, such as was only to be expected
of a man like Henry Lawrence, underlies these apparently
simple instructions. And that Nicholson sometimes needed
such is évident from a letter which Sir Henry Lawrence
had occasion to write to him some two years later, after
the Punjab had become a British Province, when Sir Henry
himself had become President of the New Board of Adminis-
tration, and Nicholson was a Deputy-Commissioner : 4 Let
me advise you as a friend to curb your temper and bear
and forbear with Europeans and with Indians, and you
will soon be as distinguished a civilian as you are a soldier.’
Nicholson gratefully accepted the advice, and as Sir John
Kaye has remarked : 4 He acknowledged in his heart that
his character was ripening under this good influence, and
that, please God, much that was crude and imperfect in it
might soon disappear.’ Sir Henry Lawrence had con-
cluded his letter of instructions with these words : 4 Avoid
as far as possible any military movement during the next
three months, but, should serious disturbances arise, act
energetically.’ Nicholson was not the man to neglect such
an order as this ; and an opportunity soon presented itself.
A brother officer had found it necessary to deal with some
refractory chiefs : on being ealled upon to account for the
brutal murder of some women and children, they had
treated the orders with défiance and had shut themselves
up in their fort, Three columns were dispatched ; NichoL-JOHN NICHOLSON
125
son arrived first on the scene, but such had been the magic
of his name that the chiefs had slipped ofï, and the fort
was occupied without résistance. He very soon succeeded
in impressing the people of his wild District, who were of
ail races, customs, and callings, with his own masterful
personality. It was here that he first manifested that
extraordinary aptitude for the coercion and the govern-
ment of barbarous tribes that he was afterwards to show
to still greater purpose, as opportunities gradually opened
out before him. After a short administration of some six
months, he was able to report that ‘ the country, hitherto
more or less disturbed, is now perfectly quiet, and the
native officiais for the first time for years move about
without guards
In the spring of 1848, Nicholson was temporarily trans-
ferred to Peshawar as Chief Assistant to George Lawrence.
- Alarums and excursions,’ such as his soûl delighted in,
were always to be had in this wild frontier District. One
of his first duties was to capture some men who had com-
mitted murder : his usual promptness enabled him not
only to efïect this, but also to get possession of a quantity
of arms and ammunition which the tribesmen had been
storing up, as is their wont, in préparation for those raids
which are as the breath of their existence. His services
were soon in request for still sterner work. Events were
rapidly developing towards a general rising of the Sikhs,
who seemed determined to try another throw with the
British. It became necessary to checkmate the plans of
a notable Sikh chieftain, who was suspected of a design
to restore the intriguing Rani to the palace at Lahore,
and to expel the British from the Punjab. George Law-
rence determined to call upon Nicholson to undertake the
task. But when he visited him, he found him in bed
suffering from a severe bout of fever. He said to Nichol-
son : ‘ Had you been fit for the work, I should hâve wished
to send you ; but that is out of the question. I must
send some one else.’ Nicholson at once replied : 4 Never
mind the fever : I will start to-night.’ And that very
night he did start with a small body of horse and foot : he
had fifty miles to go, and he rode so fast ail through that
hot August night that he outdistanced most of his small126
RULERS OF INDIA
force, and arrived at the Fort at Attock with only some
thirty men. He rode up to the gâte just in time to pre-
vent the plotters within closing it against him. He com-
pletely cowed the mutineers by his bold bearing, and won
over the wavering to his side, even persuading them to arrest
their own leaders. Ere long the mutinous Sikh Company,
who had been prepared to hand the fort over to the rebel
Sikh chieftain, were marching sullenly out of the fort.
Well might George Lawrence write to Sir John Kaye :
‘ Never shall I forget him, as he prepared for his start,
full of that noble reliance in the presence and protection
of God, which, added to his unusual share of physical
courage, rendered him almost invincible.’ The very next
day he rode off in an easterly direction to check another
mutinous rising amongst a body of Sikh horse. He has
recorded the resuit in lus own terse and vigorous language ;
‘ I paraded the party and dismissed and confined the ring-
leaders on the spot. The remainder begged to be forgiven,
and having some reason to believe them sincere, and wishing
to show that I was not entirely without confidence in
Sikhs, I granted it. I shall of course keep a sharp look-
out on them in future.’ Nicholson was never a penman
at any time, and though he kept his Chief informed of
what he was doing, he wrote a characteristic letter of
apology for the curt brevity of his notes : ‘ This constant
knockmg about prevents my writing as clearly or carefully
as I could wish. I am from ten to fourteen hours every
day in the saddle, though not very strong, and though
the heat is great.’ It is recorded of General Wolfe, whose
constitution was naturally a weak one, that before his
great victory at Quebec he had said to his doctor : 4 Don’t
talk to me of constitution : spirit will carry a man through
anything.’ Nicholson’s constitution was naturally a grand
one, but his report showed that it was being rapicüy under-
mined by repeated attacks of fever—and nothing weakens
a man more in India—but his spirit carried him through
everything. On one occasion he had only some seven
hundred matchlock men with him, ail more or less un-
disciplined and untrained peasants ; and yet, by what has
been called a magnificent piece of bluff, he held up a com-
plété régiment of disciplined infantry with two guns ; andJOHN NICHOLSON	127
made the Colonel corne forward and beg pardon on behalf
of himself and his men, and agréé to march in any direction
he might order : needless to say, this was in exactly the
opposite direction they had been going in, which would
hâve enabled them to join forces with the rebel Sikh
chieftain.
And so it was during ail the weeks that elapsed before
the actual outbreak of the Second Sikh War. Wherever
Nicholson was most wanted, there he was sure to be found.
What his life was at this time may be seen from a letter he
wrote to his mother : ‘ I am leading a very guerrilla sort of
life with seven hundred horse and foot raised among the
people of the country. The chieftain who is in rébellion
has eight regular régiments and sixteen guns, so that I am
unable to meet them openly in the field. I received a slight
hurt from a stone in a skirmish in the hills a week or two
ago. I hâve often had a worse one when a boy at school,
and I only mention this as I was reported to hâve been
seriously hurt, and I feared lest the report should reach
you, and cause you anxiety.’ In these modest words he
refers to a really serious hurt he had received, which might
very well hâve caused his death, in one of the most gallant
feats that even he had ever performed. There is a famous
passon the road between Peshawar and RawalPindi, through
which the railway now runs, which is known as the Mar-
galla, or Cut-throat Pass. At this time it was commanded
by a tower, which like many of the towers used by hill-men,
had no door below, but only an opening some ten feet above
the ground, access to which was by means of a ladder,
which would be drawn up after entry by the defenders : it
would thus become practically impregnable to an ordinary
assault unsupported by guns. Nicholson had no scaling
ladders with him, and no man in his force capable of
handling effectively a powder-bag. He was unaware that
there was no door, but it would probably hâve made no
différence even had he known it. He charged, as usual, at
the head of his men in the face of a hail of bullets : finding
the real State of affairs, he looked behind to order his men
to bring up brushwood, intending to smoke the rebels out,
but found only a very few had followed him. He worked
with might and main trying to dislodge with his own hands128
RULERS OF INDIA
the huge unmortared stones of which the tower was built,
so as to force an entrance. The enemy meanwhile were
hurling down upon him and the handful of men with him
the huge stones which so often form in the hands of skilled
hill-men most formidable weapons of ofïence, and it was one
of tliese that struck Nicholson badly in the face. Nichol-
son’s friends attributed his marvellous escape from death
to the bad aim of the enemy caused by the awe his presence
inspired in a superstitious soldiery. Though, owing to want
of support from his own men, he was unsuccessful in carrying
the tower, as he had intended, by assault, it is recorded that
the Sikh garrison, scared by the boldness of the first assault,
evacuated the place under cover of the night ; and so his
object was attained, though not exactly in the manner he
had hoped.
On another occasion, Nicholson volunteered to make a
dash across the Jhilam with a body of horse to rescue from
captivity his friend George Lawrence, his wife and children,
who had fallen into the hands of the rebel Sikh chieftain.
His plan, it is stated, excited the admiration of Lord
Dalhousie, but the project was abandoned, as it was pro-
nounced to be too hazardous even for a leader of Nicholson’s
quality. The prisoners, who had been well treated, were
not released till after Guzerat.
During the Second Sikh War, Nicholson acted as aide de
camp and galloper to the general commanding, in addition
to his own spécial duties as Political Officer with the Army.
He was présent both at Chillianwala and at Guzerat. In
the interval between these battles, he was entrusted with
the work of reconnoitring and exploring the country in
search of commissariat supplies, and also with the more
humane task of protecting the peaceful villagers from the
plundering and raiding parties of camp-followers. During
his famous march on Lucknow at a later date, Havelock
foundit necessaryto appoint a Provost-Marshal, as the only
means of checking this propensity to plunder not only on
the part of camp-followers, but also on that of regular
troops : Nicholson now applied for similar powers, and he
wrote to Sir Henry Lawrence : ‘ If I get them, rely on my
bringing the army to its senses within two days.5 Though
he did not get the powers he wanted he did much to stop theJOHN NICHOLSON	129
mischief. These duties had kept him in the saddle day after
day, but with the victory of Guzerat came more congenial
work. After doing a little work on his own account, when
lie rode off with a trusty troop of Pathans on a ride of
twenty-five miles in search of nine guns, which he succeeded
in securing, he was attached to the flying column which
was formed under General Gilbert, to pursue and harry the
flying Sikhs and Afghans. He was présent when the
prisoners, whose escape he had so longed to be able to effect
himself, were brought into camp, and at the final scene of ail
when the Sikh leaders surrendered to General Gilbert, and
sixteen thousand Sikh soldiers laid down their arms. It
did not take long then to send the Afghans scurrying back
into their native hills. With the annexation of the Punjab,
Nicholson returned to civil duty, and was appointed Deputy-
Commissioner in Rawal Pindi. In a characteristic letter
to Sir Henry Lawrence, he sent in his little bill against
Government, 4 for property lost at Peshawar, Attock, and
Hasan Abdal, 1,000 rupees ; I also rode a horse worth 400
rupees to death on Government service—not running away.’
The District to which Nicholson was now appointed was
very familiar to him, as he had already seen a good deal of
service there, and had made his name respected. He was
now destined to make it not only more respected, but
actually reverenced. The imagination of the people had
already been impressed by the man, who combined in him-
self the masterful personality of a strong ruler with the
generous sympathy of a kind master. It was not long
before, with that facility that is characteristic of the more
simple-minded people of an Oriental race, they raised him
to the position of a demi-god. A new cuit arose called the
cuit of Nikal Seyn. Captain Trotter has told an amusing
story connected with the founder of the sect : ‘ The man
went one day to Abbott, who ruled a District to the north
of Nicholson’s charge, and asked him for the gift of an old
beaver hat. Abbott could not spare his, so the man, deter-
mined not to be done, secured one from an English gentle-
man at Rawal Pindi. Abbott could not make out why he
was so anxious to get one : the secret was soon out. One
day a shopkeeper rushed into Abbott’s office to lodge a
complaint against the Nikal Saini holy man. He had been
OSWELIi	7RULERS OF INDIA
130
asking alms of the shopkeeper, and failing to get what he
wanted, he had placed the tall hat on the ground right in
the shopkeeper’s path, and had then dared him to advance
and outrage the Sahib by treading upon it. Rather than
do this the shopkeeper had complied with the man’sdemand.’
The writer of this sketch once had under his own observation
an illustration of the respect a tall hat, and more especially
a tall hat that has belonged to a Hakim, or Magistrate, can
inspire among simple-minded rustics. He had occasion
one day to rebuke an office-bearer attached to one of his
offices for the general slovenliness of his dress. Next day
the man appeared wearing a tall hat which had been recently
given him by the Deputy-Commissioner. He was utterly
oblivious of the ridiculous appearance he presented to an
Englishman, for had it not gained him the increased respect
of his fellow villagers, and that was ail he cared about ?
But it would probably never hâve occurred to him to put it
to the use the Nikal Saini holy man had put his to. Another
great personality who was afterwards the récipient of
divine honours from a simple people was James Outram,
of whom for many years a miniature presentment, rough
hewn from a block of stone, used to figure in wayside shrines
in the Bhil country. In both men their simple-minded subjects
recognized, not by any means the embodiment of a relentless
force, as has sometimes been said, but the dominating might
of an all-powerful, yet kindly, will. There was a différence
between their traditional and older divinities and the newer.
One of the most beautiful of ail religious hymns that hâve
appeared in any literature is that enshrined in the pages of
Sanscrit poetry ; it is addressed to Brahma, a majestic but
solitary figure, seated above, and far remote from human
joys or griefs. Such was the conception these rustics had
formed of their own divinities. When, therefore, they saw
men whom they had raised to the same high rank, partici-
pating with them in their simple pleasures, and sympathizing
with their joys and sorrows, is it any wonder that they held
them enshrined not only in their hearts, but in their way-
side shrines ? It is recorded that the last member of the
Nikal Saini sect died a year only after Nicholson, and was
buried in the grave he had prepared for himself with the
work of his own hands during his lifetime. This is no un-JOHN NICHOLSON
131
common ending of many an ascetic in India ; and amongst
the mountains of Himalaya will be found even now many
such a man. During his wanderings in Kashmir, the writer
of this sketch came across a devotee of this kind living on
the banks of a sacred lake, the Lake of Contemplation, and
every day scooping a little more out of the sandy hill-side,
and thus making a place to serve as his last resting-place.
Nicholson was now a Major in the Bengal Army, and
with some ten years’ service to his crédit ; and he deter-
mined to take furlough to Europe. But he was anxious
to hâve some assurance that he would again find employ-
ment in the Punjab when he returned to India, and he did
not care to leave till he had secured this. It was during this
period of waiting that he wrote to a friend, 4 India is like
a rat-trap, easier to get into than out of.’ At last the
assurance he wanted reached him in a letter from Sir Henry
Lawrence, which was worded in terms, which in the case
of any one but Nicholson, might be called flattering : 4 What
corner of the Punjab is not witness to your gallantry ? Get
married and corne back soon ; and if I am alive and in
office, it shall not be my fault if you do not find employment
here.’ Nothing now stood in the way of his departure, and
early in the year 1850 he left India on a holiday that was
to extend over two years. The limits of this sketch will
not allow of a detailed description of how he spent his
furlough. On his way home he figured in some incidents
that showed his friends that the spirit of knight-errantry
was not yet extinct among the chivalric youth of England.
During his stay in Europe he visited most of the capitals,
and made himself acquainted with the most recent develop-
ments of military science. In Itussia he witnessed a grand
review of troops by the Emperor Nicholas, whom his
friends thought he resembled a good deal in personal
appearance. His friend Herbert Edwardes was on leave
much about the same time, but Nicholson did not follow
his example and get married, as his friends had hoped.
He had no wish, he said, to take a lady across the Indus,
and expose her to the périls that he had himself seen his
friends’ wives and children being exposed to. And so he
returned to India, as he had left it, a bachelor.
A great change had corne over the Province to which132
RULERS OF INDIA
Nicholson now returned, in the spring of 1852 ; and Nichol-
son saw évidences ail round him of the results of good and
just government folio wing upon the annexation. Cap tain
Trotter has well said : 4 Within three years of the great
surrender of Rawal Pindi, Ranjit’s crude kingdom had been
transformed, as if by magic, into one of the most thriving,
best ordered provinces of British India. Three years of
just, wise, unflaggingly provident rule, aided by a sériés
of favouring seasons, had raised the youngest of our Indian
possessions to a level with Bombay or Bengal. Thanks to
the tireless zeal of Dalhousie himself, and ail who worked
under him, from the Lawrence brothers down to the youngest
member of the Punjab Commission, the Lahore Board
could already déclaré that 4 in no part of India had there
been more perf ect quiet than in the territories lately annexed ’.
Nicholson was appointed to succeed Reynell Taylor, as
Deputy Commissioner of Bannu, early in May, 1852. He
considered himself very fortunate in succeeding such men
as Reynell Taylor, described as 4 the Bayard of the Punjab ’,
and Herbert Edwardes, who had laid the foundations of
his future success as an administrator in the wild frontier
district of Bannu. It was a District that extended north-
ward from the hills of Kohat, where dwell the Khatak
Mountaineers, famed for their fantastic and picturesque
dance with sword and torch, and southward for some 160
miles, covering an area of some 6,500 square miles.
In such a district Nicholson found plenty of scope for
his native genius and capacity. 4 Capax imperii, nisi
imperasset,’ was ne ver a judgement that could be passed
on Nicholson. He soon earned for himself the title of
Warder of the Marches. Some of the most troublesome of
the many troublesome tribes that Nicholson had to deal
with were the Wazirs, of whom, as is the case with most of
the Frontier tribes, there were several clans ; one of these,
the Mahsud Wazirs, hâve ever been a thorn in the side of
the Government of India. What these clansmen were like
may be judged of by a conversation that it is recorded
Nicholson once held with one of the rising génération. He
wrote to Edwardes an account of this : 4 Fancy a wretched
little Waziri child who had been put up to poison food, on
my asking him if it was wrong to kill people, saying that itJOHN NICHOLSON
133
was wrong to kill with a knife or sword. I asked him why,
and he answered, “ Because the blood left marks.” ’ Yet
he knew his way to the hearts of even these little wretches :
in the same letter he wrote and asked Edward es to send
him ‘ a few humming-tops, jews’-harps, or other toys
suitable for Waziri children ’ ; and he had characteristically
added : ‘ I wont ask for peg-tops, as I suppose I should hâve
to teach them how to use them, which would be an undigni-
fied proceeding on the part of a District Ofïicer.’ It was
such a letter as ‘ Boy Malcolm 5 might hâve written.
Nicholson still had many things to learn in his Civil
administration, and he had one or two différences with his
new chief, Sir John Lawrence, who, early in 1853, succeeded
to the sole command of the Province. Whenever it was
a case of bringing a disorderly tribe to reason, or of smashing
up a raiding party, Nicholson always wanted to do it off his
own bat, and Sir John Lawrence had to remind him that he
was now a Civil officer, and that he must leave punitive
measures to the military authorities. Lord Dalhousie had
to support Sir John in this plain speaking. He wrote : 41
know that Nicholson is a first-rate guerrilla leader, but we
don’t want a guerrilla policy.’ An amusing story has been
recorded of Nicholson’s short methods with Government
Régulations. ‘ An intimate friend of his found him one
day sitting in his office with a bundle of papers before him.
“ This is the way I treat such things,” he remarked laugh-
ingly, and proceeded to kick them across the floor.5 But
though he chafed at much, as was only natural to a man
of his ardent tempérament, he did excellent work as an ad-
ministrative officer. And Sir John Lawrence was able to
report of him to Lord Dalhousie in these terms : ‘ I look
on Major Nicholson as the best District Officer on the
frontier. He possesses great courage, much force of charac-
ter, and is at the same time shrewd and intelligent. He is
well worth the wing of a régiment on the border, as his
prestige with the people, both on the hills and the plains, is
very great. He is also a very fair Civil officer, and has
done a good deal to put things straight in his District.’
Many stories hâve been told of Nicholson’s vigorous
régime in Bannu, but space will not allow of their reproduc-
tion within the limits of this short sketch. If he was able134
RULERS OF INDIA
to inspire awe and admiration among the wild people he
had to deal with, he was also able to inspire his own immé-
diate entourage with dévotion. An incident occurred
one day early in 1856, which will serve to illustrate this.
He was standing at the gâte of his garden with some of his
attendants at noon one day, when an Afghan fanatic,
known on the Frontier as a Ghazi, suddenly rushed up with
a drawn sword, and called out, 4 Where is Nikal Seyn ? ’
He had for the moment been unable to recognize his intended
victim because of the Afghan postheen, or sheepskin coat,
he was wearing. One of Nicholson’s orderlies at once
threw himself upon the man, crying out, 4 We are ail Nikal
Seyns here,’ and would probably hâve done for the Ghazi,
but Nicholson did not wish to run the risk of the man losing
his life in the encounter, so he seized a musket out of the
hands of another orderly, and shot the Ghazi dead. His
laconic dispatch to his Chief was : 41 shot a man the other
day who went at me with a drawn sword.’ His work at
Bannu may be best summed up in the character sketch
that Herbert Edwardes, as Captain Trotter has recorded,
drew up for a friend of his : 4 Of what class is John Nicholson
the type ? Of none, for truly he stands alone. But he
belongs essentially to the school of Henry Lawrence. I only
knocked down the walls of the Bannu Forts : John Nichol-
son has since reduced the people—the most ignorant,
depraved, and blood-thirsty in the Punjab—to such a State
of good order and respect for the laws, that in the last year
of his charge not only was there no murder, burglary, or
highway robbery, but not even an attempt at any of these
crimes. The Bannuchis, reflecting on their own metamor-
phosis, in the village gatherings under the vines, by the
streams they once delighted to fight for, hâve corne to the
conclusion that the good Muhammadans of historié âges
must hâve been like Nikal Seyn. They emphatically
approve him as every inch a Hakim. And so he is.’
The Government had recently inaugurated a new depar-
ture in Kashmir. The increasing numbers of European
visitors to the vales of that beautiful country had rendered
it necessary to hâve some spécial officer on the spot who
could intervene in disputes between them and the local
inhabitants, and be of service in other ways. NicholsonJOHN NICHOLSON
135
was thus deputed, in the spring of 1856, to act as spécial
officer during the six months that visitors were then allowed
to remain in the valley. The duties then performed by
the spécial officer are now performed by the Résident ;
and with the large numbers of visitors that now throng
into the valley every year these duties are by no means
light. In the case of disputes between the visitors and the
inhabitants, any one who knows or who has experienced
the ways of the wily Kashmiri, knows well that the fault
is not always on the side of the visitor. Ladies were
beginning to frequent Kashmir at this time, and it will
always redound to the crédit of Nicholson that, not only
with the strong hand of authority, but also by the force
of the example of his own high moral tone, he did much
to cleanse the moral atmosphère, and to make the valley
a more suitable abode for ladies. There hâve not been
wanting critics in recent years from among the ranks of
Englishwomen too, who hâve passed rather severe strictures
on their countrywomen in India. These critics hâve over-
looked one very important fact, and that is the enormous
influence for good that the presence of English ladies in
India has had on their countrymen. A sultanized English-
man, not uncommon in an India of an earlier day, is now
as rare in India as is the dodo in the zoological world.
There must hâve been much in the Kashmir of Nicholson’s
day to form food for thought. He must hâve seen, amongst
other things, that there was something to seek in the
methods of the revenue collections. Even in the writer’s
own expérience rents were still being paid in kind, and
in a year that had witnessed both earthquake and famine
it was no uncommon sight to see a heap of grain at the
entrance to the villages awaiting the visit of the tax-
collector, and actually rotting, while the people of the
village were hard put to it to procure food. If, in the
Punjab, the names of John and Henry Lawrence hâve
become household words, so in Kashmir has the name of
Walter Lawrence, whose beneficent work of settlement has
done so much for the betterment of the peasants of that
most beautiful country.
Towards the end of the year 1856, Nicholson, to his own
great joy, found himself posted as Deputy-Commissioner136
RULERS OF INDIA
to Peshawar, where his friend Edwardes was Commissioner.
For three months in the spring of the fateful year 1857,
he acted for Edwardes, who, fortunately for his own peace
of mind, as it was to turn out, was sending his wife to
England, and was accompanying her as far as Calcutta,
on her way. Edwardes had not been back a week, when
news of the first bursting of the storm was flashed across
the wires from Mirât. The message ended ominously with
the words : ‘ The electric telegraph wire eut.’ It was a
fortunate thing for England that at this crisis there should
be found at the outpost of the Empire three such strong
men as Herbert Edwardes, the Commissioner, John Nichol-
son, the Deputy Commissioner, and Sydney Cotton, the
Brigadier. Edwardes, while he was down in Calcutta, had
had an interview on his friend’s behalf with Lord Canning.
At the close of the interview he had said : 4 If your lord-
ship should ever hâve anything of real difficulty to be
done in India, I give you my word that John Nicholson
is the man to do it.’ The time had arrived, and Nicholson
was on the spot. If, during the peaceful period of his
administration in the Peshawar District, 4 the Sound of his
horse’s hoofs had been heard from Attock to the Khaibar,’
it was soon to be heard over the whole of the Punjab,
but it was to be the Sound of the hoofs of a war-horse,
ever eagerfor the fray. No time was lost. Edwardes had
already written to his Chief at Lahore that 4 the matter
would hâve to be brought without further delay to the
bayonet ’. A Council of War was held, one of the few
Councils where perfect unanimity has prevailed, and it
was at once resolved, on Nicholson’s suggestion, that a
movable column of picked troops should be formed, and
a strong body of Multani Horse from the Derajat be raised,
in the joint names, Edwardes had significantly said, 4 of
Nicholson and myself, for the Khans of the Derajat are
as much his friends as mine.’ Earl Roberts has recorded
that he was one of the two Staff officers présent at this
Council to register the decisions corne to, and he has stated
how impressed he was by the calm and confident bearing
of its members. They were calm in the consciousness of
their strength, and in the righteousness of their cause.
The command of the movable column was given to NevilleJOHN NICHOLSON
137
Chamberlain, who was a man like-minded with Nicholson
and his peers. It had been at first proposed that Nicholson
should accompany the column as Civil and Political Officer,
but when the question was referred to Sir John Lawrence,
the answer came back promptly : 4 Nicholson cannot be
spared from Peshawar.’
And there was plenty of work for him to do. Much
secret correspondence was passing along the frontier at
this time, and it was part of his business to find out what
it meant, and this his unrivalled knowledge of the verna-
culars and of Persian enabled him to do. The post office
was daily overhauled, and many apparently harmless and
innocent travellers were relieved of the seditious missives
found concealed in folds of cloth under their armpits.
A Persian editor was found to be publishing false reports
intended to stir up sédition. Nicholson always dealt with
such gentry in a summary and effective manner ; and the
editor promptly made the acquaintance of a British jail.
But there was soon sterner work for him to do, and work
some of which must hâve gone very much against the
grain, that of disarming, not only régiments known to be
mutinously inclined, but those also against which there
was little real evidence of disaffection ; but it was a time
when, as an old Afghan chief is recorded to hâve said to
Nicholson, 4 The Sahibs must rely upon themselves ’ : it
had therefore to be done. The work had in many cases
to be carried out in the face of protests from many of the
British officers of the native régiments selected for dis-
arming. It is recorded that on one occasion the officers
of a cavalry régiment actually threw their own swords
with those of their men into the carts that had been brought
to the parade ground to carry away the arms, and some
indeed tore off their spurs and flung them in. At a con-
férence convened by Edwardes, at which Nicholson was
présent, the brave old Brigadier, Sydney Cotton, was at
last compelled to eut short the remonstrances of the officers
présent with the curt remark : 4 No more discussion, gentle-
men ! These are my orders, and I must hâve them obeyed.’
The first of these disarmaments took place at Peshawar,
and the effect upon the people of the district has been
described as magical. There had been some difficulty138
RULERS OF INDIA
before in getting men to join the new le vies that were
being raised, but after this exhibition of pluck and déter-
mination on the part of the Sahibs, this difïiculty at once
came to an end ; and in the picturesque language of
Edwardes, as recorded by Captain Trotter, c Hundreds of
Khans and Urbabs, who stood aloof the day before, appeared
as thick as Aies and were profuse in ofïers of service.’
Many were the disarmaments that followed, but in some
cases the mutinous régiments did not wait to be disarmed,
but marched ofï, with drums beating and colours flying,
either in the direction of the hills, if they were frontier
régiments, or in the direction of Delhi, if they were nearer
that city. It was in dealing with such régiments as these
that Nicholson proved himself the beau idéal of a guerrilla
chieftain. The description, as given by Captain Trotter,
of how he dealt with the mutineers who had marched ofï
to the hills of Swat, reads like one of the romances of an
earlier day. A column under Colonel Chute had been
formed to pursue this régiment : Nicholson accompanied
it in the capacity of civil and political officer with a body
of mounted police. The mutineers had gained a long start,
and the irregular cavalry seemed disinclined for the busi-
ness of pursuit. ‘ But John Nicholson was there on his
great grey charger, longing to hunt down and eut up the
retreating enemy. At the head of his own Sowars, stoutly
seconded by Lind’s Multani Horse, he dashed forward on
his death-dealing errand like an eagle swooping on his prey.
Mile after mile, and hour after hour, the chase continued,
Nicholson’s great sword felling a Sepoy at every stroke.
The mutineers fought stubbornly as men do who hâve no
chance of escape but by their own exertions. The retreat
ere long became a rout. The rebels were hunted out of
villages, and grappled with in ravines, and hunted over
the ridges, ail that day, from Fort Mardan to the borders
of Swat, and found respite only in the failing light.’
Nicholson was twenty hours in the saddle, and covered
over seventy miles on this famous ride. When he found
the press acclaiming him as the hero of the day, with true
modesty he disclaimed ail praise for himself and gave it
ail to Colonel Chute. On his return, he sent a characteristic
letter to his Chief : c I hâve got a man who taunted myJOHN NICHOLSON	139
police on the line of march with siding with infidels in
a religious war. May I hang hlm ? ’
In the middle of June, Nicholson received the command
of the Punjab movable column, and having been ordered
to meet his Chief at Rawal Pindi, he bade farewell to
Edwardes at Peshawar. As Nicholson was departing on
his new mission, Edwardes, as recorded by Captain Trotter,
wrote to Sir John Lawrence : ‘ So there goes dear fine
Nicholson—a great loss to me, but a still greater gain to
the State at this crisis. A nobler spirit ne ver went forth
to fight his country’s battles.’ From Rawal Pindi Nichol-
son hastened to Jalandhar, where he was to join the column.
A characteristic incident occurred here, which has been
recorded by Earl Roberts. Nicholson found the place
garrisoned by troops lent by the Raja of Kapurthala, as
the Sepoys, who formed the regular garrison, had mutinied
and departed. The Commissioner, anxious to do honour
to the Raja’s General and other distinguished officers and
gentlemen of the place, invited them to a Darbar to meet
Nicholson. The ceremony over, the assembly rose up to
départ. The General, being the chief guest, proceeded to
leave first : as he reached the door Nicholson barred his
exit. When ail had left, Nicholson turned to the Com-
missioner, and said to him : ‘ Do you see that the General
has his shoes on ? ’ And turning to the General, he addressed
him in his own language, and said, ‘ If I were the last
Englishman left in Jalandhar, you should not corne into
my presence with your shoes on : with the Commissioner’s
permission, I shall now ask you to remove them and carry
them out yourself.’ The General did so and departed,
Nicholson was no stickler for étiquette, but the times were
4 out of joint ’, and the insolent demeanour of the Kapur-
thala troops, who were swaggering about the streets as
only Sikhs and Rajputs know how to swagger when they
think they hâve the upper hand, showed that they recog-
nized this also. Nicholson knew that it behoved every
Englishman to show a bold front. Apart from this, no
man knew native customs and native sentiment better
than Nicholson ; and he knew the étiquette prevailing
among native gentlemen themselves on cérémonial occa-
sions ; and he further knew that the best native sentiment140
RULERS OF INDIA
would be with him in insisting on the observation of the
same forms by native gentlemen when visiting English
gentlemen, more especially on the occasion of one of the
most important cérémonial functions known in the East.
That such was the case was proved by the fact that the
General bore Nicholson no ill-will, and the Raja of Kapur-
thala himself ever after made it the subject of a joke
against the General. It is sometimes urged by their Indian
critics that Englishmen in India are too great sticklers for
étiquette. After ail, there is necessity for give and take
on both sides. The Englishman should insist on the obser-
vance by his Indian friends and acquaintances of customs
common among themselves on ail important cérémonial
occasions, but should be content to waive them on ail
social occasions, and the Indian should be prepared to
meet him half-way. And indeed the more thoughtful
among Indian gentlemen will always be prepared to meet
the English gentleman who possesses character more than
half-way, not only in this matter of étiquette, but in other
matters also.
4 Onwards to Delhi ’ had been the cry of many a régi-
ment of mutineers throughout the country in the early
days of the great crisis, but few of such régiments from
the Punjab ever succeeded in carrying out their intentions.
Where they had not been disarmed by Nicholson’s fore-
sight, his rapid marches and brilliant strategy frustrated
ail such attempts. A graphie presentment of the ardent
General, as he appeared on one of the few halts he had
allowed his men on one of these rapid marches, has been
given by Captain Trotter : 4 During the hottest part of
the afternoon, a hait was sounded beside a grove of trees,
in order that our overworn soldiers might snatch an hour’s
rest beneath its cool shade. Nicholson, ever eager to press
on, had taken this step with manifest réluctance. One of
his officers* on awaking from his brief slumber, inquired
for the General, but could not find him among the sleepers.
At last he saw Nicholson in the middle of the hot dusty
road, sitting boit upright on his horse in the full glare of
the July sun, waiting, like a sentinel turned to stone, for
the moment when his men should résumé their mardi.’
After holding command of the Punjab movable column forJOHN NICHOLSON	141
a few weeks, Nicholson received orders to march to Delhi.
These were the orders he and his men had long been
expecting and longing for ; and very welcome to their
comrades before Delhi were the reinforcements to prove.
Nicholson pushed on ahead of his force, and reached
Delhi in the early morning of August 7. With charac-
teristic thoroughness, he proceeded to make an inspection
of the position. Sir John Kaye has recorded the impression
his striking personality made on those who now saw him
for the first time : 4 About this time a stranger of very
striking appearance was remarked visiting ail our pickets,
examining everything and making most searching inquiries
about their strength and history. His attire gave no due
to his rank : it evidently ne ver cost the owner a thought ;
moreover, in these anxious times every one went as he
pleased : perhaps no two officers were dressed alike. It
was soon made out that this was General Nicholson, whose
person was not yet known in camp, and it was whispered
at the same time that he was possessed of the most brilhant
military genius. He was a man cast in a giant mould,
and an expression ardent and commanding, with a dash
of roughness : features of stem beauty, a long black beard,
and deep, sonorous voice. There was something of immense
strength, talent, and resolution in his whole gait and
manner, and a power of ruling men on high occasions that
no one could escape noticing.’ After this preliminary
inspection, Nicholson rejoined his column ; and on the
morning of August 14, an ever mémorable morning in the
history of the siégé of Delhi, the column marched in with
Nicholson at its head. 4 It was a sight,’ writes Sir John
Kaye, 4 to stir the spirits of the whole camp. Our people
turned out joyously to welcome the arrivai of the new-
comers, and the gladsome strains of our military bands
floated down to the rebel city with a menace in every
note.’
But the end was not yet. A month was to elapse before
the final arrangements for the grand assault could be made.
The heavy siégé battery on which so much depended, laden
with its load of ammunition, sufficient, it was said, to
grind Delhi to powder, arrived in camp on September 4.
That it arrived at ail was due to Nicholson. The enemy142
RULERS OF INDIA
had sent out a strong force to intercept it. Nicholson had
smashed up this force and captured its guns, and that
after a march that had presented unparalleled difïiculties.
The ground over which his force marched was so bad that
an artillery officer wrote : 4 The guns sometimes stuck fast
up to their axles, and the water was often over the backs
of the artillery horses. I began to think that we could
not possibly get out of our difïiculties, but I looked ahead
and ever in front I saw Nicholson’s great form riding
steadily on as if nothing was the matter, and so I felt
sure ail was right.5 Sir John Lawrence, in writing to
congratulate Nicholson on his feat, said : 41 wish I had
the power of knighting you on the spot. It should be
done.’ On the eve of the assault, an assembly of générais
was held. Nicholson was the only one absent : he had
gone on a last inspection of the batteries. Earl Roberts
has recorded that when he visited his battery, he remarked :
41 must shake hands with you fellows, for you hâve done
y our best to make my work easy to-morrow.’ On his
return from his tour of inspection he was invited by Neville
Chamberlain to dine with him, but he declined as he had
other business in hand. He had to meet his ofîicers to
give them their last instructions : these, it has been re-
corded, included the words of wisdom : 4 Don’t press the
enemy too hard. Let them hâve a golden bridge to retire
by.’ When it was known in camp that Nicholson had
been chosen for the post of honour as the leader of the
fïrst column, the whole force congratulated themselves that
it was so. As Sir John Kaye has finely said : 4 No man
doubted his power, and no man envied his réputation.
Ail men felt that a great soldier had corne among them,
full-brained and lion-hearted ; and they looked to him to
lead them to vie tory.’
The morning of the fateful day, September 14, 1857,
dawned, and it found Nicholson stationed at the head of
his troops waiting for the signal to advance. There had
been a temporary pause while the heavy breaching batteries
were knocking to pièces the fresh defences the enemy had
erected during the night. Earl Roberts has recorded the
thoughts that passed through his mind during the pause :
4 Standing on the crenellated wall that separated LudlowJOHN NICHOLSON
143
Castle from the road, I saw Nicholson at the head of his
column, and wondered what was passing through his mind.
Was he thinking of the future, or of the wonderful part
he had played during the past four months ? At Peshawar
he had been Edwardes’s right hand. At the head of the
movable column he had been mainly instrumental in keeping
the Punjab quiet, and at Delhi every one felt that during
the short time he had been with us he had been our guiding
star, and that, but for his presence in the camp, the assault
which he was about to lead would probably never hâve
corne off. He was truly a tower of strength. Any feeling
of réluctance to serve under a Cap tain of the Company’s
Army had been completely overcome by his wonderful
personality. Each man in the force, from the General to
the last joined private soldier, recognized that the man
whom the wild people on the frontier had deified—the
man of whom a little time before Edwardes had said to
Lord Canning, ‘ You may rely upon this, that if there is
a desperate deed to be done in India, John Nicholson is
the man to do it,’ was one who had proved himself beyond
ail doubt capable of grappling with the crisis through
which we were passing, one to folio w to the death. Faith
in the commander who had claimed, and been given the
post of honour, was unbounded, and every man was pre-
pared to do or die for him.5 At last the bugles of the
Rifles sounded the signal for the assault, and the columns
advanced.
Nicholson, like the born leader that he was, led his
column in person and was the first to mount the ladder
and gain the walls. While the second column was sweeping
the ramparts, occupying the bastions and defences, and
driving the enemy before them up to the Kabul gâte,
Nicholson and his men were attacking and capturing the
various buildings held by the enemy along his Une of
advance. The two columns met at the Kabul Gâte, and
in the picturesque language of Sir John Kaye :	4 The
regimental bugle-calls were sounded ; the different corps
were gathered together ; and men shook hands and con-
gratulated each other, and somewhat marvelled that any
were alive.’ But the work was not over : a heavy fire
was being directed against the troops from the Lahore144
RULERS OF INDIA
Gâte. The orders of the day had been that, if possible,
the Lahore Gâte was to be opened to admit of the entrance
of the fourth column, and Nicholson was not the man to
stop short when anything remained to be done. He deter-
mined, therefore, to make a suprême effort and capture the
gâte. The only way to it was through a narrow lane
swept by artillery, and commanded by houses occupied
by the enemy—a véritable valley of death. A gallant rush
was made, not once or twice only, but the task seemed
almost beyond the powers of men tried as Nicholson’s men
had already been. What foliowed must be told in the noble
language of the historian of the Sepoy War : 4 There was
something of a waver—a pause. The British soldier found
himself in the position he most hated. It was not fair
fighting. He was in a trap. Nicholson saw it ail—saw
what was depressing the hearts and checking the onward
movement of our fighting men. So he drew himself up
to his full height, and with his sword raised high above
his head, called upon his men to follow him. To some at
least of the defenders of Delhi that face and figure must
liave been familiar. Others saw a man of commanding
presence, whose position at the head of the column indicated
that he was a great chief. His lofty stature rendered him
so conspicuous that, if he had been a private soldier, some
rifleman at a window, or on a housetop, would hâve taken
deadly aim at him, and he would hâve sent one more
hated Feringhi to his last account. But it was not a single
life that he took : it was the life of a whole Army. Nichol-
son was shot through the body ; he knew at once that he
had received his death-wound, but he begged that he
might not be carried back to camp, until the capture of
Delhi was secure.’ And so, as Sir Hope Grant said, 4 like
a noble oak riven asunder by a thunderbolt,’ Nicholson
fell in the hour of victory. He lingered long enough to
know how great the victory had been, and then, on the
morning of September 23, he died. 4 There was a great
wail of the universal camp,’ the historian has recorded,
4 and from city to city, from cantonment to cantonment,
went the chequered tidings. Delhi had fallen. The king
was a captive. But John Nicholson was dead.’
For some fifty years, the only memorial to the hero wasJOHN NICHOLSON
145
a marble slab, that had once served as a garden-seat for
many a Mogul emperor, with a simple inscription engraved
on it, placed over his grave. A fine statue now stands
in the garden where he lies buried. It represents, as an
account in the Times has recorded : 4 John Nicholson, the
Nikal 8eyn Sahib of the Warrior races of the Punjab, with
his head inclined towards the Kashmir Gâte, and his sword
unsheathed. The scabbard is lifted, as if the General were
about to point the way to the final assault.5 Lord Minto,
Viceroy of India, unveiled the statue in April, 1906 ; and
the same account goes on to say : 4 Lord Minto, who was
in general’s uniform, with true soldierly instinct, wore no
décoration except the medals won on active service in the
field. He delivered a stirring speech in clear ringing tones,
and completely carried his audience with him. His speech
was the true, sincere, and éloquent tribute to the memory
of another soldier, whose heroic qualities and achievements
crowned by a glorious death in the hour of victory, had
for half a century been a living inspiration to the ofîicers
and men of the Army in India.’
4 Who is the happy Warrior ? who is he
That every man in arms should wish to be ?
It is the generous Spirit, who, when brought
Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought
Upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought.
Whose high endeavours are an inward light
That makes the path before him always bright.
Who, not content that former worth stand fast,
Looks forward, persevering to the last,
From well to better, daily self-surpast.
And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws
His breath in confidence of Heaven’s applause.
This is the happy Warrior : this is he
That every man in arms should wish to be.’
With these fines of the poet Wordsworth, which are
perhaps even more applicable to John Nicholson than they
are to most heroes, this sketch may fittingly conclude.
OSWELL
KCHARTER VIII
THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW
Sir Henry Havelock, 1795-1857.
Henry Havelock was fortunate in the influences that
were brought to bear upon him in his childhood in his home
in the far north of England, where his father was engaged
in the shipbuilding trade. He received from his mother
that systematic religious training which was to affect his
outlook on life throughout nearly the whole of his career.
As a boy he seems to hâve displayed that physical and
moral courage that were suc h marked traits in his character
at a later period of his life. His imagination, even at this
early âge, was impressed by the towering personality of the
great Napoléon ; and he read ail the hterature he could
get hold of that dealt with the movements and successés of
his hero. He seems thus to hâve laid the foundations of
that taste for the study of military history which was after-
wards so strongly developed in him. His school career
extended over a period of twelve years. During seven of
these years he was at Charterhouse. The head master,
Dr. Raine, was a man who could rule as well as reign, and
he could thus draw out of his boys ail that was best in their
character ; and he succeeded in winning their esteem and
admiration in a remarkable manner. He maintained a very
strict discipline, but this was ail to the taste of young
Havelock. When he died, and was succeeded by a man
of a different type, Havelock, finding that Charterhouse
had lost its chief attraction for him, persuaded his father to
remove him.
During his school career, Havelock, owing to his sober
and contemplative disposition, had received from his school-
fellows the sobriquet of 4 Phlos ’, abbreviated from Philo-
sopher ; this remained with him practically to the end of
his days. And it was very appropriate, for few men hâve
needed philosophy during their careers more than HavelockSIR HENRY HAVELOCK
147
did during his. Most men who hâve prepared for their
future careers by such hard and strenuous preliminary study
as that by which Havelock prepared for his, when once he
had entered on the serious business of life, hâve generally
seen some reward for their labours at a comparatively early
period in their career ; but this was not to be Havelock’s
destiny. His career was to be a military one. Promotion
in the army was slow in those days. Writing in after years
to his son, who had just obtained the adjutancy of his corps,
he said : ‘ You are fortunate in getting at the âge of twenty-
two, what I considered myself lucky to get at forty-two.’
But he was philosophie enough to accept the situation, as
he knew that he was no exception. Earl Roberts has inci-
dentally borne his testimony to this fact in a humorous
passage in his famous Autobiography. He had just joined
his appointment at Peshawar, and he writes : 4 My father,
who was then in his sixty-ninth year, had just been ap-
pointed to command the division with the temporary rank
of major-general. Old as this may appear at a period when
colonels are superannuated at fifty-seven, and major-
generals must retire at sixty-two, my father did not con-
sider himself particularly unlucky. As for the authorities,
they evidently thought that they were to be congratulated
on having so young and active an oôicer to place in a
position of responsibility upon the North-West Erontier,
for amongst my father’s papers I found letters from the
Ad jutant-General and Quarter-Master-General, expressing
high satisfaction at his appointment to this difficult Com-
mand.’ But Havelock was to need his philosophy most
when on his return to Cawnpur, after his gallant and heroic
attempts twice made to relieve Lucknow, baffled it may be,
but not defeated, he found awaiting him a Gazette notifica-
tion that he had been superseded in his command, and a
superior officer placed in charge of the operations which he
only wanted reinforcements to bring h'imself to a successful
conclusion. It seemed to him at the time as if 4 Euit ’ was
to be written on his escutcheon. But he met this, which
was perhaps the greatest disappointment that he was ever
called upon to meet, with that same spirit of philosophy
with which he always had met 4 the slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune ’. And the reason was not far to seek.148
RULERS OF INDIA
He was a philosopher because he was first and foremost that
true type of an EngHsh gentleman, trained in that school
where private feelings are ever subordinated to duty.
On leaving school, Havelock turned to law for a profession
for a time, but, notwithstanding his mother’s prédiction that
he was destined to sit on the woolsack, he was soon perforce
compelled to look out for another means of living, as his
father had withdrawn his countenance and financiai sup-
port from him, owing to some unfortunate family quarrel.
Through the influence of a brother he secured a commission
in the Army. Waterloo had been fought and won when
Havelock entered the Army late in the year 1815, and a
period of profound peace set in in Europe. He spent some
eight years in various garrison towns ; and utilized his
enforced leisure to the utmost, studying ail the greatest
authorities on the art of war,and leaming the practical duties
of a soldier. He was fortunate in having as his company
oflicer, Captain, afterwards General, Sir Harry Smith. In
his own modest language he tells how he thus acquired some
knowledge of his profession which was useful to him in after
days. But his biographer States that, ‘ Few officers had
ever become so thoroughly proficient in their profession as
Havelock in the period between his entering the Army and
embarking for India.’
Having been desirous of seeing active service, and thinking
that there was a greater prospect of such in Asia than in
Europe, and having, moreover, two brothers in India, he
took the first opportunity of exchanging into a régiment
that was proceeding to India, the 13th Light Infantry.
Bef ore embarking, he had, with his usual thoroughness, been
studying Persian and Hindustani under Dr. Gilchrist. He
studied to such purpose that his professor was able to pass
him as a full Munshi. On the voyage out he acted as
honorary professor to his brother officers. He was fortunate
in having as his commanding officer, Major, afterwards
General, Sir Robert Sale, the hero of Jalalabad. He was
at this time twenty-eight years of âge, ‘ possessed,’ writes
his biographer, ‘ of a well-built figure, if somewhat small,
an eagle eye, a countenance remarkably comely, which
exhibited the union of intellect and energy which never fails
to command deference.’ If Havelock impressed his fellowSIR HENRY HAVELOCK
149
officers with the force of his own personality, there was one
among them who was destined to leave a life-long impression
on Havelock himself. This was Lieutenant James Gardner :
both on board ship and on land, where, for some weeks after
landing, they chummed together, as it is called in Anglo-
Indian parlance, this young officer had impressed Havelock
with his deep earnestness and piety ; and it is recorded that
when they parted, Havelock said to him, 4 Give me your
hand ; I owe you more than I owe to any man living.’
Havelock arrived in India early in 1823, and very soon
saw that active service for which he was longing. The
King of Ava had recently conquered Assam, and had over-
run the Principality of Cachar, and having found but little
opposition, he thought he could treat the British in the same
way as he had treated other peoples ; so he proceeded to
demand the cession of the Eastern Districts of Bengal,
which he claimed as the ancient patrimony of the Burmese
Crown. His General then issued the quaint proclamation
that4 from the moment of their resolution to invade Bengal,
it was taken from under the British Dominions, and had
become in fact, what it had ever been in right, a province
of the Golden King \ And not content with this, the Bur-
mese committed actual acts of aggression on the Arakan
Coast on territory belonging to the British. There was only
one way of dealing with such arrogance as this born of
ignorance, and that was for the Ruler of Burmah to make
the acquaintance of British bayonets, and so be divested of
his ignorance. War was declared. Havelock received an
appointment as Deputy-Assistant-Adjutant-General under
Sir Archibald Campbell. The capture of stockades, which
in Lower Burmah take the place of sangars in the mountains
of the Frontier, formed the principal feature of the cam-
paign ; but many of them were most stubbornly defended,
and Havelock records one day’s fighting as having been 4 a
grand field-day of stockades ’. Though silent about his own
deeds, he has recorded one striking instance of gallantry on
the part of a brother officer : 4 Lieutenant Alexander
Howard, who was a volunteer for the day and had been
seen cheering on the men with very distinguished gallantry,
unluckily rushed upon an angle, where the Burmese, pent
like rats in a corner, were struggling desperately to escape150
RULERS OF INDIA
from the British bayonets. As he pushed on, sabre in hand,
three balls struck him on the side, and at the same moment
a Burman speared him in the back. He was found expiring,
his sabre yet clenched in his hand, fallen and lying over a
dead Burman, in whose skull was a frightful gash.’ His
remains were interred the same evening, and when it was
proposed to strip and reattire his body, Havelock, it is
recorded, pointed to his gory side, and said, ‘ You can affix
no brighter ornament than that to the body of a brave
soldier.’
Owing to illness, Havelock returned to Bengal for a time,
and as a visit to Calcutta failed to re-establish his health,
he proceeded by sea to Bombay. He congratulated himself
on being thus able to make the acquaintance of two such
men as Mountstuart Elphinstone and Bishop Heber. After
nearly a year’s absence he returned to Burmah. An incident
that occurred after his return shows the réputation that
Havelock and the men of his régiment who had corne under
his religious influence had gained with the officer com-
manding, as men to be depended upon in an emergency.
A sudden attack had been made on an outpost, and Sir
Archibald Campbell ordered up the men of another corps
to support it, but they were not prepared for the call after
a carouse. ‘ Then call out Havelock’s Saints,’ he exclaimed,
‘ they are always sober and can be depended on, and Have-
lock himself is always ready.’ The Saints, it is recorded,
got under arms with promptitude, and the attack was
repulsed. Havelock was soon after sent on a spécial
mission to Ava to receive the ratification of the Treaty that
the King had at last found himself compelled to agréé to.
The usual delay took place while the court cérémonial was
being altered to suit the requirements of the représentative
of a nation that was not prepared to concédé ail that
Eastern Courts usually demanded. It is not recorded that
Havelock was required ‘ to crook the prégnant hinges of
the knee ’ before the Golden Foot, and he was certainly
fully prepared, as Lord Macartney at a later period at the
Court of Pékin was, to waive the ceremony of kissing hands.
However, the English ofïicers, as a matter of political
expediency, made one concession to Oriental étiquette :
they removed their boots before proceeding to the presence.151
SIR HENRY HAVELOCK
The King graciously invested the envoys with the insignia
of titles and honorary distinctions. To Havelock’s share
fell a fillet of gold leaf placed on his forehead, and the title
of Grandee of the Empire.
On the conclusion of the campaign, Havelock received
the temporary appointment of interpréter with a detach-
ment of troops marching to Cawnpur. This appointment
having corne to an end with the arrivai of the troops at their
destination, he returned to Dinapur, where his régiment
was then stationed. He had always been a thoughtful
observer of men and things, and like many a man of action
both before and after him, he was gifted with the pen of
a ready writer. He relieved the monotony of a subalterne
life, for he was still only a Lieutenant, by compiling a narra-
tive of the Burmese Campaign. It was publïshed for him
at the Press of the Baptist Missionaries at Serampur, whose
acquaintance he had made soon after his first arrivai in
India. It was entitled Campaigns in Ava. Some time
after its appearance, one of his brothers was calling at the
Horse Guards, and saw the book lying on the office table
of the officer to whom he addressed himself. Are you the
author of that work ? ’ was his first inquiry. 4 It is from
the pen of my younger brother,’ was his reply. 4 Is he tired
of his commission ? ’ was the curt and significant rejoinder.
Havelock soon after received the appointment of Adjutant
to the Dépôt of King’s troops at Chinsura, not far from
Serampur. Here he again renewed his acquaintance with
the Baptist Mission, and eventually married a daughter of
the head of the Mission, Dr. Marshman, who is recorded to
hâve spent a fortune of £40,000 in the cause of Christian
Missions in India. He adopted the Baptist form of Chris-
tianity ; but this did not prevent his still retaining the
broad and tolérant views on the subject of religion that at
ail times distinguished him. His own remarks made at
a subséquent period show this : 4 Where men of different
dénominations agréé to meet in a feeling of brotherhood,
they leave at the door of the place of assembly the husks and
shells of their creed, but bring into the midst of their
brethren the precious kernel. They lay aside for the
moment at the threshold, the canons, the articles, and the
formularies of their section of Christianity, but carry along152	RULERS OF INDIA
with them the very essence and quintessence of their
religion.’
Soon after the Dépôt at Chinsura was abolished, and
Havelock accompanied his régiment to Agra, towards the
close of the year 1831. Having now been seventeen years
in the Army, and being still only a Lieutenant, he endea-
voured to obtain a company by purchase, which was the
only road to promotion open at the time. But by an
extraordinary concaténation of adverse circumstances, three
great Banking Houses that had agreed to advance the
necessary funds failed in succession during a great com-
mercial crisis. The necessary step in rank could not there-
fore be secured, and Havelock was obliged to look out for
another way of overcoming the inconveniences of scanty
domestic resources, which, now that he was a married man,
he was beginning to expérience. He saw that there was no
royal road to advancement for a King’s ofïicer except by
the usual channel of a competent knowledge of the vernacu-
lars of the country, and of the language of the Courts, such
as the Company’s ofïicers, who wanted civil employment, had
to acquire. He made, therefore, a further study of Persian
and Hindustani, and having passed the necessary examina-
tions in these languages with crédit, soon found himself
quahfied for an appointment as Interpréter. For a short
time he held such a post in the 16th Foot, but was replaced
by an ofïicer of the régiment, who soon after quahfied. He
then prepared to return to his régiment at Agra : and he
characteristically wrote to a friend : ‘ I hâve every prospect
of reaching Agra a full Lieutenant of Foot, without even
the command of a company, and not a rupee in the world
besides my pay and allowances, nor a rupee’s worth except
my little house on the hill, and some castles in the air even
less valuable. Nevertheless, I was never more cheerful or
f uller of health and hope, and of humble dependence on Him
who has so long guarded and guided me.’ His patience was
at length to be rewarded, and, in 1835, Lord William Ben-
tinck conferred upon him the adjutancy of his régiment.
On the arrivai of the régiment at Karnal, not very far
from Delhi, Havelock sent his wife and family to the lofty
hill-station of Landour, which overlooks the beautiful
vahey of the Dun, which is called ‘ The Garden of IndiaSIR HENRY HAVELOCK
153
The ‘ little house on the hill ’ was unfortunately soon after
burnt down, and Mrs. Havelock only escaped with her
infant through the heroic exertions of one of her native
servants who risked his own life to save hers. As it was,
the infant died, and Mrs. Havelock only recovered after
a long illness, during which her life was despaired of more
than once. Havelock was astounded at the blow, but was
much comforted by the action of the men of his régiment,
who came to him in a body, and solicited permission to con-
tribute a month’s pay to make up his pecuniary loss : he
declined the generous ofïer, but ever after cherished the
memory of it. Havelock was at last promoted to a cap-
taincy at the âge of forty-three. And with the breaking
out of the First Afghan War, he had another opportunity of
seeing active service. He was appointed by Sir Willoughby
Cotton, who had always been his good friend, as his second
aide de camp, and as such accompanied the army that
marched into Afghanistan to place Shah Shuja on the throne
of Kabul.
The.fortress of Ghazni on the high road between Kandahar
and the capital was considered impregnable by the people
of the country, but the British were not going to let it
‘ snort défiance to the Feringhi ’, as Bhartpur had so long
done. The Army had no siégé guns with it, as, contrary
to the advice of Havelock, Sir John Keane, who was in
suprême command, had left ail the heavy guns at Kandahar,
after they had been hauled with incredible labour through
the terrifie défilés of the Bolan and Khojak passes. Only
one gâte had not been walled up : this was blown up under
the direction of a gallant officer of the Royal Engineers,
Captain Thomson, with 900 pounds of gunpowder. The
‘ Forlom Hope 9 then rushed in, closely followed by the
main column under Sale, and the British Standard was
soon flying on the citadel, planted there by a gallant Ensign
of Havelock’s own régiment, Ensign Frere. At the first
streak of dawn Havelock had been directed by the General
to ride down to the gâte, and bring him tidings of the pro-
gress of the attack. He reached the spot immediately after
the explosion, and plodding over the débris of the batte-
ments, entered the gâte. He saw Sale on the ground
struggling with a powerful Afghan, and calmly calling out154
RULERS OF INDIA
to Captain Kershaw, who came up at the moment, to c do
him the favour to pass his sword through the body of the
infidel \ After seeing Sale to a position of safety, Havelock
rode back to Sir John Keane, and reported the complété
success of the enterprise. Havelock was much struck with
the humanity of the troops on this occasion, and wrote in
praise of the self-denial, mercy, and generosity of the hour
displayed by them. He attributed this largely to their
enforced abstention from spirits since they had left Kanda-
har, and to no liquor having been found among the plunder
of Ghazni. Havelock, though himself always in favour of
strict tempérance, ne ver denied the necessity of the distribu-
tion among the men of their tôt of rum, to keep their spirits
up, and sustain them amidst the fatigues of arduous cam-
paigning. But he knew the dangers of unlimited drink,
and he always repressed drunkenness with a strong hand.
When at Cawnpur, at a later period, he bought up ail the
supplies of the liquor to be found in the city, to prevent
temptation. After the capture of Ghazni, the army marched
on to Kabul without meeting with any further résistance.
Havelock did not notice any enthusiasm on the part of
the people of the capital at the restoration of Shah Shuja
to the throne : on the contrary, he has recorded that 4 the
inhabitants of Kabul preserved a dead and ominous silence
as Shah Shuja passed through the streets, surrounded by an
imposing array of military pageantry, and accompanied by
a brilliant cavalcade of British officers. Havelock now
returned to India for a time, as he wished to see another
military work on the Afghan Campaign through the press.
This done, he returned to Afghanistan ; he had been absent
about fifteen months. Matters had been steadily going from
bad to worse ; the Government had become, as Havelock’s
biographer has remarked, 4 a government of sentry-boxes.’
One fatal mistake had been made. The passes between
Kabul and Jalalabad had hitherto been kept open for the
British by the heads of the clans of the Ghilzai mountaineers.
They were men of whom Havelock has thus written : 4 To
the politics of Afghanistan they were magnanimously
indiffèrent ; they cared not which of their rulers lorded it
in the Bala Hissar, the Citadel of Kabul, provided they were
left in the undisturbed enjoyment of their ancient privi-155
SIR HENRY HAVELOCK
leges of levying tribute from caravans, or of mercilessly
plundering ail who resisted the exaction; or received from
the existing Government a handsome annual stipend in
commutation of the sums raised in virtue of their prescrip-
tive rights.’ They held much the same position in the
councils of the Afghan Government as did the class of
barons known as Ghatwalis in India, who held the passes
leading from the highland régions of Birbhum and Chutia
Nagpur on to the rich alluvial plains of Bengal. It was
a recognized part of Government policy, that they were
to be subsidized and subsidized handsomely. These men
had been summoned to Kabul ; there they received the
intimation that their allowances were henceforth to be cur-
tailed. With the courtesy that becomes the Oriental so
well, they made their salaams, a smile upon their lips, and
duly went their way. Arrived amongst their native hills,
they promptly closed the passes. Rewards given for spécial
services, or for fideUty, are never thrown away in an Oriental
country, and so Havelock found when, at a later period,
he was on his march to Lucknow. If he had not known
this before, this extremely impolitic act of the British
authorities in Afghanistan had taught it to him now, as it
had done to those responsible for it.
Sale was at once ordered to reopen the passes, and
Havelock accompanied the expédition. The first attempt
failed, and he had to return to Kabul for reinforcements ;
but soon left again to rejoin Sale. He was destined to see
no more of the Army of Occupation left in Kabul ; before
he visited Kabul again that army had ceased to exist, and
the Army of Rétribution had taken its place. At length
the force under Sale pushed its way through the passes as
far as Gundamak. Here he received orders from General
Elphinstone, now in command at Kabul, to return ; the
reason was given in a laconic postscript to the dispatch
written by George Lawrence, the Envoy’s Secretary, 4 We
are in a fix.’ The revoit had commenced. Sale, however,
had been allowed to exercise his own discrétion in the matter,
if he found he could not, without danger, leave the sick and
wounded of his force with the Irregulars at Gundamak. He
held a Council of War ; and it was resolved by ail its mem-
bers that the sick and wounded could not be so left, and156
RULERS OF INDIA
that an advance must be made to Jalalabad instead of a
move back to Kabul. The decision had been due to Have-
lock’s influence. His foresight was justified by the event,
which has been thus described by the historiamT" 4 Sir
Robert Sale’s force moved out on November Kl, 1841.
During the day a distant fire of musketry was heard behind
it, and then there was a lurid blaze, followed by a violent
explosion. It was the revoit of the Afghan levies at
Gundamak, who threw off the mask as soon as the force was
out of sight. They rose on their European officers, plun-
dered their baggage, set fire to the cantonment, and blew
up the magazine, sending a number of their own treasonable
companions into the air.’
Sale’s force reached Jalalabad the day after leaving
Gundamak. The defence of Jalalabad stands out as one
of the most gallant feats that hâve ever been recorded in
the annals of the British in the East ; and the crédit of it
belongs largely to one man in Sale’s brigade, Captain, after-
wards Major, George Broadfoot, of whom Havelock has
recorded his opinion in these terms : 4 He was pre-eminently
one of Plutarch’s men, formed, if his life had been spared, to
play a leading part in great events, and to astonish ail by
the vigour and grasp of his intellect, his natural talent for
war and policy, his cool and Sound judgement, his moral
courage and personal intrepidity.’ George Broadfoot was
killed during the First Sikh War, and on his tomb was
inscribed the words, 4 The foremost man in India.’ Have-
lock had so great an admiration for him that he named his
youngest son George Broadfoot Havelock. As soon as the
force arrived at Jalalabad, Broadfoot made a complété
circuit of the town to see how the defences looked. He
found, it is recorded, a mass of ruins where the walls had
stood. Again a council of war was summoned, and it was
solemnly debated as to whether it would not be better to
abandon the town altogether and retire into the citadel,
the walls round which were at least standing. Under the
influence of Havelock, who was strongly backed up by
Broadfoot, it was decided to occupy the town and rebuild
the walls. But, before this could be done, the enemy had
to be driven off : this was effected by a gallant attack in
which more than 200 of them were left dead on the field.SIR HENRY HAVELOCK
157
Broadfoot now made the best use of the temporary cessation
of hostilities which this brilliant victory had brought about.
Officers and men ail worked with émulation, and within an
incredibly short time, writes the historian, ‘ what had been
an indefensible heap of ruins was, as if by a magic wand,
transformed into a fortification proof against any but siégé
ordnance.5 The story of how Broadfoot had procured the
tools which had now corne in so handy, is one worth record-
ing :	* Captain Broadfoot had requested Sir Alexander
Burnes, when in Kabul, to help him obtain some entrenching
and mining tools ; thereupon Burnes issued orders to the
smiths at Kabul to provide them ; the orders were scornfully
disobeyed. Broadfoot then took with him a party of his
own sappers, and planting one of them over each smith,
obtained a large supply of the best tools that had ever been
seen in Kabul.5 The defenees had only just been completed
when the enemy again appeared in force ; and another
spirited sally was made, and with excellent effect.
Soon the redoubtable Akbar Khan himself appeared in
the valley ; and almost simultaneously, the walls which
the British had so recently rebuilt with such labour crumbled
to pièces as the resuit of a great earthquake. Broadfoot
had been standing on the ramparts when this disastrous
earthquake occurred ; and it is recorded that, on seeing the
defenees fall one after another, he remarked to a friend who
was standing near, ‘ Now is the time for Akbar Khan.5
But most fortunately for the British, the same earthquake
that had shaken the walls of Jalalabad down, had also
brought down the homes of many of the men who were with
Akbar Khan, and large numbers had left him to look after
the safety of their families. It did not take Broadfoot long
to repair the mischief ; ail ranks and ail arms combined in
the work of restoration. Thus, when Akbar Khan was again
ready for the attack, the British were ready for the encounter.
Akbar Khan was a son of Dost Mahomed, and had proved
himself a more formidable enemy to the British than his
father had ever been. He it was who had assassinated the
British Envoy at Kabul with the very pistol which that
envoy had presented him with only the day before. He
it was too who had issued the famous proclamation, in
which he had declared his intention of exterminating the158
RULERS OF INDIA
intruders, the rule of the Quran never being forgotten :
‘ Those who resist, I will kill : those who ask mercy I will
pardon.’ This was the man against whose attacks the
garrison had to provide. News of the disasters occurring
at Kabul had been reaching them from time to time, but
no idea of their extent had ever entered their imaginations
until the arrivai one morning in their midst of Dr. Brydon.
Then they learnt that the Army of Occupation had ceaked
to exist, and that they had given shelter to its only English
survivor. What was one of the most dramatic incidents
in the whole history of the defence has been thus recorded
by Havelock : 4 About 2 p.m. on January 13, some ofîicers
were assembled on the roof of the loftiest house in Jalalabad.
One of them espied a single horseman riding towards our
walls. As he got nearer, it was distinctly seen that he wore
European clothes, and was mounted on a travel-hacked
yaboo, which he was urging on with ail the speed of which
it yet remained master. The Kabul Gâte was thrown open,
and several ofîicers rushed out and recognized in the
traveller Dr. Brydon. He was covered with slight cuts
and contusions, and dreadfully exhausted. His first few
hasty sentences informed his listeners that the Kabul
army was annihilated. Countenances full of sorrow and
dejection were immediately seen in every corner of
Jalalabad ; ail labour was suspended ; the working parties
recalled ; the assembly sounded ; the gates were closed, and
the walls and batteries manned, and the cavalry stood ready
to mount. The first impression was that the enemy were
rapidly following a crowd of fugitives in upon the walls,
but three shots only were heard in the distance. The récital
of Dr. Brydon filled ail hearers with horror, grief, and
indignation. A little later the cavalry were sent out to
patrol, in the hope of recovering a few more fugitives, but
in vain. A large light was exhibited at night ; and four
buglers sounded the advance every half-hour for three
nights. The Sound which had so often awaked the animation
of the soldier now fell with a melancholy cadence upon the
ear ; it was sounded to the dead.’ The garrison now knew
that at any moment they might hâve to meet an attack
from Akbar Khan’s forces, reinforced by fresh troops sent
from the capital with the help of the guns so recentlySIR HENRY HAVELOCK
159
captured from the Army of Occupation. But the spirit of
the garrison, inspired as it was by such men as Havelock
and Broadfoot, was equal to the occasion. What that
spirit was may be illustrated from an entry that Havelock
made in his Journal, copied from a French writer : 6 What
things apparently impossible hâve been accomplished by
resolute men whose only other resource has been death ! ’
And it was an almost impossible feat that this heroic
garrison did accomplish. A relief force under General
Pollock arrived from Peshawar one morning, only to find
that ‘ the Illustrious Garrison’, as Lord Ellenborough
afterwards described them, had wrought out their own
deliverance. Havelock himself had had a very narrow
escape from death during the great battle between the
British and Akbar Khan. He had formed his troops into
a square to receive the charge of the enemy’s cavalry, and
had remained outside to the last : his horse, alarmed at the
firing, threw him just as the Afghan horsemen rode up, and
he would hâve fallen under their sabres had not two men
of his régiment rushed out from the square and dragged him
back just in the nick of time.
Havelock now received the appointment of Deputy-
Adjutant-General of the Infantry Division, and he remained
with the force in this capacity until General Pollock had
completed the work of rétribution. His old régiment, the
13th Light Infantry, behaved with conspicuous gallantry
on more than one occasion : their five months of hard
service at Jalalabad had converted the new recruits he had
brought up with him only a year before into seasoned
vétérans. Havelock himself was in his element, and is
recorded to hâve been at ail times présent wherever the
fire was hottest and the résistance most resolute. Malleson
has compared Havelock with the famous French Marshal
Masséna, of whom Napoléon wrote :	4 His conversation
gave few indications of genius ; but at the first cannon-
shot his mental energy redoubled, and when surrounded
by danger his thoughts were clear and forcible.’ Have-
lock was in Kabul when the prisoners, who had been in
Akbar Khan’s hands for some eight months, arrived in
camp. On his inquiring whether his nephew, Lieutenant
Williams, a grandson of Dr. Marshman, was among them,160
RULERS OF INDIA
a tall figure clad in an Afghan dress, with a beard which
had not been touched for many months, stepped forward
and shouted, 4 Here I am, uncle.’ Among the prisoners
were George Lawrence and John Nicholson. Ail spoke
well of the treatment they had received while in confine-
ment, and so much must be placed to the crédit of their
captor, Akbar Khan : he had shown himself not wanting
in chivalry. The final scene came when, on December 17,
1842, the Army of Rétribution defiled over the bridge of
boats which had been thrown across the Sutlej, and was
received by Lord Ellenborough, as the historian has re-
corded, 4 with ail the pomp and ceremony of a Roman
ovation.’
Havelock received a Commandership of the Bath for his
services. Owing to the retirement of an officer just above
him in rank, he obtained a Majority in his régiment ; and
was soon after appointed Interpréter to the new Com-
mander-in-Chief, Sir Hugh Gough. He was présent in that
capacity during the short Gwalior Campaign. This affair
did not turn out altogether the picnic that Lord Ellen-
borough had anticipated ; and some ladies who were in
his camp, and had corne out on éléphants to see the fun,
were soon dispatched to a place of safety in the rear, when,
in the course of one engagement, cannon-balls began to
play about their mounts. Two battles were fought, Punniar
and Maharajpur, and in both the Mahrattas are said to
hâve fought with determined gallantry. Havelock, as
usual, distinguished himself by the cool intrepidity with
which he moved about amidst the balls that ploughed up
the ground ail round him. One incident is especially worth
mentioning. 4 A régiment of Native Infantry was moving
at so slow a pace as to exhaust the patience of Sir Hugh
Gough. 44 Will no one get that Sepoy régiment on ? ” he
repeatedly exclaimed. Havelock offered to go, and riding
up, inquired the name of the corps. 44 It is the 56th Native
Infantry,” was the reply. 441 don’t want its number,” he
said, 44 what is its native name ?” 44 Lamboorun-ke-Paltan,
Lambourn’s régiment,” was the reply. He then took off
his cap, and placing himself in their front, addressed them
by that name ; and in a few complimentary and cheering
words, reminded them that they fought under the eye of161
SIR HENRY HAVELOCK
the Commander-in-Chief. He then led them up to the
batteries, and afterwards remarked that 4 whereas it had
been difficult to get them forward before, the difficulty
now was to restrain their impetuosity ’. The campaign
ended satisfactorily, and soon after Havelock found him-
self a Lieutenant-Colonel.
Havelock was again actively engaged in ail the principal
engagements of the First Sikh War : at Mudki he had
two horses shot under him, and was twice remounted by
his friend Broadfoot, who on the second occasion jocularly
remarked that it appeared to be of little use to give him
horses, 4 as he was sure to lose them.5 At the great battle
of Firozshahr, which lasted two days, and of which Lord
Hardinge remarked to Havelock, ‘ Another such battle will
shake the Empire/ Havelock had the misfortune to lose
two of his greatest friends, Broadfoot and Sale, who were
both killed. At the close of this campaign, Havelock
made a note in his Journal to this effect : 41 entered upon
this campaign fancying myself something of a soldier.
I hâve now learnt that I know nothing. Well ! I am even
yet not too old to learn.5 He accompanied the Governor-
General to Lahore after the war, and was présent at the
great Durbar at which the new Government of the Punjab
was installed. He now received the appointment of Deputy
Adjutant-General of Queen’s Troops at Bombay. He had
exchanged into the 53rd Régiment, and when, on the
breaking out of the Second Sikh War in 1849, that régiment
was ordered to the front, not wishing, as he remarked,
4 that any one of his name should appear to be slow to
answer the call of duty,5 he asked permission to accompany
it : this was not accorded. He was naturally much dis-
appointed, but determined now to carry out the plan he
had long been contemplating of proceeding to England on
furlough, whither Mrs. Havelock had already preceded him.
And towards the end of the year he joined her there,
returning to India again at the close of 1851.
After holding the appointment for a time of Quarter-
Master-General of Queen’s Troops, 4 his duties consisting,5
he said, 4 of two returns and two letters a month,5 he was
appointed Adjutant-General. When the Persian War broke
out, Outram, who had been appointed to the suprême
oswell	L162
RULERS OF INDIA
command, recommended Havelock for the command of
the Second Division, an appointment which Havelock was
not slow to accept, as he was always ready for anything
in the way of active service. There was very little fighting
during this short six months’ campaign, as the Persians,
it is recorded, generally fled so fast whenever the British
Infantry put in an appearance that it was found hopeless
to pursue them. There were only three engagements
altogether ; and the last of them, fought on the banks
of the Euphrates, was won practically by guns served by
the handy men of the Indian Navy, who so pounded the
position which the Shahzada in person was commanding,
that when the army advanced the Persians were seized
with a panic, and precipitately abandoned their camp and
fled. As Havelock has written : 6 The white tents were
standing, but the tenants had vanished, as if by the stroke
of a magic wand.’ Havelock returned to Bombay in the
early part of 1857, in time to hear the astounding intelli-
gence of the outbreak of mutiny in the Sepoy Army.
Havelock’s first impulse was to proceed by the shortest
route to join his appointment as Adjutant-General, and to
be once more at the Commander-in-Chief’s side ; but Lord
Elphinstone, the Governor of Bombay, dissuaded him from
proceeding overland, as the difficulties would be found
insuperable : so he proceeded by sea to Calcutta. Off the
coast of Ceylon, his steamer was wrecked : amid a scene
of much confusion, Havelock remained calm and collected,
and called out : ‘ Now, my men, if you will obey orders,
and keep from the spirit cask, we shall ail be saved.’
Canoës came from the shore and took them ail off. Have-
lock, with his usual earnestness, is recorded to hâve called
upon every one to kneel down and return thanks to Almighty
God for their deliverance. And characteristically, he wrote
of the incident : 4 The madness of man threw us on shore ;
the mercy of God found us a soft place to land on.’ He
then went on to Madras, where he found Sir Patrick Grant
proceeding to Calcutta by the orders of Lord Canning, to
act provisionally as Commander-in-Chief. Havelock accom-
panied him. It is recorded that Sir Patrick Grant, having
in mind some words once used by Lord Hardinge of Have-
lock, remarked to Lord Canning as he introduced HavelockSIR HENRY HAVELOCK
163
to him : 6 Your Excellency, I hâve brought you the man.’
Lord Canning at once appointed him Brigadier-General in
command of the movable column that it had been decided
should be formed to operate in the disturbed districts.
His orders were to lose not a moment in supporting Sir
Henry Lawrence at Lucknow, and Sir Hugh Wheeler at
Cawnpur. His words, on receiving his orders, were, ‘ May
God grant me wisdom to fulfil the expectations of Govern-
ment, and to restore tranquillity in the disturbed districts.’
Havelock had now obtained the realization of his long
cherished dream of an independent command of a British
Army in the field, for which he had been preparing himself
during more than forty years of varied service. His prépara-
tions did not take him long ; and within less than a week
after receiving his orders he was on his way to Allahabad,
where he formed his column. One of its constituents was
a small body of volunteer cavalry destined to achieve for
itself lasting famé. In its original composition it consisted
only of some eighteen members, under the command of
Captain Barrow. They came from ail classes : officers
whose régiments had mutinied and who were therefore in
search of employment, indigo-planters, refugee tradesmen,
and police patrols. The force was reinforced from time
to time, but at no time did it exceed six-score men. After
Outram had joined forces with Havelock, it had the dis-
tinction of having him as one of its members. To this
day those princes of good fellows, the indigo-planters of
Behar, are gallant Light Horsemen, and form the back-
bone of that well-known corps, ‘ The Behar Light Horse ’ :
and they proved on many a battlefield in South Africa
that they are no unworthy successors of the Pioneer Corps.
The 78th Régiment of Highlanders also formed part of the
force. Havelock had been much put to it to provide
suitable clothing for ail the members of the column : he
could not supply this gallant corps with lighter clothing
than their woollen tunics ; and they had to fight every
battle in this dress. But as it was no tented field that
they were going to, and it was the height of the rainy
season, it is probable that the warmer clothing saved them
from many a chill on their wet bivouacs, and really proved
a blessing in disguise.
L 2164
RULERS OF INDIA
Havelock’s force left Allahabad on the morning of July 7.
Including a body of 300 men under Major Renaud that
had gone on in advance, the whole number of troops under
Havelock’s command was 1,500, with eight guns. The
news that met them on tbeir march, that Cawnpur had
fallen, and that Lucknow was invested, showed them that
they had sterner work before them than they had antici-
pated. Their first encounter with the rebels was at Fateh-
pur : it was a complété victory : it was the first check
that the enemy had yet received in the open field, and it
not only had an excellent efïect on the morale of Have-
lock’s troops, but on that of the British Army generally
in India, besides bringing a ray of hope to the European
community. Havelock was not unnaturally proud of it,
and he issued an order of the day in these characteristic
terms : ‘ The victory has been due to British pluck, that
great quality that has survived the vicissitudes of the
hour, and gained intensity from the crisis ; and to the
blessing of Almighty God on a most righteous cause, the
cause of justice, humanity, truth, and good govemment
in India.’ Steadily the troops moved on to their first
objective, which was Cawnpur. They knew by this time
that their comrades in armshad been treacherously murdered
there in cold blood, but they still hoped to be in time to
save some 200 women and children who, they had leamt,
were yet alive. The next engagement was at Aong, fought
shortly after daybreak : this would of itself hâve ordinarily
been enough for one day, but while the troops were resting
preparatory for breakfast, they were called upon to make
yet another suprême effort in order to capture the bridge
over the Pandu Nadi : ail breakfastless as they were, they
rushed to the attack, and were only just up in time, as
the enemy were found to hâve already undermined the
bridge preparatory to blowing it up. Havelock’s men had
nobly responded to the call : they had fought and won
two actions in one day, and it is no wonder that after
their exertions they threw themselves just as they were,
exhausted on the ground. Next day it was the same again :
two actions, more severe, if anything, than those gone
before, had again to be fought before the way into Cawnpur
was clear. The Nana himself had corne out to oppose the165
SIR HENRY HAVELOCK
entry of the British, but his troops could not stand before
the impetuous rushes of Havelock’s men. The Highlanders
especially covered themselves with glory on this occasion.
The volunteer cavalry also did so well that on their return
from their gallant charge against the whole body of the
rebel cavalry, Havelock exclaimed : ‘ Well done, Gentle-
men Volunteers : y ou hâve done well. I am proud to
command y ou.5 Only the next morning did Havelock tell
his men the terrible news that he himself had heard on
the night of the battle, of the massacre of the women and
children. The effect of the news on the men, enhanced
as it was by the sights presented before their eyes as they
marched into Cawnpur, on the morning of July 17, was
almost stunning, It has been recorded how men of iron
nerve who had rushed to the cannon’s mouth without
flinching, and had seen unappalled their comrades mowed
down around them, now lifted up their voices and wept.
They swore to exact a terrible rétribution ; and it says
much for the stern discipline that Havelock ever enforced
among his troops, that he was able to keep their feelings
within due bounds, At the same time, he had no intention
of not himself exacting the stemest rétribution, but it was
to be exacted in the open field. Even at this time, when
ail men’s feelings might hâve been expected to hâve been
most inflamed, he issued the strictest orders against any
desecration of the enemy’s holy places : similar orders had
been issued by Sir Henry Lawrence in Lucknow : ‘ Spare
the holy places and private property of the people as
much as possible,’ had been his instructions. That the
enemy themselves were not so scrupulous in their feelings
towards their own shrines is evidenced by the report
subsequently made by Brigadier Inglis, to the effect
that some of the heaviest losses at the Residency were
due to the fire from the enemy’s sharpshooters stationed
in the adjoining mosques, and houses of the native
nobility.
Havelock saw now the work that lay before his force
and he saw that the task would be an impossible one
without fresh and strong reinforcements ; and it was when
he was confident that he would get what he wanted, at
least an extra battery of guns and 1,000 European bayonets166
RULERS OF INDIA
more, that he wrote thus to Neill : c The instant y ou join
me, I will by the blessing of God strike a blow that shall
resound through India.’ This was said in no spirit of
vainglory. He had seen what his men could do, and he
had every confidence that with additional troops in sufficient
numbers, and of the same quality, he would be able to
accomplish the great task that lay before him. But ‘ hope
deferred ever maketh the heart sick ’ : the expected rein-
forcements delayed their coming :	a general feeling of
gloom and dépréssion began to pervade the camp, which
was not lessened by the great amount of sickness that
there was amongst the troops. The historian, with a
graphie touch, has thus pictured the scene : ‘ A deep silence
pervaded the encampment, except when it was broken by
the melancholy sounds of the Highland bagpipes as the
burying parties conveyed the bodies of those who had fallen
by the sword, or by choiera, to their last home.’ At
length even Havelock’s courageous spirit was momentarily
afïected. It is recorded that, as he sat at dinner with his
son one evening, his mind dwelt with gloomy forebodings
on the possible annihilation of his brave men in a fruitless
attempt to accomplish what was beyond their strength.
After remaining long in deep thought, his strong sense of
duty, and his confidence in the justice of his cause, restored
the buoyancy of his spirits, and he exclaimed, ‘ If the
worst cornes to the worst, we can but die with our swords
in our hands.’ Neill reached Cawnpur on July 20, with
less than 300 men, not enough to fill up the gaps in Have-
lock’s force made by death and disease, or even to garrison
Cawnpur. However, Havelock resolved to make an attempt
to relieve Lucknow ; and leaving Neill in charge at Cawn-
pur, he proceeded on his way.
It took him nearly a week to effect the Crossing of the
Ganges, which was in flood, and consequently about a mile
in width. The first camp was at Mangalwar, some six
miles on the Oudh side of the river. The first encounter
with the enemy took place on the morning of July 29,
at Unao. The rebels fought most gallantly ; and for the
greater part of the time it was a hand-to-hand fight.
Fifteen of the enemy’s guns were captured ; but the troops
were again called on for another stubborn fight, after they167
SIR HENRY HAYELOCK
had been halting for three hours only : this battle gave
them possession of Basirhat-ganj. On this mémorable day
the men had been fighting practically from sunrise to sun-
set ; at nightfall, Havelock rode out some distance to
reconnoitre : as he was returning to camp, his men caught
sight of him. 4 Clear the way for the General,’ was their
cry. 4 You hâve done that right well already, men,’ was
the General’s cheery rèply. As Havelock rode ofï, ail
shouted out, 4 God bless the General.’ For the second
time during this brief campaign two battles had been
fought, and two victories won, in one day. But the loss
of men and of ammunition had been so great, and, owing
to a rising of the troops at Dinapur, the danger of having
his communications eut behind him had become so pressing,
that Havelock resolved to retire to his first position at
Mangalwar, near the Ganges. Again he urged the necessity
of having strong reinforcements sent to him, and again
he only received less than 300 men. But once more he
advanced on Lucknow. He had to capture Basirhat-ganj
at the point of the bayonet, and he gave the honours of the
day to 4 the Blue Caps ’, as he called the Madras Fusiliers.
The difficulties ahead of him proved too great, and he once
more was compelled, under the pressure only of inexorable
duty, to retire on Mangalwar. Disease was decimating his
force, and the medical officers had reported that, unless
the force was allowed some weeks’ rest, there would be
no fighting men left. After driving the enemy out of
Basirhat-ganj yet again, the force, at the urgent request
of Neill, who was now himself in difficulties at Cawnpur,
recrossed the Ganges and entered Cawnpur, only to find
that there was to be no rest yet before them. The Nana
had taken up a strong position at Bithoor, near Cawnpur,
and was only driven out of it after a very stubborn fight,
in which the bayonet was in constant réquisition. With
this battle ended for a time only, Havelock’s first campaign
for the relief of Lucknow, one of the most glorious that
hâve been recorded in the annals of the Army in India.
Between July 12 and August 16, a short period of thirty-
six days, the force under Havelock’s command, writes the
historian, 4 had fought nine actions against overwhelming
odds, the troops disciplined, and for the most part armed,168
RULERS OF INDIA
like themselves, and had been everywhere victorious with-
out a single check.’
Havelock’s name had by this time become a household
word in England, as had that of the troops under his
command, and c Havelock and his Ironsides as they had
been called, were known wherever the English tongue was
spoken. Havelock had not yet succeeded in his immédiate
object, but he had done even more than he had thought
he had done. A faithful Sepoy pensioner in Lucknow,
named Angad, had been the means of keeping those be-
leaguered in the Residency in touch with Havelock and his
troops ; and they knew ail that he had been accomplishing.
The chief civil officer in Lucknow, Mr. Martin Gubbins,
has recorded in his Journal the services that the beleaguered
owed to him : ‘ He struck terror by his victories into the
ranks of the mutineers : while, as for our garrison, we owe
our safety, under Providence, I feel assured, to the exploits
performed by Havelock’s Army, for it was the knowledge
of what they had effected that kept up the hearts of our
native troops, and prevented their deserting us.’ Have-
lock knew that ail he wanted now to achieve complété
success were efficient reinforcements. It must hâve been,
therefore, a very heavy blow to him to receive the news
of his supersession in favour of Sir James Outram, which
has been described by the historian as ‘ one of the most
inconsiderate acts of this year of confusion and error
However, this did not prevent him from making every
préparation, with his usual thoroughness, for the second
campaign, even though, as he thought at the time, he was
not to be in suprême command. History has recorded
how his fortitude was rewarded by that marvellous act of
self-abnégation on the part of the Bayard of India, in
renouncing the command that had been given to him in
Havelock’s favour.
No time was now lost. Within four days after Outram’s
arrivai, Havelock’s force, now consisting of 2,500 men,
again crossed the Ganges : the Crossing this time was
effected in one day, owing to the excellent arrangements
previously made by Havelock, and there was not a single
casualty. Mangalwar had to be captured from the enemy
before further progress could be made. Fortunately, theSIR HENRY HAVELOCK
169
bridge over the Sye had not been destroyed by the enemy.
After the passage of the Sye had been made, Havelock
had a royal salute fired by the heavy battery, in the hopes
that the Sound would reach the Residency, but the wind
carried it off in another direction. No further obstacle
presented itself till the Alambagh was reached. The Alam-
bagh was a pleasure garden, containing the usual garden-
house, that had belonged to the Royal Family of Oudh.
The enemy were soon in full retreat, and as they streamed
across the country, Outram placed himself at the head of
the volunteer cavalry, mounted on a big mottled roan, and
as he came up with the enemy, brought the stout cudgel
which he wielded in place of his sword down on the backs
of many a rebel. A hait was made at the Alambagh on
September 24. Early on the morning of September 25,
orders for the final advance were given, the parole of the
day being ‘Patience5. Just before the force started, the
two Générais had had a very narrow escape from death.
They were bending over a small table that had been placed
in the open field, studying that valuable plan of Lucknow
which the Sepoy pensioner, before referred to, had, at the
risk of his life, brought to Havelock from Inglis : ‘ At this
moment a nine-pound shot from the enemy’s battery struck
the ground at a distance of about five yards from them, and
rising, bounded over their heads, leaving them uninjured.5
After some of the severest fighting that the troops had ever
had to encounter, the Residency was reached the same
evening ; and the first relief had been effected : though
actually a reinforcement rather than a relief properly so
called, it was a most welcome respite for the hard-pressed
garrison. Lord Canning’s words, in writing of Havelock,
expressed the sentiments of ail : ‘ Rarely has a man been
so fortunate as to relieve by his success so many aching
hearts, and to reap so rich a reward of gratitude.5
The relief effected, Sir James Outram assumed command,
and finding it impossible to get the garrison away in safety,
decided to remain where he was : the position, however,
was extended over a thousand yards to the east, and
Havelock was placed in charge of the extension. Thus,
when the relieving force under Sir Colin Campbell ap-
proached, late in November of the same year, he was in170
RULERS OF INDIA
close touch with it ; and by another act of glorious self-
effacement on the part of Outram, who again gave him
the suprême command at this critical juncture, he was
able to put the crown on his great achievement by preparing
the way for the final relief of the heroic garrison. The
historié meeting of the three Générais, Outram, Havelock,
and Campbell, has been the subject of a great picture ;
and a graphie presentment of what was one of the closing
scenes in the life of Havelock has been given by the pen
of the historian of the Sepoy war. Outram and Havelock
had gone out to meet Sir Colin Campbell accompanied by
six officers and one civilian, the gallant Kavanagh. In
Crossing the deadly zone of fire that intervened between
them and the place of meeting, four were struck down,
and only five, including Outram and Havelock, reached
the General : ‘ A short conversation ensued. The visitors
had to return across the terrible space. They set out at
a run ; only Outram and Kavanagh could keep it up,
Havelock, weak and ill, soon tired. Turning to the officer
with him, he said, “ I can do no more, Dodgson, I can do
no more.5 ’ Dodgson supported the gallant vétéran. Resting
on Dodgson, then, the illustrious vétéran traversed at a slow
and measured pace—the only pace of whieh his strength
was capable—the ground still remaining to be gone over,
the enemy’s balls striking ail around them, at their feet,
just short of them, just before them, just behind them,
but ail missing their mark.’ This was on November 17 ;
within less than a week, Havelock was dead.
As he lay dying, he had said to Sir James Outram, who
had corne to visit him : ‘ I hâve for forty years so ruled
my life, that when death came I might face it without
fear.’ And his last words to his son were : ‘ See how
a Christian can die.’ His remains were conveyed to the
Alambagh, and there he was buried. A writer in Black-
wood, quoted by Havelock’s biographer, has thus graphically
presented the scene : ‘ On the low plain by the Alambagh,
they made his humble grave ; and Campbell, and Outram,
and Inglis, and many a stout soldier who had followed
him in ail his headlong march, and through the long fatal
Street, were gathered there to perform the last rites to one
of England’s noblest dead. As long as the memory ofSIR HENRY HAVELOCK
171
great deeds, and high courage, and spotless self-devotion,
is cherished among his countrymen, so long will Have-
lock’s lonely tomb in the grave beneath the scorching
Eastern sky, hard by the vast city, the scene alike of his
toil, his triumph, and his death, be regarded as one of the
most holy of the many spots where her patriot soldiers lie.’
With that inimitable touch with which that journal,
whose main function it is to add to the gaiety of nations,
so often voices the deeper feelings of Englishmen, Punch
sounded this requiem over the hero’s grave:—
Guarded to a soldier’s grave
By the bravest of the brave,
He hath gained a nobler tomb
Than in old Cathédral gloom.
Strew not on the hero’s hearse
Garlands of a herald’s verse :
Let us hear no words of Famé
Sounding loud a deathless name.
Ail life long his homage rose
To far other shrine than those*
6 In Hoc Signo,’ pale nor dim,
Lit the battlefield for him,
And the prize he sought and won
Was the Crown for Duty done#OXFORD
PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
B Y HORACE HART, M.A.
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY