'1 J I 
 
 U'f
 
 JAMES OUTEAM 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 JAMES OUTKAM 
 
 A BIOGRAPHY 
 
 BY 
 
 MA JOE-GEN. SIR F. J. GOLDSMID, C.B., KC.S.I. 
 
 ' Whose spirit lent a fire 
 Even to the dullest peasant in his camp ' 
 
 Shakspere, Henry IV. Pt. II. Act 1, Sc. 1 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 VOL. I. 
 
 SECOND EDITION 
 
 LONDON 
 SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE 
 
 1881 
 
 [All riijhls reserved]
 
 C3 
 
 •a: 
 
 3C 
 
 V. I 
 
 TO 
 THE DOWAGER 
 
 LADY OUTEAM 
 
 :^£sc itDohtmts arc rtspcttfullir gtblcEttb 
 
 WITH THE ASSURANCE THAT 
 
 HAD WILL BEEN POWER 
 
 THEY WOULD NOT HAVE ILLUSTRATED 
 
 DEFECTIVE WORKMANSHIP 
 
 IN THE TREATMENT OF AMPLE MATERIALS 
 
 AND 
 
 AN INSPIRING SUBJECT 
 
 42;ji()r>
 
 NOTE TO SECOND EDITION. 
 
 I TAKE this opportunity of acknowledging the kind manner 
 in which these volumes have been received by friends, 
 reviewers, and the public— exemplified in numerous private 
 letters, notices of the Press, and notably the demand for a 
 second edition. While regretting that my transliteration 
 of Oriental words has not met with general approbation, 
 I may add that it is simply the dryness of the discussion 
 which prevents a defence and full explanation of the course 
 pursued. In any case, it will be understood that a change 
 of orthography in a second edition would be difficult. To 
 the present reprint an additional map has been supplied, at 
 the suggestion of a friendly critic. Otherwise, the only 
 chapter in which any modification worthy of note has been 
 thought necessary is the First of the Second Book. For 
 the more detailed description of the Forts of Manohar and 
 Mansantosh and sundry new details belonging to the subject 
 treated, I am indebted to General Sir Le Grand Jacob — 
 a high authority, of whose welcome offer of assistance I have 
 readily taken advantage. . 
 
 F. J. GOLDSMID. 
 
 Cairo: November 1880.
 
 PEEFACE. 
 
 Seventeen years ago, in accordance with the expressed desire 
 of Sir James himself, the late Sir John Kaye had agreed to 
 write the 'Life of Outram." What ability and power this 
 brilliant writer would have brought to bear upon his tnsk, 
 the many readers of his ' War in Afghanistan ' and other 
 books will readily understand. But ill-health and press of 
 official and literary work interfered to prevent progress ; and 
 eventually Sir John Kaye died without carrying out his in- 
 tention. When in Paris during the winter of 1877-78, the 
 question was referred to me whether I would assume this 
 unfulfilled responsibility. Engaged at the time in the com- 
 pletion of an official report connected with a mission to the 
 French island of Reunion, from which I had but just returned, 
 the prospect of continued employment was agreeable to me. 
 Though recently out of State harness, I had not been so 
 chafed by the yoke of Fixed Occupation as to seek to throw 
 it off altogether : nor was I ambitious of a Leisure for which 
 I did not possess the conventional qualifications. 
 
 In undertaking, then, more than two years ago, to write 
 the biography of one whose name is a household word, not 
 only in England and British India, but throughout the 
 civilised world, I perhaps laid myself open to a charge of 
 imprudence, if not actual presumption. But the subject
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 presented was of so great attraction, and the proposal made 
 was of so flattering a kind, that, in the weakness of human 
 nature, I succumbed. 
 
 While prosecuting the task undertaken, however, I have 
 found my labours considerably lightened, and in one sense 
 my responsibilities materially lessened, by the cordial and 
 continuous assistance received from a member of Sir James 
 Outram's family. I was aware from the very first that my 
 materials would be abundant ; and a glance at those materials, 
 when coming into my possession, con\anced me that they 
 had been arranged in the most careful and methodical 
 manner : but I could not at the outset have anticipated how 
 much I should have become indebted to any individual 
 helper for the suggestions, paragraphs, and illustrative details 
 of which I have availed myself freely in the course of the 
 work. Had the biography been confined to certain chapters, 
 such as those on the Mutiny campaign, I must have associated 
 the name of my assistant with my own, as that of a distinct 
 collahoratm/r. 
 
 My own personal knowledge of Sir James Outram was 
 but slight. I was a fellow-passenger with him for a short 
 voyage in 1849 : and some three years later was privileged 
 to meet him at a dinner in Bombay, when, to the best of 
 my recollection, there were no other guests. But I had 
 naturally heard and learnt much of liis character and career, 
 and had had especially good opportimities of studying and 
 appreciating a section of his work ; for it fell to my lot to 
 investigate the claims of the Ex-Amirs of Haidarabad, 
 Khairpur, and Mirpur — both as a Deputy, working under the 
 Collector of Shikarpur, and as Assistant Commissioner for the 
 settlement of alienations of land and revenue in the Province
 
 PREFACE. xi 
 
 of Sind. A long residence in those parts, and subsequent 
 political employment in Baluchistan, Western Afghanistan, 
 and Persia, have, moreover, given me some practical training 
 in a field by no means the least important of those in which 
 Outram passed some of the best years of his life. 
 
 It is like standing on the threshold of platitudes, to say 
 that a published biography should have an object beyond 
 the indulgence of family wishes, or compliance with friendly 
 opinion. And to explain that object to be the instruction of 
 the reader, or, more generally, the better being of the human 
 species, may be to repeat a mere truism. But we may 
 assert, in less hackneyed and equally relevant phraseology, 
 that the lives of illustrious men are comparatively useless 
 records to after generations, unless they contain plain lessons 
 which those who run may read : and the one fact which 
 should be apparent in all — namely, that no successful career 
 is without its episodes of crosses and failures — may convey a 
 trite moral, but is an ever fresh, wholesome, and practical text 
 of sermons. 
 
 Many_^hundreds, it may be thousands, of those to whom 
 the name of Sir James Outram has become familiar, irrespec- 
 tive of the multitude who contemplate his bust in Westmin- 
 ster Abbey, or sit under his statue on the Thames Embank- 
 ment, picture to themselves the successful soldier-statesman, 
 who has risen to eminence by the usual routine of conquering 
 arms and well-applied diplomacy. Among them many will 
 have heard that he had differences with his Grovernment, 
 and differences with indi\dduals ; and that his professional 
 labours led him, more than once, not only within the 
 treacherous precincts of paper controversy, but to submit 
 official appeals and protests against treatment which he him-
 
 xii PREFACE. 
 
 self had experienced at the hands of local authority. But 
 few can realise the pain which this extra-professional work 
 must have cost him, or how much valuable time, and moral 
 and physical energy were thus expended without profit. 
 Apart from the feelings of the individual sufferer, in respect 
 of severed friendships and mistaken motives, who can say 
 how much good service to the State has been impaired by 
 the misapplication of State power towards an enthusiastically 
 loyal servant? The great lesson to be learnt here is not, 
 however, to be restricted in its meaning to young men whose 
 conduct is moulded on illustrious exemplars. It is twofold : 
 one for those in high places, if they will accept it ; the other 
 for aspirants, who will be sure to search it out. For the 
 former, if put into unambiguous language, it would read 
 much after the manner of one or more of the following pro- 
 positions : — 
 
 ' Do not refuse to your official agents that consideration 
 which you are ever ready to accord your friends, even when 
 they are no longer fulfilling the particular duty for which 
 you think them qualified. Do not assume that fitness for 
 strange and rough work implies necessarily the absence of 
 refined sentiment, or is incompatible with a keen sensitive- 
 ness. If it be the proper task of diplomatists to humour 
 the weakness of those with whom they have to do, and 
 generally to gather advantage from a knowledge of human 
 character — so is it the duty of statesmen high in office, to 
 study the dispositions of their confidential agents, and 
 studiously avoid wounding them in tender points. The 
 willing horse should never be allowed to get out of con- 
 dition, or to have any real cause of complaint against his 
 employers. If a servant of the Slate lias earned his reward,
 
 PREFACE. xiii 
 
 assuredly he has earned the right to receive and wear the 
 honours conferred upon him.' 
 
 Outram eventually triumphed, and his triumph com- 
 pletes the moral lesson of his life in its fitness for the 
 study of rising generations. But a less strong man than 
 he might have sunk under like circumstances. Should 
 this be ? 
 
 In any case it is hoped that one familiar Truth will be 
 discerned between the lines of the Biography now submitted 
 to the reader. It is that independently of work which 
 claims, and often obtains, the recognition of the State, there 
 is something also to be done which brings its own reward 
 from the consciousness that it belongs to a higher cause than 
 that of Governments ; something which, if only part fulfil- 
 ment of the great duty of man to his neighbour, is to human 
 ken admirable in its very imperfection. Outram's friends 
 and contemporaries have not been slow to appreciate in his 
 character an everflowing benevolence void of all cant or 
 pretension. 
 
 But let us glance for a moment on the more practical 
 uses of a mind like his upon the questions of the present 
 day. Does he not help us in any way to interpret the 
 Afghan puzzle which English statesmen and soldiers are 
 now seeking to understand ; and which is after all, perhaps, 
 as likely to be resolved by chance or circumstance, as by any 
 fixed lines of policy ? We say not this in any disparagement 
 of authority, nor to lay a charge of unwisdom at the door of 
 any of om- rulers. Has not the last forty years' experience 
 of the Afghan people taught us that Outram's first recorded 
 estimate of them was a right one; and that the rules he 
 laid down for our guidance in 1839 are, in 1880, equally
 
 xiv PREFACE. 
 
 applicable to our dealings with these faithless intriguers ? 
 We believe that fair conclusions in this respect may be 
 formed on the information contained in the following pages ; 
 though we cannot but feel that, had our work been confined 
 to one phase only of a busy life, very much more might 
 with propriety have been quoted to enlighten the reader. 
 
 He admitted the impolicy of any interference on our 
 part ' with the internal affairs of the Heratis, or generally of 
 Afghanistan.' On this subject he thus wrote from Baghdad 
 in May 1857, to the late Lord Lyveden : — ' Nothing is more 
 to be deprecated, in my opinion, than the most distant 
 attempt on our part to side with this or that chieftain, much 
 less to foster a policy for incorporating the whole of that 
 country under one rule or rider. Any such scheme, however 
 cautiously pursued, would involve us in inextricable diffi- 
 culties, and be followed with one only result — failure — as 
 regards any solid advantage which our Indian Empire would 
 reap therefrom. The time is not come for British inter- 
 vention to effect any good among the Afghans themselves ; 
 and the consolidation of an Afghan empire, under present 
 circumstances, and in view of the geographical position of 
 that country, might be attended with serious inconvenience, 
 as well to our north-west frontier as to our political rela- 
 tions with Russia and Persia.' The italics are not in the 
 original, but emphasise expressions to be borne in mind by 
 those who consider them in 1 880. I would solicit attention 
 to the fact that neither in tlie above quotation, nor in any 
 other of the writer's recorded opinions, is there anything 
 like an assertion that British interference could never be 
 judiciously exercised in Afghanistan ; nor that a consolidated 
 Empire was a sine qua nou for the better government of
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 three substantially separate States as Herat, Kabul, and 
 Kandahar. 
 
 His views on the advisability of restricting our frontier 
 to the Indus caused him to regret up to the closing years 
 of his life, that we had ever shackled ourselves with the 
 Peshawar valley : but let no politicians urge this as a reason 
 for making a retrograde movement towards the river line 
 after the events which have transpired under the last three 
 Viceroys of India. For my own part — whatever judgment he 
 might have formed on the * Scientific Frontier ' and our re- 
 sponsibilities along the Suliman range of mountains — I do 
 not believe that Sir James Outram, had he been now living 
 to give his counsel, would — with his knowledge of the 
 Afghans and their Persian neighbours, and the exterior in- 
 fluences bearing upon both — have advised withdrawal from 
 our position in Kandahar. 
 
 Independently of politics, Outram has done more to 
 enlighten the world on the geography of Afghanistan and 
 Baluchistan than has been hitherto placed to his credit. 
 From Bamian to Sonmiani is a long stretch of country, in 
 parts of which he was the first English explorer; the moun- 
 tain track by which he hit the Kabul road leading to 
 Bamian — the diversions made to attack the Grhilzai forts 
 between Kabul and Kwatta — the alternative route to 
 Pottinger's, by which Baila was reached from Kalat — all 
 these may need something more of acknowledgment to him 
 than has been yet accorded by books and maps. Scientific 
 accuracy may be wanting in actual mapping; but where 
 the information imparted has been turned to good account, 
 should not the giver of it be recognised with all due honour ? 
 
 With regard to llic spelling of Oriental names, the prin- 
 
 VOL. 1. a
 
 xvi PREFACE. 
 
 ciple which I have adopted is to transHterate generally on 
 Dr. Hunter's system ; substituting u, i, and a (a) for the 
 old 00, ee, and u respectively — with an occasional accent ', 
 where necessary, to guide the pronunciation of less practised 
 readers. Where kh is used, it represents the corresponding 
 letter in the Arabic word khair, or the two letters in the 
 Sanskrit dukh. Unfortunately, the numerous extracts, with 
 which these pages are necessarily studded, show a different 
 orthography. It need scarcely be stated that quotations, to 
 be genuine, or copies, to be correct, must be left as much as 
 possible as found in the original. For, independently of 
 this consideration, the mode of spelling affects, in some way, 
 the personality of the speller. There are many civil and 
 military officers of the Indian Government, at the present 
 day, whom nothing but a radical change of nature would 
 induce to write ' Kdnhpur ' for ' Cawnpore,' or ' Lakhnau ' for 
 'Lucknow.' As a rule, then, there has been little or no 
 interference with the spelling of proper names by Outram 
 and his contemporaries. If, in one instance — the diary in 
 Chapter X. — the treatment has been exceptional, it is be- 
 cause it is so woven with the narrative as to form almost 
 part of the text. I may be told that a wholesale recurrence 
 to the old system would have saved the apparent incon- 
 sistency now exhibited. This would have been, in my 
 opinion, a retrograde step ; and it would not have secured 
 uniformity, for the quoted letters and papers illustrate a 
 mode of transliteration as varied as it is unsystematic. 
 
 I have now to offer my sincere acknowledgments to the 
 many kind friends wlu) liavc aided the preparation of these 
 volumes. Among the abundant family records and corre- 
 spondence supplied to nie unresei\'edly by Sir Francis-
 
 PREFACE. xvii 
 
 Outram were letters and papers of great public interest and 
 value. The original contributions of Sir Bartle Frere, Sir 
 Vincent Eyre, Sir Joseph Fajrer, and others whose names 
 are noted in the last chapter, speak eloquently for themselves. 
 So also do the passages scattered here and there from manu- 
 script papers placed at my disposal by the Eeverend Dr. 
 Percy Badger, a gentleman always ready and able to respond 
 to my solicitations for aid. The communications of Mr. 
 Stuart Poole, General Olpherts, Captain Eobertson, and 
 others, rendered available to illustrate the narrative, will 
 bear similar testimony on behalf of the writers. To Colonel 
 Henry Yule, Sir William Merewether, Major-General George 
 Hutchinson, Colonel JNIcLeod Innes, and Colonel Malcolm 
 Green, I am under very great obligation for looking over 
 many proof-pages which must, in some cases, have taken 
 up hours of valuable time. If I do not specify those other 
 gentlemen to whom I have been, in a less degree, indebted 
 for help or advice, they will still, I hope, accept my thanks, 
 and not attribute the omission of their names to forgetfulness 
 or failure to appreciate their kindness. 
 
 F. J. GOLDSMID, 
 
 3 OuSEIiVATOKY AvENUE, Campden Hill : 
 
 May 31, 1880.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 BOOK I. 
 
 BOYHOOD— TO UTH— MANHOOD, 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 1803—1818. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Outrara Family — Mr. Outram of Butteriey Hall — Dr James Ander- 
 son of Mounie, and Mrs Outram — Sketch by Miss Catherine Sinclair — 
 Francis Outram — James Outram : his buyhood and education — Ee- 
 ceives an Indian cadetship ..... .3 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1819—1824. 
 
 Early military tastes — xVrrival in Bombay — Comparatively peaceful state 
 of India — Joins regiment — Experience of an Adjutant's duties — 
 Sick-leave to Presidency — Accidental explosion — Home letters — 
 Lieutenant Ord's Stories of Shikar — Outram's ' first spears ' — Sent in 
 command of wing to Malegaon — The Commander-in-Chief— ^Second 
 sick-leave to Presidency — Kiitur — Malair — Appointed to command a 
 Bhil corps ....... .22 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1825—1828. 
 Khandesh and the Bhils — Outram's Bhil corps . . . .51
 
 XX CONTENTS OF 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1829—1835. 
 
 I'AGB 
 
 Bhils at school— Francis Outram — Dang expedition of 1830 — Summary 
 of remaining service with the Bhils in 1835 — Shikar experiences . 81 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 1835—1838. 
 
 Appointment to a Special Mission — Leave to Bombay— Marriage — Two 
 years and three-quarters in the Malai Kanta . . . .116 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1838—1839. 
 
 Family affairs — Appointment to Sir John Keane's Staff— Arrival in Sind 
 with the Bombay Division of the Army of the Indus — Missions to 
 Cutch, Haidarabad,and Sliikarpur— -Accident — Accompanies General 
 Willsliire from Gandava, but rejoins Commander-in-Chief on arrival 
 at Kandahar — Opinions on Afghan War ... . 151 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1839. 
 
 Ghazni — Outram's employment at and prior to the siege — Pursuit of 
 Dost Muhammad Klian — Return from Bamian, and Mission from 
 Kabul to Ghilzai Country — Work in the disturbed di.stricts — Eeturn 
 to Kwatta — Siege of Kalat — Journey from Kalat to Sonmiani with 
 despatches for Bombay . . . . . .176 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1839— 18i2. 
 
 Honours and Rewards — Political Agent in Lower Sind — Political Agent 
 in Sind and Baluchistan — Mir Nur Muhammad ; his sickness and 
 death — Mr. Ross Boll — Journey to Kwatta — Investiture of the Khan, 
 and Treaty with Kalat — Work at Dadar— ^Departure of Lord Auckland, 
 and arrival of Lord Ellenborough ..... 209 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1842. 
 
 Retrospect of Outram's work in Sind and Balucliistan, from February 
 to November 1842 — Return from Dadar to Sakliar — Disaster at 
 Ilaikakai- Letter to Mr. Maddock, on availabb' military resources —
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 Eeturn to Kwatta — Subordination to Major-Gencral Nott— Transfer 
 of the Slii'il and Sibi districts to Kalat — Displeasure, of Guvernor- 
 General — Keturn of General England's force to Sind — Arrival at 
 Sakhar of Major General Sir Charles Napier — Outrani remanded to 
 regimental duty ...... . 240 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1842—1843. 
 
 Back in Sind again — The Amirs and their downfall — Extracts from 
 Journal — Defence of Ilaidarabad Residency — Embarkation fur 
 Engla'nd ....... .205 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 MIDDLE AGE. 
 
 1843—1>356. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1843—1845. 
 
 Home—Return to India — Nimnr — Disturbances in Southern Waratha 
 
 Country — Kolapur and Sawant-Wari . . . . .3-11 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 P.A.GB 
 
 
 
 385 
 
 Appendix 
 
 E . 
 
 388 
 
 Appendix 
 
 F 
 
 398 
 
 Appendix 
 
 G . 
 
 401 
 
 Appendix 
 
 II 
 
 Appendix A . 
 
 Appendix B . . . 
 
 Appendix C . 
 
 Appendix D . . . 
 
 Extracts fuom Sir James Outuam's Minute of Januaky 2, 18G0 
 
 PAon: 
 403 
 410 
 412 
 413 
 
 41G
 
 LIST OF ILLIJSTEATIONB 
 
 IN THE 
 
 FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 POHTRAM' 
 
 To face TitJe-jxigc 
 
 MAPS. 
 
 Sketch Map oy the Westerx Coast of India (from 
 
 Bombay, Nobth to Sirohi) .... Tofacep.f)l 
 
 J^OUTE FROM BaMIAN TO SoNMIANI : 
 
 Section I. . . . . . . . ,,188 
 
 „ II. ....... 190 
 
 „ III ,,194 
 
 „ IV. . . . . . . „ 203 
 
 „ V. . . . . •. . „ 20.)
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 BOYHOOD-YOUTH-MANHOOD. 
 
 1803-1843. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 1803-1818. 
 
 The Outram Family — Mr. Outram, of Butterley Hall — Dr. James Anderson 
 of Mounie, and Mrs. Outram — Sketch by Miss Catherine Sinclair— Francis 
 Outram — James Outram : his boyhood and education —Receives an Indian 
 cadetship. 
 
 When James Outram, the subject of this biography, was 
 born at Butterley Hall, Derbyshire, on January 29, 1803, 
 his family had long been resident in that and the neighbour- 
 ing counties. The race from which he sprang was ap- 
 parently one of substantial yeomen or small landowners and 
 farmers, little known beyond the limits of their own parishes, 
 with now and then a representative in the Church. But, 
 undistinguished in history as the family may have been, it 
 happens that the soldier-statesman is not the first member 
 of it whose remains have been honoured by a resting-place 
 in Westminster Abbey. In Poet's Corner may be observed 
 a monument recording the peaceful virtues of William 
 Outram D.D.,' Archdeacon of Leicester, and Prebendary of 
 Westminster, who, though a Court chaplain in the evil days 
 of Charles II., was acknowledged to be, as Pepys describes 
 him, ' one of the ablest and best of the conformists, eminent 
 for his piety and charity, and an excellent preacher.' He 
 was moreover a sound and learned Protestant divine, as his 
 work ' De Sacrificiis,' on the expiatory and vicarious sacrifice 
 of Christ, which still holds a place among standard works 
 of divinity, best testifies. 
 
 ' Biographical Encyclopedia, abridged from Biograpkia Britannica. 
 ^2
 
 4 JAMES OUTRAM. 1803:^ 
 
 Passing over the other numerous entries of the name 
 variously spelt, to be found in the Bishop's Eegistry at 
 Lichfield, through which the family is traced up to Thomas 
 Outram, Eector of Durton, near Gainsborough, in 1435, we 
 come to James Outram, of Alfreton, Derbyshire, a well-to-do 
 surveyor and manager of estates, and himself possessor of 
 some property in land and collieries, in whose marked vigour 
 of character, shrewd sense, and kind heart, we begin to 
 discern qualities which his sons and grandsons were des- 
 tined to develop in a wider sphere. 
 
 His eldest son, Benjamin,' born in 1764, was so named 
 after Benjamin P>anklin, a friend of his father's. He 
 did no discredit to the sponsorship of that eminent 
 philosopher and politician, and, as a young civil engineer, 
 gave evidence of talent and energy which raised him to 
 distinction in a very few years. Of special professional 
 achievements attributed to him there is no very distinct 
 record ; but his name is associated with that of more than 
 one of the heralds of railway construction whose voice 
 
 ' The second of his numerous family, Edmund, earned for himself in the 
 Church a liigh reputation for learning and -worth. He became D.D., Public 
 Orator at Cambridge, Prebendary of Liclifield, Archdeacon of Derby, Chancellor 
 of the Lichfield Diocese, and holder of more than one substantial preferment. 
 Named by Ciiancery cj-guardian of his elder brother's orphans with Mr. Seton 
 of Mounie, he ever proved himself a kind and generous friend to his bereaved 
 sister-in-law and her family, until his death in 1821, at the comparatively 
 early age of fifty-five. The third son, Joseph, also a civil engineer, was for some 
 time associated with Mr. Benjamin Outram in the management of the Butterley 
 Works, but migrated to the neighbourhood of Glasgow, where his representatives 
 remain still. His youngest daughter, now Lady Deas, first married, as his second 
 wife, a kinsman of whom we must record a few words. Sir Benjamin Fonsoea 
 Outram, C.B., Inspector of Hospitals and Fleets, saw much sharp service afloat 
 in the medical depurtmcnt of the navy, from 1794 till 1803, from which time till 
 the end of the war he served principally on board the Royal yachts. He lived 
 to refute the mis-statements in Thiers' History regarding one of the actions in 
 which he took part, viz. the remarkable exploit of the ' Super!) ' (Captain 
 Keats), when she destroyed two Spanish three-deckers, the 'Carlos' and 
 ' Ilerniengildo,' and captured a French seventy-four, tlie 'St. Antoine,' during 
 tlie niglit of July 12, 1801. His presence of mind in extinguisliing a fire at
 
 _i8i8 MR. OUTRAM. 5 
 
 was heard during the past and at the dawn of the present 
 century. At first he appears to have been employed chiefly 
 in the construction of canals, but after a while turned his 
 attention more especially to supplementing or superseding 
 water traffic by iron railways in suitable localities. His 
 energy and success in the introduction of such lines, not- 
 withstanding much prejudice and opposition, not only in 
 the neighbourhood of Derby, but also in the Forest of Dean, 
 in Wales, and elsewhere, appear to have suggested the 
 generally received idea that the word ' tram ' had its origin 
 from the second syllable of his name. That such a notion 
 prevails, and that even so high an authority as Mr. Smiles 
 entertained and recorded it in the first edition of his ' Life 
 of George Stephenson,' though he subsequently found the 
 word to be of much older application, is strong presumptive 
 proof of Mr. Outram's great reputation on the practical side 
 of the profession.^ 
 
 But the undertaking which latterly monopolised his 
 energies was the foundation and organisation of the Butterley 
 Ironworks in Derbyshire. About three years before their 
 establishment he had become purchaser of the Butterley 
 Hall estate, jointly with Francis Beresford, Esq., and here it 
 was that he fixed his residence, forming, in association with 
 INIessrs. John Wright, of Nottingham, and William Jessop, 
 the civil engineer, the company which, having acquired 
 Codnor Park, an adjacent property rich in coal, iron, and 
 other minerals, carried on business until his death as * Ben- 
 jamin Outram & Co.,' and after that, under the now well- 
 known designation of ' The Butterley Company.' His career 
 was, however, cut short when apparently on the verge of 
 
 the door of the magazine is said to have saved the 'Superb' from sharing the 
 fate of her blown-up antagonists. 
 
 ' See notes Ly Gporge Stephenson, in reference to the ' Spayson Railways,' 
 Smiles's Life of George Stephenson, p. 59 ; and Wood's Practical Treatise on 
 Railways (1838).
 
 6 JAMES OUTRAM. 1803- 
 
 success. Shortly before his marriage in 1800, he withdrew 
 almost entirely from the practice of his profession, then 
 yielding him from 2,000?. to 3,000L per annum, in order to 
 devote himself without hindrance to his ironworks. Endowed 
 with genius, judgment, and a spirit of enterprise potent in 
 overcoming every difficulty, it was considered by those able 
 to form an opinion that, had life been spared to him, he would 
 have become a millionaire. It was otherwise ordained : he 
 died in 1805, having barely attained middle age, and at a 
 critical time of the work he had taken in hand ; a work 
 in which more than half his capital and the half share of 
 Butterley Hall had been sunk — and only just beginning to 
 make a return. The result of his death was a complete wreck 
 of his fortunes, and both anxiety and poverty to his family. 
 He is described as a tall, fine-looking man, very determined 
 and high-spirited, acutely sensitive of honour, with a hasty 
 and impetuous but generous temper, and a restless energy 
 which could ill brook either stupidity or opposition — charac- 
 teristics of disposition inherited by both his sons. 
 
 Fortunately for the present biography, the influence of 
 the mother upon the son is one generally acknowledged ; so 
 that it is now as much to the purpose to lay before the reader 
 some account of Mrs. Benjamin Outram as of her husband 
 and his family. Her father, James Anderson, LL.D., was 
 * unquestionably a man of an ability and mental power far 
 beyond the average.'' Having added the study of chemistry 
 and other sciences to the thorough agricultural training he 
 had received at Hermiston, near Edinburgh, he became dis- 
 tinguished as an experimental agriculturist and weighty 
 author. For many years he conducted a periodical called 
 the ' Bee,' remarkable for the practical tone of its contents, 
 he himself writing much in its pages, as elsewhere, on agri- 
 culture, and especially gardening. At the instance of Lord 
 ' Chambers' Encijclojia'dia : ' Dr. Anderson.'
 
 -iSi8 DR. JAMES ANDERSON. 7 
 
 Melville he undertook a circuit of the north-western islands 
 and coasts of Scotland, which, in respect of any useful 
 results then obtained, appear to have been virtually a terra 
 incognita. He made an elaborate report of their capabilities 
 of improvement, accompanied by charts, statements, and 
 miscellaneous details. His information and recommenda- 
 tions were deemed valuable, and led to many improvements, 
 as well as anticipated schemes which have since been inde- 
 pendently carried out. A ship was placed at his disposal, 
 but he received no remuneration beyond thanks for his use- 
 ful labours. We are told that he was too proud to ask, or 
 to explain the cost to himself, and the value of the time 
 expended under his by no means affluent circumstances ; 
 and those were not days when governments volunteered 
 substantial rewards for services thus incidentally given. 
 Intimate with most of the literary men of his day in Scotland, 
 he corresponded with many celebrities abroad, and among 
 others, George Washington ; but by some mischance the 
 valuable series of letters which he possessed from that great 
 man disappeared at his death and were lost to his family. 
 He married the heiress of Mounie in Aberdeenshire, and his 
 eldest son consequently assumed the maternal name of 
 Seton,' honoured in Scottish annals. 
 
 Dr. Anderson's only daughter who survived childhood, 
 Margaret, was born in 1780. The loss of her mother when 
 she was only six or seven years old, and the preoccupation 
 of her father in literary and other pursuits, explain the reason 
 that she received but a poor education. Dr. Anderson had 
 
 ' One of Dr. Anderson's grandsons was the gallant Colonel Alexander 
 Seton, of the 78th Eegiment, who commanded the detachment which went 
 down so heroically on tlie deck of the 'Birkenhead.' His nepliew. Admiral 
 Henderson, was one of Nelson's liand of officers, said to have received the same 
 number of wounds as his illustrious chief. Of his sons who M'ent to India, 
 one, Major Heurj' Anderson, of the Engineers, shared in tlie misery of Monson's 
 retreat and died from exposure at the siege of Deig. One letter of General 
 Washington is given in Appendix A.
 
 8 JAMES OUT RAM. 1803- 
 
 a horror of ladies' schools, and the curriculum of * modern 
 accomplishments ' for girls ; and he does not seem to have 
 given that attention to providing something better in their 
 place which might have been expected from the judicious 
 arrangements made for his eight sons. The possession of 
 remarkable talents, however, soon enabled his daughter to 
 recover lost ground when brought into contact with society. 
 By personal application and observation, and a readiness to 
 turn to account all such chance instruction and training as 
 were offered her, she acquired a knowledge which, if not so 
 comprehensive and methodical as that of schools, was quite 
 as real, and possibly more to the purpose. She was married 
 to Mr. Benjamin Outram in June 1800, and in May 1805 
 was left a widow with five young children : Francis, born in 
 1801 ; Anna, afterwards Mrs. Sligo, in 1802 ; James, the 
 subject of our biography, in 1803 ; Margaret, afterwards Mrs. 
 Farquharson, in 1804; and Eliza, in 1805. Her wedded 
 life, passed at Butterley Hall, though brief, had been appa- 
 rently a prosperous and happy one ; but her widowhood was 
 beset with trials. As above shown, Mr. Outram's invest- 
 ments and purchases at the period of his decease had not 
 yet yielded fruit ; the balance sheet exhibited entries almost 
 wholly on the side of debit and outlay ; and, to make matters 
 worse, trade was depressed. The casualty had been so 
 sudden, that there had been no time or opportunity for the 
 arrangement of his affairs ; and his estate was biu-dened 
 with a debt involving endless anxiety on his representative. 
 Finally, affairs were thrown into Chancery, to await a tardy 
 and unprofitable compromise. Mrs. Outram faced her 
 cheerless prospeets with characteristic spirit and independ- 
 ence. Compelled to accept 200Z. a year from relatives, she 
 determined to make that allowance, combined with the little 
 she could realise from the wreck of her husband's personal 
 property, suffice for her wants. At first she remained in
 
 -i8i8 Jl/T^S. OUTRAM. 9 
 
 the neighbourhood of Butterley Hall, three years at Worksop, 
 and two more at Barnby Moor. The circumstance that at 
 the latter place she occupied a house which, on account of 
 its lonely situation and reputation for being haunted, was 
 let at a cheap rate, iS of itself a strong proof of courage. 
 Not many women would care to reside under one and the 
 same roof with the ghost of a proprietor who had cut his 
 throat on the premises ! In 1810 she removed to Aberdeen, 
 where schooling was good and of moderate cost ; and the re- 
 ceipt, at this time, of a small annuity from Government as 
 the daughter of Dr. James Anderson, obtained on her own 
 personal representation of her father's eminent services, 
 enabled her to provide all the better for the maintenance 
 and education of her children. The story of her visit to 
 Lord Melville in London, which resulted in the grant of this 
 pension, is eminently characteristic. This is her own account 
 of the interview, given twenty years after its occurrence : — 
 
 * My spirit rose, and, in place of meanly supplicating his 
 favour like a pauper soliciting charity, I addressed him like 
 a responsible being, who had misused the power placed in 
 his hands by employing my father's time and talents for the 
 good of the country, and to meet his own wishes and ends, 
 then leaving him ignobly to suffer losses he could not sustain, 
 but which his high-toned mind would not stoop to ward off 
 by solicitations to those who had used him so unjustly. I 
 then stated my own situation, my dependence and involved 
 affairs, and concluded by saying that I could not brook de- 
 pendence upon friends when I had claims on my country by 
 right of my father, adding, " To you, my lord, I look for the 
 payment of these claims. If you are an honest or honourable 
 man, you will see that they are liquidated ; yon were the 
 means of their being incurred, and yoxi ought to be answer- 
 able for them. In making this application I feel that I am
 
 lo JAMES OUT RAM. 1803- 
 
 doing your lordship as great a favour as myself, by giving 
 you an opportunity of redeeming your character from the 
 stigma of holding out promises and not fulfilling them." All 
 this I stated and much more in as strong language, which 
 was so different from anything his lordship expected, or was 
 used to meet with, that he afterwards told me he never 
 was so taken by surprise or got such a lecture in his life.' 
 
 For some years she lived in a small cottage in the out- 
 skirts of Aberdeen called ' Berryden.' When her daughters 
 grew older she moved to an upper flat in Castle Street, in 
 order that the best tuition available for them might be 
 within their reach. The shortcomings in her own training 
 made her painfully anxious to complete, so far as practicable 
 within her limited means, the education of those for whom 
 she was herself responsible. Possessing a hasty and some- 
 what imperious temper — like that of her husband, impatient 
 of misapprehension as of opposition — she had nevertheless 
 taken occasion of adverse fortune to practise self-denial, and 
 accept with resignation a position of comparative poverty and 
 seclusion. If, in her lighter social moments, inborn wit and 
 vivacity led her at times to say things it had been better to 
 have left unsaid, or to exact more than was right, she was 
 ready to acknowledge and recall the error ; and all the more 
 earnestly if a harsh or injurious word had been spoken of an 
 absent person. While she abhorred, it was her constant cus- 
 tom to avoid, debt and dependence ; and her children were 
 brought up to follow this salutary example. 
 
 After the departure for India of her sons, the marriage 
 of her eldest daughter in 1822 to George Sligo, Esq., of 
 Seacliff, Haddingtonshire, and the keenly felt loss of her 
 youngest child, Eliza, in 1824, Mrs. Outram indulged her 
 taste for travel, and wandered much in France, Switzerland, 
 and Great Britain. Her brilliant talents and conversational
 
 -i8i8 M/^S. OUTRAM. n 
 
 powers enabled her to shine wherever she went, and these 
 gifts, combined with a faculty of keen appreciation, enabled 
 her to enjoy the best society afforded by the place in which 
 she happened to be. Her reminiscences of the many people 
 of mark whom she had encountered in her sojourns at home 
 and abroad, were varied and amusing. In later years she 
 made Edinburgh or its neighbourhood her head-quarters. 
 Always dignified, she was far too sensible to run into the 
 common error of strong-minded and unfettered old ladies, 
 and allow herself to be outree, or remarkable from any pecu- 
 liarity. She was simply natural and in accordance with her 
 age and position. To the last she resisted the oft-repeated 
 solicitations of her son that she would indulge herself in 
 maintaining a house and carriage of her own. Ever simple 
 and abstemious in her personal tastes, energetic, industrious, 
 and untrammelled by fashionable innovations, she saw no 
 reason for dissatisfaction with her neat and comfortable suite 
 of three rooms in a good Edinburgh house, with her maid as 
 her ' establishment ' and her dog as her ' companion.' Her 
 strength of constitution was exceptional, and until she 
 became a little lame a few years before her death, health 
 never interfered with her plans, a little congenial excite- 
 ment proving the best restorative from passing ailments. 
 She wrote fugitive pieces of clever poetry, but never came 
 forward as an authoress. One of the points in which she 
 proved herself an exception to most feminine characters was 
 punctuality. She boasted, and it is believed with accuracy, 
 that she had never of her own fault kept a person waiting 
 five minutes in her life. With a strict and high sense of 
 honour, she abhorred meanness and appreciated excellence 
 in any walk of life. Like her son, she possessed in a singular 
 degree the power of attracting strangers of worth, and of re- 
 taining their regard ever afterwards. Few of the numerous 
 visitors who were daily to be met in her drawing-room but
 
 12 JAMES OUTRAM. 1803- 
 
 carried away with them a kindly and lasting interest in the 
 talented and most u^icommonplace old lady. 
 
 To these reminiscences of Mrs. Outram, given as re- 
 corded in family memoranda,^ we may add the words of one 
 who is writing of a most intimate friend ; of one whose repu- 
 tation has been long since recognised in the world of letters 
 as in the more private sphere of social virtues and accomplish- 
 ments. No apology indeed will be required for quoting from 
 a manuscript by Miss Catherine Sinclair. 
 
 ' Her intimate friends, knowing that her income was 
 straitened, made frequent offers of assistance, but all in vain. 
 Her independent Scottish spirit recoiled from receiving an 
 obligation, and she struggled successfully on through every 
 difficulty or privation. . . . Mrs. Outram was formed by 
 nature to be the mother of a hero, and those among her 
 friends who knew the gallant and chivalrous son, might see that 
 he had inherited his noble and generous sentiments, his bright 
 talents, his inflexible integrity, and his indomitable energy from 
 a parent of the old Scottish stamp, who has since her recent 
 decease left few equals behind her. Even after the age of 
 eighty, Mrs. Outram's conversation continued to be so original, 
 so sprightly, so full of wisdom and excellence, that every day 
 there gathered around her a circle. . . . With the most cordial 
 kindness there was an intellectual dignity in her manner 
 that commanded respect. Mrs. Outram occasionally received 
 her friends in the evening, and on her eighty-second birthday 
 she had about twenty ladies at tea, to each of whom she 
 presented a beautiful shawl of her own work. . . . Lord 
 Dalhousie, while Governor-General in India, fully appreciated 
 the noble character of Sir James Outram, and, on his lord- 
 ship's return, he became so partial to the society of the hero's 
 
 ' In 1844, unfortunately, Mrs. Outram's heavy boxes were burned at 
 Brecliin, and in tlicni all her accumulated family relics, correspondence, and 
 miscellaneous papers.
 
 -i8iS FRAACIS OUTRAM. 13 
 
 mother, that he visited her very frequently, and when on his 
 deathbed, he said, " If ever I reach Edinburgh again, my 
 first visit shall be to Mrs. Outram." . . . She had a peculiar 
 talent for letters, writing the most graphic description of 
 passing scenes and of daily events, with a sparkle of vivacity 
 and a glow of kindness never to be imitated. As years 
 advanced, her style became more thoughtful, and she read for 
 hours at a time with those large bright eyes which served her 
 for above eighty-three years without becoming dim. Many 
 a sorrowing friend and relative must daily miss the cordial 
 sympathy, the sound advice, and the abounding anecdotes 
 of gaiety and gravity of one so endeared to all who knew her.' 
 
 Francis, the elder of Benjamin Outram's two sons, re- 
 ceived his early training at Christ's Hospital. After a long 
 elementary course of seven years' duration, from which, 
 agreeably to the wishes of his maternal uncle, classics had 
 been carefully excluded, he was sent to continue his studies 
 at Aberdeen. Here his natural ability had fuller scope, and 
 he soon found opportunity of gaining much lost ground. 
 At Marischal College, where he attended one session, he 
 must have made a singularly favourable impression, for 
 the opinion of him entertained by a contemporary junior 
 student is now found recorded in the following terms : 
 * He appeared to my youthful imagination the heau 
 ideal of all that is elegant and refined ; but having been 
 brought up in England, I think he did not take kindly 
 to Aberdeen.' But his Scotch schooling was cut short by 
 the grant of an Indian cadetship ; and a nomination to Ad- 
 discombe, obtained from Mr. Elphinstone through the Duke 
 of Gordon, opened a new field for the exercise of his powers. 
 At the East India Company's Military College — now, like 
 the great corporation whose authority it acknowledged, a 
 tradition of the past — his work was brilliant and full of
 
 14 JAMES OUTRAM. 1803- 
 
 promise. Ere long he became a distinguished scholar and 
 superior draughtsman, while three instead of the usual four 
 terms sufficed to place him at the head of his fellow-students 
 — enabled to enter Chatham an officer of Engineers, with a 
 reputation for talent and attainments of rare order. To his 
 brief Indian career allusion will hereafter be made. 
 
 Perhaps, as a rule, the nursery and school days of a man 
 who has left his mark on the passing age show no more of 
 incident and adventure than those of an undistinguished 
 unit in the immense sum of living humanity. Nor is there 
 any reason why any such distinction as that alluded to 
 should be apparent in the two conditions. But it is very 
 certain that while, in the latter case, few readers would 
 be found for the story of an ordinary man's boyhood, it is 
 always a matter of general interest to trace the rise and pro- 
 gress of a mind which has exercised an exceptional and 
 acknowledged influence over other minds. We may there- 
 fore be excused for dwelling somewhat lengthily upon James 
 Outram's boyhood, of which a fair account is rendered by 
 contemporaries from his twelfth year. He was but a child 
 of less than three years old when his father died, and had 
 probably reached the age of eleven when sent to Udney 
 School, near Aberdeen. It has been already stated that 
 Mrs. Outram remained in the neighbourhood of her former 
 home at Butterley Hall for the first years of her widowhood, 
 and removed to Scotland in 1810. We find it was in the 
 autumn of 1814, when residing at Berryden, that she ar- 
 ranged with Dr. Bisset, the master, for admission of her 
 second son to Udney. The boy is described at that period 
 as somewhat pale, but quite healthy, and of prepossessing 
 countenance. He had his mother's black glossy hair; 'his 
 dark hazel eye kept time, as it were, with whatever was 
 going on, and marked his quick apprehension of, and sym- 
 pathy with, every scintillation of wit, drollery, or humour,'
 
 -i8i8 EARLY TASTES. 15 
 
 yet ' his usual manner was quiet and sedate.' This is his 
 teacher's picture, and we may believe in its fidelity. Ac- 
 cording to the same authority, the pupil made creditable 
 progress in classics and other studies, but showed especial 
 taste and energy in acquiring a knowledge of mathematics 
 and the exact sciences. As an instance of his powers in 
 the latter respect, it is stated that Mr. Forbes Irvine, of 
 Drum, an accomplished votary of literature and the fine arts, 
 lighting by chance upon one of James Outram's original 
 demonstrations left on the dining-room table, was greatly 
 struck by the accuracy and ingenuity, as well as the draughts- 
 man's neatness, which it displayed ; and afterwards made 
 habitual inquiry as to the young mathematician's ' fresh dis- 
 coveries.' One of his favourite occupations in play-hours, 
 when bad weather or other cause kept him from out-door 
 sports, was carving figures with a knife out of such materials 
 as were more readily available ; and in the exercise of this 
 bent he seems to have been both skilful and artistic. ' The 
 figure of an elephant continued for many years to adorn the 
 mantelpiece of the Udney drawing-room, and never failed 
 to be spoken of, by those who could appreciate perfect truth- 
 fulness of expression, as a chef-cVoiuvre in its kind.' But in 
 outdoor pursuits he gave unmistakable evidence of excep- 
 tional mettle ; here he was in limine the hardy soldier, the 
 untiring traveller, and the bold sportsman. ' Whether at 
 football, shindy, bowls, or cricket, he was equally ardent, 
 speedily rose to the front rank as a player, and before he was 
 fourteen was the recognised leader of the school. When 
 parties were formed, those who had Outram on their side 
 felt pretty sure of victory.' Eenowned, moreover, as a 
 wrestler, he was as generous as valiant ; and it is related of 
 him that on one occasion, when a front tooth had been 
 broken and his mouth otherwise damaged in a contest with 
 a schoolfellow, he was most persistent in exonerating his
 
 i6 JAMES OUTRAM. 1803- 
 
 antagonist from all blame, and in proving the injury to be 
 accidental. 'In the swimming ground' we learn that 'there 
 was a pond, some fifteen or twenty feet deep, which was gene- 
 rally shunned, but the few who essayed it gained much in 
 reputation among their fellows. Of this number was Outram, 
 soon after joining the school.' He used to return from his 
 watery exploration with a ' gratified air,' ' bearing generally 
 some trophy in his hand — pebble, sand, or mud — in proof of 
 his having reached the bottom.' In climbing trees, again, he 
 obtained honours not easily won amid a host of enterprising 
 boys, to whom the prospect of rooks' eggs was much as a 
 decoration or a step in rank to the subaltern officer only a 
 few years their senior. But his comrades promoted him at 
 once beyond the subaltern ranks : in their estimation he 
 deserved higher position, and he was generally known to 
 them as ' Captain Outram.' 
 
 ' From the master's recollection of his pupil we now pass to 
 the testimony of a young schoolfellow at Udney, who writes : 
 
 * He was always kind to me, protecting me from the 
 bullying of older boys ; and I believe he was equally gene- 
 rous and just to the others. He drilled us regularly. ... In 
 winter he had forts of snow built, in the attack and defence of 
 which there was many a severe contest. In every adventure 
 of daring he was the leader, and frequently he exposed him- 
 self to great danger. There was a tradition in the school 
 that he let himself down from the top of Udney Castle by 
 using an umbrella for a parachute. But I can hardly sup- 
 pose that anything so fearfully* dangerous was attempted. 
 The very fact, however, of the boys believing it shows their 
 estimation of him.' 
 
 Apart from the school contributions, there are further 
 authentic and interesting data of James Outram's early
 
 -iSiS SOLDIERS AND SA/LOKS. 17 
 
 life, which the reader will doubtless prefer to have in the 
 very words of the recorder. Mrs. Sligo thus alludes to her 
 brother's boyhood : — 
 
 ' He was the reverse of studious, but equally the reverse 
 of indolent. His play-time was spent in active exercise, 
 gardening, mechanics, and every athletic sport. His great 
 enjoyment, however, was to associate with the soldiers at the 
 barracks, or the sailors at the docks — we, in the meantime, 
 never knowing where our missing brother had gone. I recol- 
 lect our surprise one evening when, on returning from our 
 walk and glancing at the soldiers going through their exer- 
 cises, we saw our own little Jemmy at their head, as perfect 
 in all the manoeuvres as any among them. He was the delight 
 of the regiment, but even still more, if possible, the sailors' 
 pet . There was a mutiny among the latter — I can't remember 
 the date, but I think he must then have been about twelve 
 or thirteen years of age. All Aberdeen was uneasy ; my 
 brother, of course, not at home. The sailors were drawn up 
 in a dense body on the pier. The magistrates went down to 
 them, backed by the soldiers, whose muskets were loaded ; 
 and they were held in readiness to fire on the mutineers, if 
 necessary. Between the latter and their opponents, Jemmy 
 Outramwas to be seen, with his hands in his trouser-pockets, 
 stumping about from one side to the other, like a tiger in 
 his den, protecting his sailor friends from the threatening 
 muskets ; resolved to receive the fire first, if firing was to be. 
 
 ' All ended peacefully, however ; much to the general 
 satisfaction, and to our particular thankfulness, when we 
 were told how our brother had exposed himself. He had 
 the courage and fortitude of a giant, with the body of a 
 pigmy (being very small for his age). I never remember 
 his evincing the slightest sign of bodily pain. When very 
 young, we all crossed over to the other side of the Dee to 
 
 VOL. 1. c
 
 i8 JAMES OUTRAM. 1803- 
 
 enjoy a sunny holiday in scrambling on the rocks, picking 
 wp shells and seaweed, and dining in very simple mode in 
 one of the fisher-huts. There Ave saw several large crabs 
 lying on their backs, and Ave thought that they Avere dead ; 
 Ave soon, hoAvever, found that this Avas not the case, Avhen 
 one of them caught hold of little Jemmy's forefinger. He 
 calmly held it up, the blood streaming down on the creature, 
 Avhich thus hung, until of its oaa'u accord relaxing its hold, 
 it fell to the ground. Not a cry had been heard from the 
 sufferer, nor even a wry face made. He AArapt his hand- 
 kerchief round the woiuided finger, coolly saying, " I thought 
 he'd get tired at last." ' 
 
 His talent for carving little figures, particularly of animals, 
 is thus described by the same hand : — ' He liked much to be 
 at the menageries which occasionally visited the toAvn, the 
 better to represent the creatures they contained. These he 
 carved out of anything Avhich he could obtain as yielding to 
 the penknife. Date-stones, fixed together by a cement made 
 from their own pulverised substance, he particularly liked for 
 this purpose; and in the attitudes of the monkey race he was 
 especially successful. ]My mother thought that perhaps he 
 would do Avell as a sculptor, but having no friends in that 
 line, she did not make any endeaA'our to foUoAV up this vieAv.' 
 An anecdote related by a friend of the family, illustrates in 
 a remarkable manner his mechanical taste when a boy of 
 thirteen or fourteen at Aberdeen. The lady referred to 
 remembers her mother's astonishmout on coming home one 
 day after a short absence, and finding the entire Avorks of a 
 large eight-day clock Avhich stood on the stairs, all laid out 
 on the school-room table, as Avell as the locks of all the doors. 
 Objects of this kind it Avas the encpiiring youth's delight to 
 take to pieces, and restore to their respective places. 
 
 After about four years at Udney, James Outram was
 
 -iSi8 AV BULLYING ALLOWED. 19 
 
 removed to a school then supposed to be the best in Aber- 
 deen, kept by the Rev. Mr. Esson. Here he distinguished 
 himself rather by the exuberance of his boyish spirits than 
 close application to study, and on one occasion a practical 
 joke played upon the principal usher, resulted in a severe 
 castigation, the boy's manful endurance of which was 
 worthy of a nobler cause. His diary — a record, by the way, 
 kept under school direction and supervision — contained an 
 entry of the occurrence in the following form, with date and 
 
 horn* duly inserted. ' From till flogged by ]Mr. 
 
 for making him an April fool.* At the same time his pluck 
 had occasionally a better field for display ; and we learn of 
 one particular case in point, when he appeared at home with 
 face so bruised and features so changed that he was hardly to 
 be recognised by his relatives. On this occasion he had upheld 
 the weak against the strong, and to the anxious ques- 
 tions put to him by his sister with a view to eliciting an 
 explanation of his condition, he was able to reply trium- 
 phantly: 'Never mind, Anna ; I've licked the biggest boy in 
 the school in such a manner that he'll not ill-treat any of the 
 little boys again, I'll be bound.' Courage was one of his 
 many characteristics in early boyhood. A playmate much of 
 his own age — both being about thirteen — was walking with 
 him in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen, when they were 
 attacked by a large farm mastiff. His comrade's natural 
 alarm was not in the least degree shared by James Outram. 
 Without a moment's hesitation, and without any kind of 
 weapon, he faced the furious brute, ran at him, struck him 
 with fists and feet, and drove him off in dismay. The 
 narrator, in recalling this incident in after years, speaks of 
 the strong impression which it made on him at the time, 
 and expresses the belief that few boys or men would have 
 undertaken such a feat ; and fewer still would have thought 
 or said so little of it after it was over.
 
 20 JAMES OUTRAM. 1S03- 
 
 His removal to Mr. Esson's was really, however, an 
 important step on the educational ladder ; for it introduced 
 him to Marischal College, where he attended the second 
 mathematical class, and Professor Copland's course of natural 
 and experimental philosophy, for the session 1818-19. The 
 college reports represent him to be uniformly an attentive 
 and well-behaved student, evincing good abilities and an 
 amiable disposition, and making satisfactory progress in his 
 studies. 
 
 This higher-class education was, however, but a temporary 
 measure. The year 1819 brought him an Indian cadetship. 
 
 Mrs. Outram had applied to her cousin, Colonel Hender- 
 son, a Peninsula officer, for assistance in getting her son 
 James into the army ; but his reply was unfavourable. Any 
 profession was, he thought, preferable to one in which there 
 was nothing but pay to depend on ; for, owing to the 
 seeming certainty of peace, there could be no opportunity of 
 advancement. Another cousin, Ijrother to the last-named, a 
 captain (afterwards an admiral) in the navy, made answer 
 much to the same effect when addressed in respect of his 
 own calling. The anxious lady then bethought her of the 
 Church, and had recourse to Archdeacon Outram, her 
 husband's younger brother, of whom we liave before spoken, 
 and wlio liad been a kind friend to lier. He also represented 
 the little likelihood of success in his own profession, even 
 were the t-andidate's habits more studious than reported. 
 Dr. Outram was, moreover, educating two of his own sons to 
 lake holy orders. Still, he consented to do what he could 
 in furtherance of his relative's wishes ; and the intention 
 might have been fulfilled had it not been for objections 
 raised by the boy himself, who, hearing of his mothers 
 action in the matter, lost no lime in giving exjiression to 
 his feelings in a quarter where tbero was a good chance of 
 meeting syinpatliy. 'Tliey mean to make me a parson,' he
 
 -i8i8 ACCEPTS A DIRECT CADETSHIP. 21 
 
 said to his sister. ' You see that window ; rather than be 
 a parson, I'm out of it ; and I'll 'list for a common soldier ! ' 
 This repugnance to undertake a duty for which he clearly did 
 not consider himself qualified, having been communicated 
 to Mrs. Outram, she was perplexed how further to pursue 
 the quest for her son's provision in life. It so happened 
 that Captain Gordon, member for Aberdeenshire, called upon 
 lier in the midst of her troubles, and to him she detailed 
 the circumstances of the case. He readily came to the 
 rescue, and soon succeeded in obtaining for her the offer of a 
 direct Indian cadetship. A still better offer, a nomination 
 to Addiscombe, forwarded about the same time by the Duke 
 of Gordon, decided her to let the boy follow the profession 
 of a soldier. He was allowed to choose a starting-point — 
 a direct commission or college preparation, and the first 
 presented the greater attraction to his young ambition. 
 ' Frank,' he argued, referring to his elder brother, * when 
 only half the allotted time at Addiscombe, gained all the 
 highest prices there, and got into the Engineers. If I 
 remain the whole three years, I shall at the best come out 
 only as cadet for the infantry. It's much better, therefore, 
 that I should at once go out as a cadet ; I choose Captain 
 Gordon's appointment.' 
 
 Mrs. Outram thought he had done wisely ; for she did 
 not expect that he would have distinguished himself as his 
 brother had done. And she was justified in the judgment 
 which she had formed of her sons. Whatever might have 
 been the result of his military instruction, it would have 
 been difficult, within the confined limits of Addiscombe, to 
 measure tlic full value of James Outram, who had a part to 
 play anujng people and nations of the outer world.
 
 22 . y.lMLS OUTRAM. 1819-- 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1S19-1821. 
 
 Early military tastes— Arrival in Bombay — Comparatively peaceful state of 
 India — Joins regiment — Experience of an Adjutant's duties — Sick-leave 
 to Presidency — Accidental explosion — Home letters — Lieutenant Ord's 
 stories of ShiJiar — Outram's 'first spears' — Sent in command of Tving to 
 Malegaon — The Commander-in-Chief — Second sick-leave to Presidency — 
 Kittiir — Malair— Appointed to command a Bhil corps. 
 
 We have already shown that James Outram's tastes were 
 not of a kind to lead parent or guardian to choose for him 
 one of the learned professions. It may fm-ther be affirmed 
 that the bent of his mind was essentially that of a soldier. 
 His yearning for things military did not confine itself to 
 mimic troops, martial toys, or those counterfeit instruments 
 and implements of war by which childhood is often attracted 
 without more serious cause than the love of display and 
 glitter. In his case the young heart was touched, imagi- 
 nation was at work, and arrested development might have 
 been attended with results as pernicious as the too sudden 
 check of certain physical complaints under mistaken medical 
 treatment. Instinctively drawn as he had been to the com- 
 panionship of soldiers and sailors, his boyish ambition was, 
 moreover, stirred by sights calculated to endear that com- 
 panionship and graft it into the custom of his aftcr-lifi'. 
 In 1815, he watched with eager eye the march of a regi- 
 ment or detachment, largely composed of mere boys ; and he 
 saw some of these return again in a few months, if not weeks, 
 in the full glory of Waterloo. That spectacle, according to 
 his own recollection, was the incident which fixed unalterably
 
 -1 824 PUGNACIOUS PROPENSITIES. 23 
 
 his resolution to be a soldier and nothing else but a soldier 
 — a private if he could not be an officer. Though scarcely 
 able to comprehend the anxious aspirations, the tears and 
 prayers, which had accompanied the body of warriors as it 
 sped gallantly forth to a field of world-wide renown, he 
 could heartily participate in the burst of exhilaration, 
 congratulation, and rapturous welcome with which it was 
 received on return to its native shores. An incident such as 
 this might easily make indelible impression on the mind of 
 an ordinary boy of twelve. On one of sensitive and sym- 
 pathetic nature, and of generous and enthusiastic tempera- 
 ment, the impression would be as effectual as indelible. 
 "We are not sm-prised to learn that in the present instance it 
 actually determined the after-professional career. 
 
 His school contests had been rather in the cause of the 
 weak and oppressed than from any desire of personal dis- 
 tinction. At college, however, he appears to have been 
 somewhat more strictly pugnacious. For we learn that he 
 was the leader in many a ' town and gown ' row, and con- 
 sequently all but 'came to grief on several occasions. 
 Once, it is said, a kind lady friend paid a considerable fine 
 imposed by the authorities, and so prevented the report of 
 delinquency from reaching the ears of his mother, of whom 
 he stood in great awe. His own account of himself at that 
 period, according to a confession volunteered in later years, 
 was ingenuous and condemnatory. And he would laughingly 
 cap the reminiscence by affirming that he dared not yet 
 return to Aberdeen, because a reward of 5J. hung over his 
 head, as the undetected leader in a disturbance which had 
 proved more than usually destructive to the windows of the 
 college and its neighbourhood. 
 
 Mrs. Outram accompanied her son to Londioi, whither 
 he proceeded on receipt of his cadctship ; for there were 
 several forms and ceremonies to be attended to in Leaden-
 
 24 JAMES OUTRAM. 1819- 
 
 hall Street, besides the demnnds of an outfit. Their voyage 
 in the smack was a sufficiently miserable one, but it was 
 accomplished without mishap. Tliey stayed with "Six. 
 James Anderson till the sailing of the good ship ' York' on 
 May 2, 1819.i 
 
 Of the passage out we have no details. To Ensign 
 Outran! it was probably monotonous and uneventful ; for all 
 that ho has told us on the subject is that, after recovery 
 from the almost inevitable visitation of sea-sickness, he 
 acquired the faculty, or, it may be, the accomjolishment, of 
 smoking. He appears at this period to have brooded over 
 his 'physique ; for he refers to being only five feet one inch 
 in height, and looks upon himself as a 'puny 'lad. *Sub- 
 sequent growth to five feet eight inches he attributed to 
 fever and sickness generally; but even when he had eiitered 
 his twentieth year, we find him described by his brother 
 Francis as the ' smallest staff ofiicer in the army.' The 
 vessel in which he was a passenger reached Bombay on 
 August 15 ; the 4th of that month is, however, the date 
 given by the Army List of the year to his lieutenant's com- 
 mission in the 1st Grenadier Native Infiintr3\ 
 
 On arrival the young officer was kindly received by his 
 cousin, Dr. Ogilvy, in whose house he remained while not 
 required for duty, or until fairly posted to a regiment. His 
 impressions on first joining his comrades in arms are not to 
 be traced in the correspondence now extant. But we may 
 conclude that he soon found attractions in his surroundings. 
 His shlkdi' book affords positive evident-e that he was not 
 long in becoming initiated in hog-hunting ; for it is there 
 recorded that he fleshed his maiden spear at Goolygaun, 
 
 ' She left tlie Downs on Jlay .5 ; as did also the ' Barossa' uith the EomLay 
 Commander-in-Cliicf, Sir Charles Colvillo, on board ; and the ' Marqnis of 
 Hastings,' in -which the only cadet passenger vas the present General Sir 
 "William Wyllie, G.C.B. The late General Stalker was a fellow cadet and 
 passenger of James Outram in the ' York.'
 
 -i824 INDIA /.V iSiS, 25 
 
 near Sirur, in No\-ember. He saw much sport with the 
 Sirur and Puna hunts during the remainder of the season, 
 but at that time kept no regular diary or memoranda of 
 his exploits in the saddle, as later experience led him to do. 
 
 The period to which we refer was an eventful one for our 
 Eastern Empire. The deposed Peshwa had reached his 
 appointed residence at Bithur — a place destined to attain, 
 some forty years later, a cruel celebrity in the aunals of 
 British India. The * reformed ' Pindaris had been disposed 
 of in two peaceable colonies, strictly according to the dictates 
 of philanthropy and rules of civilisation. The strong for- 
 tress of Asirgarh had surrendered to a Ih'itish general. 
 Quiet had been restored to >Sawant Wari and Berar ; and 
 Bhuj, with its barbarous Eajah, had easily passed into the 
 hands of our troops. jNIore, much more, had been done ; but 
 we refer to the latest achievements only. The situation in 
 August 1818 had been well explained by the Grovernor-General 
 himself in answer to an address of congratulation from the 
 inhabitants of Calcutta ; and a popular chronicle of the day 
 sums up, with all semlDlance of authority, subsequent events 
 up to the middle of 1819, in the following terms: — 
 
 ' From the mouths of the Indus, north-east to the ►Sutlej, 
 from the Sutlej south-east to Chittagong, from thence to Cape 
 Comorin and Ceylon, an area containing thousands of miles, 
 and embracing twenty-five degrees of latitude and twenty- 
 two degrees of longitude — all is now at peace — we have no 
 public enemy to oppose. It is little more than twelve 
 months since we were threatened by a confederacy of the 
 native powers which had for its aim the renewal of every 
 sort of plunder and devastation, and the reduction of liritish 
 authority where it had long been paramount. The whole 
 is now dissolved. The turbulent spirits which broke forth, 
 boasting of their strength and power, have shrunk into
 
 26 JAMES OUT RAM. 1819- 
 
 nothing. The hosts that assembled tumultuoiisly to support 
 their pretensions are overthro^vn and dispersed.' ' 
 
 This was the state of things proclaimed about the time 
 that James Outram landed at Bombay, and in the sixth 
 year of Francis, Marquis of Hastings, one of the most distin- 
 guished of Governors-General. It was natural that a young 
 and ardent soldier should, under the circumstances, turn 
 his attention to the dangers and excitement of the hunting- 
 field. 
 
 But peace in India during these years of consolidation 
 was neither complete nor permanent. A Governor-General's 
 proclamation, like a royal message, has no time or space for 
 details ; and it would be impolitic and inexpedient to depart 
 from generalities except as regards matters better under- 
 stood by the masses than are Indian or Asiatic politics. If 
 little or nothing was said of external relations to the 
 Calcutta residents, it was, perhaps, because they did not 
 interest themselves greatly about them ; and that they more 
 immediately concerned Western than Eastern India. Not 
 that all was quite satisfactory to the Indian Foreign Office. 
 Among other ' outer barbarians ' who gave trouble, the 
 Joasmi pirates in the Persian Gulf were conspicuous. An 
 attempt had been made to coerce them in 1809, but no stop 
 was put to their misdoings ; they frightened the port of 
 Bu-shahr, threatened Basrah, and, moreover, plundered ships 
 and butchered crews from British India. ]Major-General Sir 
 William Kier Grant, who had just done good service in 
 Sawant Wari and Bhuj, was sent in command of troops 
 against them. These operations lasted from October 1819 
 till April 1820; but when the expedition returned to Bom- 
 bay, it was judged necessary to leave a detachment or small 
 corps of observation in the island of Kishm. 
 
 • History of Europe ' in Anmud Jxcg'rstcr for 1S19.
 
 -1 824 AN ACTING ADJUTANT. 27 
 
 Although (he name of lieutenant James Outvam is found 
 in the Army List of 1819 among the officers of the 1st 
 Grenadier Native Infantry, he was first appointed to the 
 1st battalion of the 4th Native Infantry, at an up-country 
 station, and proceeded to join about three weeks after disem- 
 barkation from Europe. His departure for Satara is at 
 that time recorded in the Gazette ; but he appears actually 
 to have joined his battalion at Puna, marched with it to 
 Savandrug, and returned to the Presidency by Octo- 
 ber 1. In Government General Orders of November 1 
 his name is shown as twenty-fifth in a long list of officers 
 recently arrived, and he is then posted to the 1st Grenadier 
 Native Infantry, his departure to join the 2nd battalion of 
 which regiment at Puna ^ is notified in the Gazette as on 
 December 2. Shortly afterwards he was transferred to the 
 1st battalion of the 12th Kegiment, on its embodiment, at 
 the same station, and he became its acting adjutant about 
 the beginning of July 1820. The choice of so young an 
 officer for this post gives good evidence of the estimation in 
 which he was held by his seniors. 
 
 On October 5, 1820, he wrote to his mother from Piina, 
 with reference to the regimental appointment : — 
 
 * I havg now acted upwards of three months, and expect 
 to act one month longer, as I believe the adjutant will not join 
 till that time. It is of no immediate advantage to me, other- 
 wise than that it teaches me my duty, but my having acted 
 as adjutant four months will give me strong claims for 
 that appointment when it becomes vacant. Though an 
 adjutancy is thought by the generality of people to be a 
 very arduous and responsible situation, yet it really is not 
 much so, as it is a mere rotation of the same duties monthly, 
 and should a vacancy happen to-morrow, I would not hesi- 
 ' His own notes s;iy that he joined at Sin'ir.
 
 28 JAMES OUTRAM. 1819- 
 
 tate a moment about api^lyiug for the situation, as I would 
 feel confident (without flattery to myself) that I would be 
 equal to the task, with a little application and trouble on 
 iny pari.' 
 
 This was the natural view of a true soldier, who, like the 
 ^oety iiascltiir non Jit ; and who, in his teens as in after 
 years, ignored difficulty in every professional shape. But 
 the opinions were hardly sound, and the writer, soon after 
 expressing them, admitted that he had misapprehended the 
 full scope of his work. The appointment had a deeper im- 
 ]")()rtance than he at first supposed. A young Indian officer, 
 competent to excel, and laudably ambitious of excellence 
 in the little restricted arena which lay open to him half a 
 century ago, could scarcely find a better training-school than 
 in the adjutancy of a native regiment. Intimate acquaint- 
 ance with 8'q:}a]us,{iom. the drill ground to the commissioned 
 ranks, and with European officers, especially commanding 
 officers, both on parade and in quarters, was one of the great 
 advantages thus obtained, by a sure process to which the 
 mere company captain or subaltern was a comparative 
 stranger. More than this, the special gain to the intelligent 
 novice was the experience of power and self-discipline. He 
 attained the knowledge how to work under a cofnmandant, 
 whether smart and strict, or smart and easy; ignorant and 
 testy, or ignorant and lax; in fine, whatever the type pre- 
 sented, good, bad, or indifferent. The tact was thus acquired 
 of exercising delegated ant hority over equals, superiors, and 
 inferiors in rank and position, in a manner calculated to ensure 
 subordination and efficiency. He was not, however, relieved 
 of his acting appointment so soon as expected. Between 
 six and seven months after date of the last quoted letter 
 James Outram again addressed his mother. On this occasion 
 he wrote from ]jarod;i, whither lie had marched with his
 
 -lS24 EARLY REGIMENTAL EXPERIENCES. 29 
 
 regiment from Piina,^ making excuses for a long silence, not 
 to be attributed, as he himself explained, to forgetfulness. 
 He had had so ' much to do lately in the adjutancy,' anil 
 had found it ' a much more difficult situation to fill ' than he 
 had before contemplated. Thus he expressed himself: — 
 
 ' Many difficulties were thrown in my way, which I had 
 not foreseen. Several officers who were removed from the 
 corps had charge of a company each, all of which were thrown 
 upon my hands, and I had to make out the papers of almost 
 all the companies, besides all the battalion ones. Almost all 
 adjutants have two writers, one which Government allows — a 
 sergeant — and one which he keeps at his own expense. Now 
 I have been altogether, I daresay, five months without one at 
 all, and have never had more than one at any time. At first 
 a sergeant was not procm'ed (as it is a new corps) till about 
 seven months after I had begun to act. I had, now and 
 then, a writer for a few days, but I daresay I was five months 
 without one altogether ; and when I got the sergeant I found 
 him more a burden than a help to me, as he had everything 
 to learn. ... I have also been latterly acting-quartermaster. 
 I am to be relieved by the regular adjutant, I suppose, on 
 the 1st of next month (May), as he has been relieved from 
 the corps which he has been obliged to remain with till this 
 time. I shall then have done the duties of adjutant exactly 
 ten months.' 
 
 Wo doubt not that many Indian officers ha'S'e been in like 
 case; and such as these would readily admit that the little 
 
 ' This niaivli is iilluded (0 iu a brief entry for the year 1820-21, iiuule in 
 liis slillar l)()ok: — ' Had litllo sport on the road, and nothing Init conrsing at 
 J'aroda.' In tlio Bombay Gazette of November 22, 1820, it is noted as a 
 niovenicnt ' now taking place ;' but the corps did not leave till Pobrnary 10, 
 1821, arriving at its destinUion, via Bombay, Surat, and IJroaeh, on ]Marcii 29. 
 The 2nd battalion -was ordered at the same time to Kislim, in the Persian 
 Giilf.
 
 30 JAMES OUTRAM. 1S19- 
 
 early and extra responsibilities thus thrust npon them have 
 had their value. They do more than many books and in- 
 structions to explain the actual routine of duty, and their 
 lessons, once acquired, are seldom, if ever, forgotten. Though 
 times have certainly changed, and the adjutant of a native 
 regiment has neither the same inducements nor the same 
 opportunities of equipping himself for the battle of life that 
 he had in former years, the school he represents may still be 
 found a good one, and those who profit by its teaching should 
 not be in too great haste to abandon it for a wider and more 
 ambitious field. Patience is a more practical virtue than 
 ever in these days of railways, sj)eed, and restlessness. 
 
 In the following year (1822) another letter to his mother, 
 dated Ahmadabad, April 28, a full twelvemonth later than 
 the last quoted one, affords a singular contrast between 
 locomotion in India experienced in 1878-79, and the slow 
 movements of olden times. The writer had been sent, on 
 account of sickness, to Bombay, and would have left the 
 Presidency to rejoin his corps in February, but that an 
 ' unfortunate accident,' just after embarkation, had compelled 
 him to put back and lay up for a month. On March 9, he 
 had re-embarked with two comjjanions, and, after tossing 
 about at sea for two days, disembarked on tlu^ north side of 
 the island of Bombay, proceeding thence by land. He had 
 been about six weeks on the road to Ahmadabad, a journey 
 now accomplished in, perhaps, twice that numlier of hours ; 
 and his corps was moving about somewhere to the north-east 
 t»f that station. The full (or, according to Indian parlance, 
 ■jxika) adjutancy had been conferred upon him on January 
 15, but absence from the regiment had prevented liis 
 receipt of any emoluments accruing from the appointment. 
 
 He is not explicit as to the sickness which had driven lum 
 to Bombay, but we gather, incidentally, that it was a fever 
 which had prostrated many of the residents at Barcda after
 
 -1 8-4 riRElVORK'S. 31 
 
 the rains of 1821. His own allusions to it are with reference 
 to the drain thereby caused upon his scanty income. The 
 regiment had been ordered on field service to the Muhi 
 Kiinta, a province in the east of Giijrat (and the littoral of 
 the river ]M;ihi), of which we shall have to say much in a 
 subsequent chapter; and he had made preparations to 
 accompany it as adjutant. Of these preparations the impor- 
 tant items of tents and camels will give some support to the 
 idea that they were on a large scale, when considered in 
 respect of a single subaltern. Owing to the nature and 
 severity of his attack, he had had to proceed suddenly from 
 Baroda to Cambay, and thence to take boat to Bombay, the 
 cost of which unexpected journey had to be met by the sale 
 of his camels at a disadvantage. The expenses of the return 
 journey and purchase of a horse at the Presidency had con- 
 tributed to swell the demands upon a not over-stocked purse, 
 and he had found himself with no remedy but, much against 
 his will, to borrow money. 
 
 As regards tlie ' unfortunate accident ' above noted, and 
 hardly explained by a statement that his enforced detention 
 was ' owing to the burn,' wo find tolerably detailed accounts 
 among the family papers. It appears that the medical men 
 at Bombay were of opinion that he should return home to 
 recruit strength after his attack of jaugal fever. This 
 arrangement, however, did not suit his own plans ; and, 
 feeling sufficiently recovered for the work before him, he 
 started to rejoin his regiment in Kathiawar, embarking on 
 board a native boat, with horses and kit, to get over the first 
 part of the way by sea. From some cause unknown, the 
 evening was a gala one, and fireworks were to be let off in 
 the harbour. The convalescent resolved to share in the fun 
 and signalise his own departure at the same time. So, in 
 addition to the r\ece^&-d.xy linped'nnenta of ordinary travelling 
 baggage, he laid in a superfluous stock of combustibles, and
 
 32 JAMES OUT RAM. 1S19- 
 
 had them carefully brought on board his unpretending craft. 
 The story continues that he blew up his boat, that its 
 contents were showered into the water around, that the 
 horses were killed or drowned, and that he himself was 
 picked up floating, a ' hardly animate mass of blackened 
 humanity.' Not even recognised as a European, he was left 
 uncared for when first deposited on the shore ; but in course 
 of time a charitable Parsi, whose name has never transpired, 
 had him placed in a palanquin and conveyed to his own 
 house, whence, his identity discovered, he was removed to 
 jMr. Willoughby's. It is added that the skin of his face 
 peeled off, and was replaced by a second skin coarser than 
 the first ; but that the explosion, however injurious to his 
 personal appearance, was attended on the other hand with 
 one good result. All traces of jaiujal fever had been as 
 effectually blown out of its victim as they could have been 
 eradicated by a voyage to Europe and transfer to his native 
 atmosphere. As no account is rendered of servants or 
 followers, let us hope that any such may have escaped with- 
 out serious injury. Two months after tlie occurrence, 
 Francis Outram, then still 2nd Lieutenant of Engineers at 
 Bombay, adverting to it in a letter to his mother, says tliat 
 results might have been much worse, but that James luckily 
 escaped with a good scorching, and that ' he will be more 
 careful with gunpowder for the future.' 
 
 His own home letters at this period, as indeed for the 
 first few years of his Indian career, are mainly taken up with 
 matters of domestic interest. These lielong essentially to 
 his biography, inasmuch as they exhibit the working of inner 
 life and reveal the secrets of individual character. But for 
 obvious reasons we shall be sparing in extracts, merely 
 selecting those passages wliicli may better serve to illustrate 
 the whole correspondence. The reader may rest assured that 
 if he were to read over from first to last every line of the
 
 -i824 HOME-LETTERS. -^^ 
 
 four or five origiual letters now before us, wliicli come 
 within the chronological scope of the present chapter, he 
 would see no cause to consider the selections exceptional, 
 The tone is one of genuine and honest affection ; the spirit 
 breathed is that which fathers and mothers would rejoice to 
 acknowledge in the writings of their own sons ; and if the 
 language be not remarkable for high educational polish, it 
 has the more sterling merit of straightforward expression 
 and simplicity. That he was not trained when a boy in the 
 art of polite correspondence may be taken for granted. Mrs. 
 Outram could tell the story of a certain epistle he had to 
 prepare, in which the mere formula of commencing and 
 ending was not accomplished without assistance ; and she 
 seemed to think this the only piece of letter-composition that 
 could be credited to him prior to departure for India.' She 
 marvelled how he wrote so well when fairly launched on his 
 Indian career. 
 
 We have quoted his views regarding employment on the 
 regimental staff". Let us turn from self to his care for the 
 happiness of others, especially of her whom he addressed as 
 the presiding genius of his home. Assuredly it is manhood 
 and not childhood, nor even youth, which realises the poetry 
 as well as essential charm of the relationship between mother 
 and son. 
 
 ' You used to say you were badly off",' he wrote in an 
 imdated letter, bearing the postmark of November 1822, 
 ' but as I had been used to poor Udney, I thought we were 
 
 ' The real story is thus told: — ' During the holidays, a SL'hoolfellow (one 
 of the Gordons of Manar) sent him a letter by a servant. His iDother said lu; 
 must in civility answer it, so he retired to do so. After a ^vhile he came back, 
 saying, " How am I to begin? " '• Why, ' My dear Gordon,' of course." Tluis 
 }>ronipted, he again disappeired for a considerable time. lie then came and 
 Hslced liow he was to end, and being told, '"Yours sincerely, James Outram." 
 soon brought his letter. His mother liad the curiosity to look at what he had 
 said. Tlie contents were simply, " My dear Gordon— Yours sincerely, James 
 Outram." ' 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 JAMES OUTRAM. 1819- 
 
 very comfortable at our humble home. Now, when I see 
 how many privations you had to put up with, I think you 
 made wonderful sacrifices for 3'our children, whose duty it is 
 to make you as comfortable as they possibly can. I, for one, 
 am certainly sorry that I have not been more prudent, for I 
 certainly ought by this time to have been able to send you, 
 at least, something ; for I got the allowances of the acting 
 adjutancy for eight months out of the ten in which I acted, 
 after a reference to Government. . . . When I rejoin my 
 corps I shall be in the receipt of 600 rs. per mensem, as the 
 corps is at present in the field ; out of which I shall at least 
 be able to save 300 rs. a month, which is about 350^. a year. 
 I am obliged to keep an additional horse and office establish- 
 ment and field-carriage, but 300 rs. a month will certainly 
 cover all expenses in the field, and 250 in garrison. The 
 above 600 rs. per mensem is the field-j)ay and allowances, 
 the garrison is about 400 rs. per month ; so that in the 
 field I shall save about 350/., and in garrison about 150 rs. 
 a month, Avhich makes about I8OL a year; all of which is, 
 of course, dedicated to you ; and much greater pleasure will 
 spending it in this manner afford me than if I was ainassing 
 riches upon riches on my own account.' 
 
 A little later in the year (though the letter bears the 
 postmark of October), he continues in the same strain, 
 entering freely into details of money liabilities, and adding : — 
 
 ' I was at first undetermined whether to let you know 
 how I am circumstanced, . . . but then I recollected that 
 honesty is the best policy, and that being candid with you 
 would please you more than if I were perhaps not exactly to 
 fulfil what I promised. I therefore have told you everything, 
 and always shall.' 
 
 It is but fair to remark that Francis Oulram shared the 
 same filial sentiments, and coidd equally appreciate the in-
 
 -iS24 MARCHING IX KATIIIAWAR. 35 
 
 estimable value of a mother's attachment. His letters are 
 conclusive testimony on this point. 
 
 We have already said that when James Outram went up 
 to rejoin his battalion in 1822, it was somewhere north-east 
 of Ahmadabad. He fell in with it at the village of Morassa, 
 where it formed part of a field force assembled with a view 
 to the suppression of local distiurbances which had become 
 aggravated by long continuance. Lieutenant Richard Ord, 
 of the same regiment, but of the 2nd battalion, then at 
 Kishm, was acting-adjutant, and from him he received charge 
 of his substantive appointment. This officer had spent 
 eighteen months in the Persian Gulf, but, ill-health having 
 prevented his return thither, he had been directed to attach 
 himself to the 1st battalion of his regiment in the Mahi 
 Kanta. The campaign being brought to a close by the 
 capture of the rebel chief Konkaji, the battaHon was ordered 
 to Rajkot for the rains. A march in Kathiawar during the 
 prevalence of the hot winds is not pleasant, but the weather 
 does not appear to have abated the energy of the young men 
 thus incidentally thrown together. They were much of the 
 same standing, for Ord was only two senior to Outram in 
 the regimental list of lieutenants. The latter had not 
 enjoyed much sport on his upward journey. His journal 
 shows he had had a little hunting at Surat, and had been 
 unfortunate in breaking down a colt brought from Bombay ; 
 also that he found some hog at Ahmadabad, where he had 
 experienced two severe falls. But of the ' little sport on the 
 road' through Kathiawar to Rajkot, to which he refers. Lieu- 
 tenant Ord gives the folloAving account : — 
 
 ' A few days after he (Outram) had joined, he and I were 
 riding in rear of the column, and as day broke we espied 
 hog at a little distance. Immediately we started in chase, 
 not anticipating much result from our hunt, as we had no
 
 36 JAMES OUTRAN. 1819- 
 
 spears, merely our swords. After a short run we detached a 
 fine hirge fellow from the herd, who, after a sharp burst of 
 about a mile, took refuge in a large patch of cactus bushes, 
 out of which we found it impossible to dislodge him, though 
 Outram in his eagerness dismounted, and did his best to 
 make him bolt. From what I afterwards saw of hog-hunting 
 I think iu was as well . . . that he did not succeed. Foiled 
 in our attempt, we galloped back to the regiment, and were 
 just in time to rejoin it before it arrived at the encamping 
 ground.' 
 
 Again, a little later, a regular hog-hunt was organised. 
 Owing to the hot weather, however, there was but one 
 hunter to the fore, besides the same two named; Ord 
 loquitur u — 
 
 ' Off we started, and after riding about three miles, 
 admiring the mirage, the solemn stillness, and the various 
 villages flashing on the horizon, we came to a large level 
 plain covered with grass and stunted trees. Our guides 
 stopped, and, upon our asking them where the hogs were, waved 
 their arms in a circle and said " There I " We all looked 
 rather blank, for, having no beaters with us, we might as well 
 have searched for a needle in a haystack as a hog on that 
 wide plain. Suddenly we caught siglit of a little flag waving 
 from a solitary tree in the distance, and, putting our horses' 
 heads in that direction, soon started a huge boar. Away we 
 went as hard as we could lay legs to the ground, my horse 
 leading — and Outram just l)L'lnnd, calling out to me. to turn 
 him. On, on we rode, but just when I came within nearly 
 a spear's length of him, instead of turning from me, h<; 
 charged furiously at mc, and had not my gallant steed 
 bounded in the air and leaped over him, we should have 
 been rolled upon the plain. Before I had recovered the 
 suddenness of the attack, Outram rushed to the rescue ; the
 
 -1 524 HOG-HUXTIXG PIC.MCS. ^,7 
 
 hog charged him furiously, but, being a practised hand, he 
 received the charge on his spear. In the concussion the 
 spear was broken in half, one part remaining fast in the 
 animal's head. Our enemy was now brought to bay, but, 
 sitting on his haunches with the spear in his head, he had 
 such a strange appearance and charged so furiously when Ave 
 approached, that our horses would not go near enough to him 
 to allow of his getting his cowp-de-grdce. AVe had, at this 
 time, but one spear, I having dropped mine, and Outram's 
 being broken — but after a while our horsekeepers came up 
 with other spears, and the boar was soon despatched. ISIy 
 companions were much amused at my discomfitm*e, but gave 
 me great credit for my first attempt.' 
 
 Outran! had purchased a house at Kajkot, and into this 
 he moved shortly after reaching the station. The other 
 officers who could not find bangla accommodation went into 
 tents. Ord took up his quarters Avith a friend in the 1st 
 Cavalry, joining the mess of that regiment ; but Outram, not 
 thinking this arrangement compatible with a proper esprit 
 de coijjs, eventually persuaded him to share his own house 
 and become a member of his own mess. 
 
 Colonel Ord, at a comparatively recent date, in reviewing 
 the Aveekly hog-hunting picnics of Eajkot held at this 
 particular period, gives a stirring account of an adventure at 
 a place called ' Kerisera,' prefacing it with the remark that 
 'in India sporting is much encoiu'aged by the higher 
 authorities, it being the general ojiininn that these hardy 
 exercises conduce much to the military training and for- 
 mation of a soldier.' 'He had heard both Sir John ]\Ialcolm 
 and Sir Lionel Smith' — and few men could be trusted for 
 sounder opinions on military training — 'observe that they 
 never knew a good sportsman who was not a good soldier.' 
 We quote the original nai-rative :— 
 
 42,*M OR
 
 38 J.-hMES OUT RAM, 1819- 
 
 * Outram, Liddle, and myself were together ; we started a 
 sounder ; Outram looking after one hog, and L. and myself 
 after another. Outram soon lost sight of his in the thick 
 jungle, but L. and I pursued our course. Soon we heard 
 0. galloping up behind us ; we pushed on, hoping to get 
 the spear before he came up. Most unfortunately there was 
 a deep jungly ravine before us ; into that the hog dashed, 
 and, while we stopped on the brink, Outram rushed by us, 
 and after floundering and rolling over several times reached 
 the bottom — a dry nuUah. We thought that he must have 
 been severely hurt, but not a bit — soon he was on his horse's 
 back again, and after a long run he killed the boar, although 
 he had only half a spear, the shaft having been broken in 
 his descent down the ravine. "When Outram had left us 
 L. and I went into the jungle, hoping to finish another hog. 
 We had not ridden far when we heard a rustle, and saw the 
 grass moving at a little distance in front of us ; we im- 
 mediately set off in pursuit, but on coming to a more open 
 space we fovmd that it was not a hog that we were in chase 
 of, but two lions. The lions, on getting a fair view of us, 
 stopped and turned to look at us. We stopped also, feeling 
 no inclination to encounter them. After gazing at each 
 other for a while, the lions quietly walked away, and we 
 followed their example. On regaining Outram, and telling 
 him what we had seen, he was anxious that we should again 
 go in pursuit, but we resolutely declined. These were tlic 
 first lions, I believe, that were ever seen in Kathiawar ; since 
 then I have heard that many have been met with, and some 
 killed, but with the rifle, not the spear.' — 
 
 Running a nilgai down without dogs, and following him 
 into the middle of a river, is another story of those days 
 told of his hero by the same authority. One morning, too, 
 that they were out with the dogs in quest of foxes, they
 
 i834 
 
 'FIRST spears: 
 
 39 
 
 slipped the whole pack at some wolves which appeared upon 
 the ground. These fought fiercely, and seriously damaged 
 their assailants. The result was that most of the dogs went 
 mad. 
 
 For the year 1823 there is recorded in James Outram's 
 ^h ikdr liook, that he had ' good hog-hunting in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Eajkot.' A list of eighty-three first spears is 
 given, of which fifty belong to the recorder himself, the 
 rest being divided among twelve other competitors, the 
 highest of whose individual scores is eight. Of course many 
 of the party were oftener out than others ; Outram always. 
 The rule of the hunt was that all should go after the same 
 hog, selecting the largest. For the year 1824 the shikar 
 register in Kathiawiir is roughly continued until March 4 
 only, at which date thirty-nine hog and one chitd (leopard) 
 had been killed. Of the first spears Outram carried off 
 twenty-four, inclusive of the chitd; the remainder being 
 divided among three comrades, one of whom scored eight. 
 He also killed in Kathiawar four nilgdi, two hyenas, and two 
 wolves; the nilgdi having been obtained in seven runs, at 
 the cost of four horses ! ' 
 
 ' A detail of winners of these ' first spears ' is given iu the shikiir l.^ook. 
 
 il of 123 (83 + 40), in the 
 
 Adding the two years together, 
 
 we obtain a total of 
 
 following order:— 
 
 Outram . . , .7-1 
 
 Morris 
 
 
 . 10 
 
 , AVatkins 
 
 
 . 8 
 
 Wight 
 
 
 (i 
 
 Scott 
 
 
 . 6 
 
 Rowland 
 
 
 ') 
 
 Poole 
 
 
 . 5 
 
 Slight 
 
 
 o 
 
 Sparrow 
 
 
 1 
 
 Wilkes . 
 
 , 
 
 1 
 
 Barlow 
 
 
 1 
 
 Stevenson 
 
 
 1 
 
 Jam Raja 
 
 of Ni 
 
 mnagar . 1 
 
 123
 
 40 JAMES OUTRAM. 1819- 
 
 Butthe years 1823 and 1824 were not wholly taken up 
 with the chase. The account just given of, trophies in the 
 hunting-field begins really in the last Aveek of Jul}' and 
 ends on March 4, thus exhibiting a detail of consecutive 
 sport for little more than seven months. During this 
 period Outram, a young man of but one-and-twenty, up to 
 January 29 took three-fifths of tlie ' first spears,' it is true ; 
 but he was winning his professional spears also by energy on 
 the regimental parade. Independently of the duties of his 
 own corps, he had already been adjutant of a detachment on 
 service in Kathiawiir under Captain jNIorris. In January 
 1823 he commanded the 1st battalion of the 12th jS". I. 
 on its annual review, and was highly complimented by 
 Colonel Turner, the reviewing officer, in Station Orders 
 of the day; and in March 1824 he commanded a wing of 
 his corps on the occasion of its review by Sir Charles 
 Colville at Junagarh. The state of the battalion generally 
 may be inferred from the Commander-in-Chief's order dated 
 February 29, the day on wlu'ch he had reviewed its head- 
 quarters for the first time since ' incorporation into the 
 Line.' His Excellency expressed to the officers and men how 
 much gratification he had experienced ' in witnessing that 
 their good composition as a body ' was ' equalled by their 
 smart and soldier-like performance under arms, and the 
 report of their orderly and correct conduct in cantonment.' 
 No slight praise is hereby implied to an adjutant who, 
 however able his commandant, must, if he be of the proper 
 stamp, exercise a strong direct personal influence upon both 
 officers and sipahis in a native regiment. And he had 
 then only just entered his two-and-twentieth year. The 
 good opinion of the liigher authorities on his soldierly 
 (jualities was, however, nut cninced b}' mere compliment. 
 In April 1824, when his regiment moved in wings to relieve 
 the 19th Native Infantry at IMaleguon, in Khandesh, he was
 
 -iS24 DUTY AND PLEASURE. 41 
 
 placed in command of the wing reviewed by the chief at 
 Junagarh, resuming, at tlie end of the march, liis duties of 
 adjutant. Selection of a junior lieutenant for sucli respon- 
 sible work was no poor evidence of efficiency. Dr. Johnston, 
 of the Bombay army, accompanieil in medical charge. 
 His recorded reminiscence of this chapter of Indian life is of 
 sufficient interest to be utilised for the benefit of the reader. 
 The march is described as ' a distance of 250 miles, through 
 a fine country, not wanting in game.' The strict discipline 
 maintained by the young commanding officer did not admit 
 o{ ^ .shikdririf/'' while the men Avere in movement. ']3ut,' 
 writes the doctor, ' after reaching our ground, encamjiing the 
 men, and discussing a good breakfast in the mess tent, we 
 generally sallied out in quest of game, and many a wild boar 
 bit the dust on these occasions. Outram was always ready 
 to join those under his command in the field sports, of 
 which indeed he was the great promoter, and in which he 
 took more first spears than any other man. But this, so 
 far from leading them to be lax in their duties, made every 
 man try to do his best. Duty was always a labour of love 
 with those under him, for he inspired all who were capable 
 of any elevation of feeling with some portion of his own 
 ardour, and made all such willing assistants rather than 
 mere perfunctory subordinates. Thus early did he show 
 that wonderful tact of commanding which few have possessed 
 in such a high deOTee.' 
 
 In October 1824 he proceeded on medical certificate to 
 Bombay. Some four or five months before, his battalion 
 had been converted into a regiment,' under the designation 
 
 ' The order of tlic Governor-General in Council for tlie reorganisation of tlie 
 armies of the three Presidencies is dated 3Iay 6. Twelve reginunts of Native 
 Infantrj', consisting of 2 liattalions each, ■were given to Bombay, 25 to iladras, 
 and 3-1 to Bengal. The separation into regiments accordingly was notified in 
 Bombay Government Orders of June 7, when James Outram ajipeared as 
 fourth Lieutenant in the 24th N.I. Fr-ancis Outram was at the same time 
 shown as sixth among the Lieutenants of Engineers. On July 29, James
 
 43 JAMES OUTRAiV. .1819- 
 
 of 23rd. He himself had been posted next to Lieutenant 
 Ord in the 2nd battalion or 24th, and appointed adjutant ; 
 but he had been permitted at his own request to return to 
 his original battalion and his original adjutancy.' 
 
 His Khandesh experiences of ,s]iihrr had not been as 
 full as those of Kathiavrar, nor were his results so successful. 
 For a party of four there is only shown a list of ten first 
 spears ; but then seven of these belonged to James Outram. 
 One of the seven was exceptional, in that it was not taken 
 upon a hog. The Young Ninn-od had again run down a 
 nilgai, and the exploit had once more cost him ' a valuable 
 horse.' 
 
 jMany old officers of the Bombay army will doubtless 
 remember a story which obtained credit in those days, to 
 the effect that Lieutenant Outram volunteered for emplo}'- 
 ment in the Birmese campaign, and that the Commander- 
 in-Chief, who had a real appreciation of the volunteer's 
 soldierly qualities, but may not have cared to move him 
 from the scene of present usefulness, replied through his 
 secretary that he would not accede to the application, as, 
 after giving the matter every consideration, he had come to 
 the conclusion that the war might be successfully accom- 
 plished without him I The sequel Avas said to have been a 
 challenge, to Avhich the good humour and good sense of the 
 old General replied by a friendly admonition conveyed 
 through a third party. We think it probable that the 
 following is the more correct account. It claims to be that 
 
 Oiitram is gazetted Adjutant of thf 2Uh Ecp;iment N.I. from August 1, ' vice 
 Allen, who resigns.' 
 
 ' The follouing is the text of the Government Order, dated September 3, 
 1824:— 
 
 * 2Zrd Bcghncnt N.I. — Lieutenant J. Outram, liaving exchanged from the 
 2ithto this Regiment N.I. (in order I0 remain in a corps in whieh he lias 
 long done duty), to be continued in the discharge of the duties of Adjutant 
 without alteration of original dale of appointment, and liis appointment of 
 Adjut^int to the 24th Ecgimont of N.I., by the (icneral Order of July 29 last, 
 is cancelled.
 
 -i824 KITTUR. 
 
 43 
 
 related by Sir James himself in after years : — lie used to be 
 nicknamed 'the little general,' and when he asked the chief 
 to be allowed to go to Eirmah, verbally, the reply of, ' Oh, 
 no, little general, I think we can manage it without you,' so 
 enraged him that he rushed out bent upon the duello, and 
 eager to find a sympathising second. Of course no one 
 would act in that capacity ; and the General, on hearing of the 
 matter, said to him, ' It's lucky you did not find one, for I'd 
 have shot you.' In any case Sir Charles Colville must have 
 been the chief referred to, and it is not unlikely that the 
 occurrence took place about the period of his inspection of 
 the 23rd Eegiment in March 1824; for it was in that very 
 month that Sir Archibald Campbell was appointed to 
 command the expeditionary force in Birmah. It may be here 
 mentioned that Lord Amherst had arrived as Crovernor- 
 General in Bengal, in succession to the Marquis of Hastings, 
 in the middle of the previous year. 
 
 While Outran! was at Bombay, towards the end of the 
 
 year 1824, one of those miniature wars occurred which, 
 
 trifling as they are in respect of numbers and area, afford 
 
 lessons to youug soldiers more practical in their way than the 
 
 sand-modelling experience of our military colleges. The story 
 
 is instructive because it illustrates an incident of British rule 
 
 in India which may have been repeated more or less often, 
 
 with variations in detail but like general results ; because it 
 
 shows the delicate gi*ound on which Ave tread in enforcing 
 
 our morals as well as laws upon a people unwilling to accept 
 
 either where they clash with ancient custom or prejudice ; 
 
 and because it establishes the fact that a rebellion affaiust 
 
 authority may be carried on, even by the more uncivilised of 
 
 our Indian subjects, in a strange spirit of chivalry, devoid of 
 
 personal rancour or animosity. 
 
 The Deshai, or hereditary native governor of Kittiir, died 
 in September 1824 without heirs; and his Jar/ ?r, or alien-
 
 44 JAMES OUTRAM. 1S19- 
 
 atod lands, lapsed to the paramount power. ]\[r. Thackeray, 
 British Resident in the native State, consequently assumed 
 control of the property, pending receipt of the further orders 
 of Government. But some members of the native household 
 sought both to conceal the death of the chief, and to palm off 
 a successor, falsely represented to have been adopted. It be- 
 came, therefore, necessary to take measures for securing the 
 treasure and jewels, valued at about 15 lacs of rupees ; and a 
 guard, sufficient to supply the requisite sentries, was ordered 
 to move into the fort on October 22. The day following the 
 spirit of resistance was clearly manifested, and admittance re- 
 fused to a relief of soldiers. Strong measures were necessary; 
 so the Collector gave orders that Captain Black should proceed 
 with two guns to the gateway and demand surrender of the 
 place, with one hour to consider. This done, without answer 
 returned, and a further half-hour having been accorded with 
 similar result, the gates were blown open. A heavy fire was 
 then opened upon our troops from Avithin the fort; ]\Ir. 
 Thackeray, Captain Black, and Lieutenant Dighton were 
 killed, and Lieutenant Sewell was badly wounded. Messrs. 
 Stevenson and Elliott, of the INIadras Civil Service, the Col- 
 lector's Assistants, who had been taken prisoners, were brought 
 in front of the sipahls to induce them to cease firing. The 
 device was successful, and the rebels carried their point. 
 
 No time was lost in repairing the mischief done to the 
 prestige of our authority. There were no railways or tele- 
 graphs in those days, but fortunately Kittur Avas not a very 
 remote locality. On November 7 the 1st European regi- 
 ment and a detachment of artillery embarked from 
 Boiidiay for Vingorla, to proceed to Dharwar ; and soon 
 afterwards a condiined force of Madras and Bombay troops, 
 which had been directed to assemble in the Southern Mar- 
 hatta country, entered the refractory State under command of 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Deacon, C.B., of the INFadras establish-
 
 -iS34 VOLUXTEERS EOR STORMIXG-PARTY. 45 
 
 rnent. On December 10 the Governor of Bombay in Council 
 published the despatches reporting the reduction of the for- 
 tress, and expressing his entire approbation of the measures 
 adopted to achieve success, as well as of the conduct of 
 officers and men engaged. Government viewed ' with par- 
 ticular satisfaction the exertions of the several corps to reach 
 their destination from distant points, under circumstances of 
 great difficulty attendant on the late unusual season and 
 the great want of carriage in the country through which 
 they had to pass.' The affair had been smart and well 
 managed, with a total loss on our side of three killed and 
 twenty-five wounded. It is worthy of remark that Messrs. 
 Stevenson and Elliott v.ere well treated throughout this short 
 period of captivity. According to the portion of the local 
 press then considered the more authoritative, they were 
 desired by the Marhattas to look upon the fort as their own, 
 and their keepers, not themselves, as prisoners ! 
 
 Xow it so happened that both Francis and James Outram 
 were present at the siege of Kittur: the former in the 
 course of duty, the latter as a volunteer on leave at the 
 Presidency. For the parts they respectively played we 
 must refer to the despatches of the officer commanding the 
 field detachment, although the Engineer only is mentioned 
 in them by name. Colonel Deacon says : ' In reconnoitring 
 ... I was ably assisted by the abilities of Captain Pouget, 
 of the Bombay Engineers ; and his decided exertions and 
 operations, as well as those of Lieutenants Lawe and Outram, 
 of the same branch, were of the greatest use to me.' lie 
 added, however, that a demur on the side of the besieged to 
 fulfil the terms of capitulation, which had l)een intimated 
 by prearranged signal, had caused him to move forward 
 ' H.M.'s 46th Kegiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Willshire,' 
 and the 3rd Bombay Native Infantry under Lieutenant- 
 ' Afterwards General Sir Thomas "Willsliire, Eart. K.C.D,
 
 46 JAMES OUTRAM. 1819- 
 
 Colonel Seely.' Suspicion of treacherous dealing had been 
 so far aroused, that ' the batteries were several times about 
 to re-open : ' but all ended well, for after a little delay in 
 negotiation ' the prisoners were . . . brought out and the 
 forts surrendered, about 8 o'clock on the morning of 
 December 5.' By the light of these j^assages in the de- 
 spatch, we understand the personal notes which inform us 
 that James Outram, after successfully volunteering for the 
 Kittiir expedition, was ' attached to the 3rd Regiment in 
 command of the Light Company,' and that he had further 
 ' volunteered to lead the storming-party,' a contingency con- 
 templated, but rendered unnecessary owing to the submis- 
 sion of the insurgents. 
 
 As their arrival at Bombay is notified in the same day's 
 Gazette, we may conclude that the two brothers returned 
 thither from Kittur together on January 19. The younger 
 did not tarry many days at the Presidency, and in February 
 had joined his regiment at jNIalegaon. One month later, 
 an insm-rection, which, unchecked, might have proved of a 
 serious character, broke out in tlie western districts of Khan- 
 desh, in the suppression of which he was called upon to 
 take a prominent part. The leading rebel, with 800 men, 
 attacked and plundered Antapiir, and carried his spoil to 
 tlie hill-f<:»rtress of ]\Ialair, a village between Surat and 
 Alalegaon. There, having established his head-quarters, 
 he raised the banner of the recently conquered Peshwa, 
 and proclaimed his intention of reviving the glories of the 
 Manitha confederacy. Convenient military stations, such as 
 Surat, Jalnah, and Ahmadnagar, were warned to hold soldiers 
 in readiness for service ; while the more immediately avail- 
 able force was concentrated for protective purposes upon 
 Zai Kaira, the chief town of (he ^Nlalair district, and seat of 
 the treasury ; that place being only twelve miles distant 
 from the stronghold of the insurgents.
 
 -1 824 THE FORT OF MALAIR. 47 
 
 On the morning of April o a requisition for troops 
 reached ^Maleguon ; and a detachment of 200 men of the 
 11th and 23rd Regiments was paraded and marched off at 5 
 o'clock in the evening. Lieutenant Outram, Avho was to 
 command, and his friend, Mr. Graham, the assistant-collector, 
 followed at 1 1 p.m. on an elephant. They reached Zai Kaira 
 at sunrise on April 6 — 37 miles in seven hours. On the way 
 they had seen the fires in Malair; and the surrounding 
 country had appeared to them in a blaze. For the last five 
 miles into the town the road had been strewed with sipahis, 
 completely knocked up. In the course of the day Outram 
 received information which led him to believe that, despite 
 of numbers, the fortress of Malair might be successfully 
 escaladed on the further side. But this day's proceedings, 
 and those of April 7, will be retold in the words of one who 
 may be trusted for a knowledge of his subject : ' He there- 
 fore proposed to carry the place by a coup-de-main, to rout 
 the insurgents under the panic of a sudden surprise, and, by 
 thus destroying the prestige they had already acquired, to 
 dishearten the allies that were flocking to their standard. 
 This proposition was enthusiastically received by his compa- 
 nions. Ensigns Whitmore and Paul, of the 11th Regiment ; 
 but it so far exceeded the discretionary powers Avhich their 
 written instructions vested either in Graham or Outram, that 
 it was a matter of serious deliberation with the former whether 
 he was justified in giving his consent. The result of his enqui- 
 ries, however, satisfied him that a rapid and alarming exten- 
 sion of the insurrection could only be prevented by offering 
 a prompt check to the rebels. He accordingly sanctioned the 
 proposed measures ; and soon after nightfall Outram marched 
 forth to carry them into execution. 
 
 ' As he neared the hill on which the fortress was situated, 
 he sent Ensigns Whitmore and Paul, with 150 men, to make 
 a false attack in front, while he himself, with the remaining
 
 48 JAMES OUTRAM. 1819-- 
 
 fifty sepoys of his detachment, turning off to the left, pro- 
 ceeded to assail the rear. 
 
 * The operation was completely successful. Both parties 
 effected the ascent before daybreak, and while the rebels 
 had their attention drawn to their front by the assault of an 
 enemy whose strength it was impossible to ascertain in the 
 dark, Outram dashed in upon them from behind. The 
 panic-stricken garrison fled with scarcely an attempt at 
 resistance, and at the head of his reunited detachment, 
 and some horsemen whom Mr. Graham had in the meantime 
 collected, Outram followed them up so closely that they 
 could neither rally nor discover the weakness of their 
 assailants. Their leader was cut down ; many of his ad- 
 herents shared his fate, and the rest made for the neii^h- 
 buuring hills in a state of complete disorganisation. 
 
 ' As the infantry had now marched upwards of fifty miles 
 in little more than thirty-six hours, Outram found it neces- 
 sary to halt them soon after dawn. But the horsemen 
 continued the pursuit so far as the nature of the ground 
 permitted ; scouts were despatched to ascertain the point of 
 rendezvous selected by the scattered foe, and at night the 
 chase was resumed. The insurgents were a second time 
 surprised ; many were slain, numbers were taken prisoners, 
 and the rest, throwing down their arms, fled to their respective 
 villages. A rebellion which had caused much anxiety to the 
 authorities was thus crushed ere the troops intended for its 
 suppression had been put in motion, and the plunder of 
 Untapoor was restored to its lawful owners.' ' 
 
 These services, for which the acknowledgments of Govern- 
 ment, the Commander-in-Chief, and the Division General, 
 were received by the smart young adjutant and his supporters, 
 were the last rendered by fiieutenant Outram in his capacity 
 
 ' Memoir, printed for private t-iroulation iu IH.V;.
 
 -i824 PHYSICAL PROBATIOXS. 49 
 
 of regimental officer. He had been marked by the authorities 
 for special employ, and his energy and abilities were to be 
 displayed in a new and higher sphere. By Bombay General 
 Orders of April 22, he was placed at the disposal of the 
 collector and political agent in Khandesh for the purpose of 
 commanding a Bliil corps to be raised in that province for 
 police duties. A fortnight afterwards appeared in the 
 Government Gazette the appointment of an officer to be 
 adjutant of the 23rd Kegiment N.I. '•vice Outram, appointed 
 to command a Bhil corps.' We are not surprised to learn 
 that when he thus officially, as it were, parted from his 
 old companions, his commanding officer. Major Deschamps, 
 recorded a warm eulogium on his services, attributing in a 
 great measure to his individual merits and exertions the 
 good reputation obtained by the newly-formed regiment. 
 
 Having now traced the strictly regimental career of the 
 subject of our biography, it will not be out of place, be- 
 fore commencing a new chapter, to glance at the result of 
 this incipient work upon physical powers which an Indian 
 climate and much out-door work had put to a tolerably 
 severe test. 
 
 He was not one to dwell upon bodily ailments, but he 
 was not free from those to which flesh is heir; nor was 
 India more kind to him during the first live years of his 
 residence than to the generality of his companions. It has 
 been shown that sickness had compelled him to leave Baroda 
 in 1821 and Rajkot in 1824, proceeding on each occasion to 
 Bombay. It has not, however, been stated that just before 
 the march from Puna in the former year he had been 
 attacked by a bilious fever, which, to use his own words, 
 though ' got over in three days,' was ' succeeded by a very 
 curious disease, something between small-pox and chicken- 
 pox.' He had managed to accompany his regiment out from 
 Puna in that kind of second-cln!?s palanquin called a <ioolee ; 
 
 VOL. 1. i:
 
 50 JAMES OUTRAM. 1824 
 
 and after four days' rest at his cousin's quarters in Bombay, 
 whither he had gone by water from Panwell, he had felt well 
 enough to decline his commanding officer's offer to precede 
 the corps by sea-passage to Cambay. That this attack, how- 
 ever, had been of a decided character may be inferred from 
 his report of himself when it had fairly passed away : i.e. that 
 he was ' a greater scare than ever,' and ' a little marked ' by the 
 disease. Moreover, Mr. Elphinstone had not at first recog- 
 nised him at Baroda, because he ' had grown so much,' and 
 his ' face was greatly altered,' which latter result he attri- 
 buted to the same circumstance. 
 
 For some years he continued the ' puny lad ' of his self- 
 retrospect, liable to every prevailing sickness, and easily 
 knocked up by exposure. J^ut we learn that even in his 
 early days he formed the resolution to fight it out with the 
 climate or die : to acclimatise himself by surmounting all 
 the illnesses of Anglo-Indian existence, or succuml) to one of 
 them altogether. If he was not to conquer such contingencies, 
 he did not care to live in the atmosphere to which they 
 belonged. And he did fight it out, and, strange to say, ill- 
 ness after illness left him none the worse permanently; while 
 the result of an unusually varied series of approaches to 
 death's door was the establishment of a constitution of iron 
 proof against all influences, and proverltial in its marvellous 
 capacity for endurance of deadly trials; nerves of steel — 
 shoulders and muscles worthy of a six-foot Highlander, lie 
 was given over in cholera more than onc(% and cxperienctd 
 fevers and other diseases or complaints wliicli, humanly 
 speaking, would have killed most men : l)ut excitement and 
 work soon became, and long reniained, his best restoratives 
 and tonics. 
 
 Of his ' moving accidents by flood and field ' and ' hair- 
 breadth 'scapes,' we shall have to tell hereafter. Our 
 immediate business is with the Bhils of Khandesh. ■
 
 SKETCH MAP OF THE WESTERN COAST OF INDIA 
 
 FROM BOMBAY, NORTH TO SIROHI. 
 
 
 ""^^ **«'^A^n*«^ J I 
 
 76 
 
 V « so 50 
 
 SCALt Of [NCL15M Wills 
 
 Londou: ^uiilJi. Elder & Co. 
 
 'Stan/cr-i/fi €f:op^ J^^ai>* Lnndan,
 
 51 
 
 (CHAPTER III. 
 
 1 820-1828. 
 KllaI<lk■^ll anil tliu Bhils - Out ram's Bhil Corps. 
 
 The province of Khandesh, situated to the north-north-east 
 of the port of Bombay, from which its principal town, Dhulia, 
 is distant 181 miles, became incorporated in British Indian 
 territory in 1818, after the Peshwa's downfall. For a time 
 it formed part of the district of Ahmadnagar; but was 
 separated in 1849. It is now known as a collectorate, of 
 which the greatest length is, from east to west, 175 miles, 
 and breadth, from north to south, 128 miles.' 
 
 Thirty-seven years ago, Captain Douglas Graham described 
 the tract as contained between the Satpura hills on the 
 north, and that branch of the ghats which passes under the 
 names of Chandar, Satmula, and Ajanta, to the south. So far 
 the description holds good at the present day. Let us add 
 that, beyond the Satpuras, are the Akrani jjargaiina and 
 the native State of Barwani. These comprise lands south of 
 the Narbada, flanked by the territory of Holkar and the 
 (jaikwur, the last extending also along the Sukhain hills, or 
 western limits of Khandesh. East and south-east are Berar 
 and the country of the Nizam. The tabular trap hills on 
 the north are, according to Captain Grraham, ' separated 
 from eacli other by ravines of vast magnitude, and are 
 co\ered with splendid forests which afford, amidst the most 
 romantic scenery, unbounded shelter to the outlaw.' The 
 
 ' See also Appendix I>, as regards Kliandosli uud tlie Blill-; generally.
 
 52 JAMES OUTRAM. 1825- 
 
 Sukhain range is steep and stony, but the gMits on that 
 side are broken : they sustain ' tangled masses of bamboo 
 found nowhere else in greater luxury or more difficult of 
 access.' A thick hahul jangal clothes the hilly country on 
 the south. 
 
 AVhat with bad roads, sparse hamlets, rugged impracticable 
 mountain passes, and the spread o^ jangal over the cultivable 
 tracts, the aspect of the province, on being brought under 
 British occupation, was far from inviting. Its decline is 
 dated at a period within the present century, when Holkar's 
 ravages were followed by famine, and famine Avas followed by 
 misgovernment and official plunder. Irrespective of these 
 visitations, though in some degree consequent upon them, 
 lawless men moved, and savage beasts prowled, over the face of 
 the land in quest of mischief, P^oremost among marauding 
 tribes, one, the Bhil, is especially connected with the work 
 which we have in hand. 
 
 Colonel Briggs, political agent in 1818, estimated the 
 Bhils in Khandesh to form an eighth part of the whole 
 population. Fifteen years later, Mr. W. S. Boyd, an ex- 
 perienced collector, adopting the same basis of calculation, 
 fixed the number at 55,000. The former believed them to 
 be a distinct people ; and assigned them a habitat in the 
 mountainous tract lying between Dharanpur in the Konkan 
 (20'-23' north lat.) and Meywar, belonging to the Buna of 
 Udaipur. Sir John Malcolm saw in them a distinctiveness of 
 race and class-separation dating from the most remote ages. 
 Captain Douglas Graham placed on record that, on being 
 driven out of ^Meywar and Jodhpur by other tribes, they 
 had located themselves among the rocky ranges of the 
 Satpura, Mndhya, and Satmala, and amidst the woody banks 
 of the jNIahi, Narbada, and Tapti, ' where, protected by the 
 strong nature of the coimtry, they have since dwelt, subsisting 
 partly on their own industry, but more generally on the
 
 1 828 THE BHlLS. 
 
 53 
 
 phiuder of the rich landholders in their vicinity, considering 
 depredation on the inhabitants of the plain as a sort of 
 privilege, and a tax upon all persons passing through the 
 country of their occupation as a national right.' He believed 
 the bulk of the Khandesh Bhils to have settled in Baglan 
 for Eaglana), and to the north and north-west, as peaceable 
 cultivators, proprietors, and village officials — respectable 
 probably as their fellows, because having the same interest 
 in the preservation of their rights and property. But there 
 must have been many exceptions to this hopefid majority 
 in the indolent, improvident lot whom he found scattered 
 in numbers throughout the province, refusing intimacy ^nth, 
 or to acknowledge as kith or kin, those who had become 
 ' degraded ' by trade or labour, and had abandoned the normal 
 ways and habits of the tribe. The most restless and trouble- 
 some he stated to be ' those dwelKng immediately at the 
 foot and amidst the recesses of the surrounding ranges, who 
 at different periods have either usurped, or have been en- 
 trusted with, all the passes leading into the country, and till 
 lately have held charge of many of the most important 
 fortresses in the j^lains. Their hive-like habitations formerly 
 crested the top of each isolated hill, where approach from 
 every side was easily defended or immediately discovered ; 
 and these hovels, not reared for permanent occupation, but 
 hastily put together to be crept into for a few months or 
 Aveeks, were without regret abandoned on any occasion that 
 induced the occupants to shift their quarters. Eoving and 
 restless by disposition, and skilful hunters by necessity, 
 the woods and jungles supplied them with roots, berries, 
 and game ; a successful foray filled their stores to over- 
 flowing ; and as every man's hand was lifted against them, 
 so the measure of wrath was fully returned by the tribe, 
 whose powers of mischief far exceeded those of their nu- 
 merous oppressors, and whose habits and locations enabled
 
 54 JAMES OUTRAM. 1S25- 
 
 them to bid such a lengthy defiance to so many Govern- 
 ments.' ^ 
 
 The term, like that of ' Kurd ' in Asiatic Turkey, has 
 been long traditionally associated with robbery and violence, 
 but circumstances may have had something to do Avith 
 turning the hand of the Bhil against his neighbour, equally 
 with inborn combativeness and natural predilections. In 
 village communities the Ehil of Khandesh Avas described 
 to be usually the recognised watchman, who received a 
 certain amount of rent-free land and grain for the ordinary 
 fulfilment of duty, and special rewards for special services. 
 We speak of the system in its condition under native 
 States unaffected by the changes of European civilisation. 
 It was observed however that, in the interior — that is, at 
 vsome distance from the mountain ranges — the village Bhil 
 seldom admitted the authority of an official or hereditary 
 chief, or acknowledged any superior but one who had acquired 
 the greatest reputation as a leader of banditti — failing whom, 
 his choice fell on the oldest and wisest of his fellows. There 
 is therefore good reason to infer that the settlement in the 
 plains of certain of the tribe as peaceable members of an 
 agricultural family, was brought about by compulsion or 
 strong persuasion on the part of the Muhammadan rulers.- 
 Moreover, on the occurrence of famine and invasion, it 
 appears that the Bhil watchmen and cultivators generally 
 broke away from their more domestic ties, and took refuge 
 in the surrounding hills. 
 
 Apart from village organisation and the milder morality 
 of the plain country, there were the fierce, intractable l^hil 
 robbers of the mountain : men of strong animal passions and in- 
 stincts, who had no sympathy or part with the tiller of the soil, 
 
 ' A Brief Historical Sketch of the Bhil Tribes i)ihahiti>ifi the Proci/ice of 
 Khandesh. IJomliay, 1843. 
 
 - Report by I.ieiitonant-Coloncl Kobcrtson, of Mareli 18, 1825.
 
 -:828 Tin: Blill.S. 
 
 55 
 
 and knew nothing of honest livelihoods or the nses of in- 
 dustry ; who prided themselves in a profession of plunder 
 invested Avitli the character of sanctity, and whose religion 
 was allegiance to the powers of evil, illustrated by pro- 
 pitiatory sacrifices of a sanguinary type. No wonder that 
 these, and such as had not been grafted into a more civilised 
 state than these, isolated themselves from, and were readily 
 isolated by, their neighbours, whose bitter and hereditary 
 enemies they naturally became. Suspicious, cunning, and more 
 ready to prey on the weak than test the prowess of the strong, 
 their bravery was perhaps in most cases that of desperation 
 and recklessness of life, but lias also been held to partake 
 of ' manly fortitude' and 'heroic devotion.' 
 
 One authority, admitting two sides to the picture, 
 speaks of them in the following terms : ' Small in stature, 
 lean and wiry, these Bhils are capable of great endurance, 
 and from constant exercise their senses of sififht and hearinsr 
 are wonderfully acute. They seem, in their natural state, 
 like the Bushmen of Africa, scarcely men, but rather a link 
 between the human species and the wild creatures among 
 whom they live. Robbers and marauders by natural descent, 
 for long their hand was against every man and e^•ery man's 
 hand against them. Hunting, varied by plundering and 
 cattle-lifting, was their normal trade. There was something 
 noble in them too ; they were in fact the Eob I\oys of India, 
 and, like our Ivob Koy, they for a long time actually levied 
 black mail from the inhabitants of the open country. Pro- 
 scribed by Government and hunted down, they were killed 
 by hundreds, but never subdued.' ^ Of those who were essen- 
 tially hill-men, it may be said that, prior to the formation 
 of the British collectorate of Khandesh, no coercion or per- 
 suasion had from time immemorial, or, according to any 
 
 ' Lecture delivered in EdinLurgh to II.3I.".s 78lli Iliglilaiiders, liy Colonel 
 Davidson, late of the Boniljay Army.
 
 56 JAMES OUTRAM. 1825- 
 
 tradition extant, succeeded in drawing them from their 
 mountain abodes and fastnesses. 
 
 But we must not now confine ourselves, either ethno- 
 logically or geogi'aphically, to any one particular division of 
 the race, though the strict range of biographical narrative 
 be limited to the inhabitants of one British Indian collec- 
 torate and its immediate neighbourhood. "We have to do 
 Avith all to whom a particular designation apphes, whether 
 dweller in the hills or plains, or ignorant of one or the other, 
 or an occasional visitor or frequenter of both ; only, be it 
 premised, our subject is rather warrior than cultivator, and 
 more commonly a disturber than a preserver of the peace. 
 
 The Bhils had taken advantage of the war between 
 Muhammadans and ^Mariithas to give vent to their tastes 
 and powers of misdoing ; but on the cessation of that 
 struggle, a new period of anarchy and confusion arose which 
 nmst have been at its height when Khandesh came into 
 our hands in 1818. 
 
 At that time we are told :— 
 
 ' Murder and rapine stalked openly and unrestrainedly 
 through the land. Fifty notorious leaders infested this 
 once flourishing " garden of the west," and their every 
 command Avas implicitly obeyed by upwards of five thou- 
 sand ruthless followers, whose sole occupation was pillage 
 and robbery, whose delight alone consisted in the mur- 
 nerous foray, and Avhose subsistence depended entirely on 
 the fruits of their unlawful spoil. Smarting also nnder the 
 repeatedly broken pledges of the former Native Government, 
 and rendered savage from the wholesale slaughter of their 
 families and relations, the Bhils were more than usually 
 suspicious of a new government of foreigners, and less than 
 ever inclined to submit to the bonds of order and restraint.'' 
 
 The Satpura and Satmdla, or northern and southern 
 ' Captain Douglas Graham's Memoir.
 
 -iS28 BRITISH BHlL AGENTS. 57 
 
 liills, as well as western (jhdts, were alive with large bodies 
 of warlike and disaifected men, ever ready, more or less, to 
 ruffle the tranquillity of the plain country beneath. So in- 
 secure was the condition of the cultivator, that he was con- 
 strained to refuse the taMwi, or money advanced for seed, 
 an act in many cases significant of a coming season of desti- 
 tution. War between British and Bhils became therefore 
 a stern necessity ; and it was further necessary at once to stop 
 the forcible seizing of grain in the lowlands. 
 
 For seven years every effort was made to bring about a 
 better order of things. Colonel Briggs, the political agent, 
 tried conciliatory as well as repressive measures. Some of 
 the delinquents were enlisted in the Government service, 
 some were pensioned, and with others an attempt was made 
 to organise a local police ; but notwithstanding the loss by 
 death or confinement of many of the more prominent in- 
 surgents, and that great and reasonable inducement to accept 
 terms had been held out, little sensible progress was at- 
 tained. It was not until the new policy inaugurated by 
 Colonel Archibald Robertson had been rendered intelligible 
 to the mass, and names such as Ovans and Outram had be- 
 come familiar to the Bhil, that a marked change ensued for 
 the better. This change is dated from the year 1825, when 
 the J3hil agency was established and effect given to the 
 orders specially communicated by the Court of Directors. 
 The three agents were Captain Rigby in the north-west, 
 having under his charge the td'liikas of Nandurbar, Sul- 
 tanpur, and Pimpalnair, with all the independent and tribu- 
 tary chieftains, those of the Dang inclusive ; Captain Ovans 
 in the south, in charge of Jamnair, Burgaon, and Chalisgaon, 
 inclusive of the districts below and adjoining the Ajanta 
 and Satmala range ; and Lieutenant James Outram in the 
 north-east, superintending the line of the Satpuras, with the 
 districts of Chopra, YiXwal, and Sauda, to which were after-
 
 58 JAMES OUTRAM. 1S35- 
 
 wards added Erindol, Amalnair, and Nasarabiid. To the 
 latter officer was moreover entrusted the duty of raising a 
 Bhil Light Infantry corps under native commissioned and 
 non-commisioned officers of Line regiments. 
 
 The agents were certainly instructed how to carry on 
 generally the important Avork committed to them, and made 
 acquainted with the results which it was desirable they 
 should achieve. But it is manifest that much must have 
 been left to their discrimination and judgment, and that 
 individual character would go far to solve the problem of 
 success or failure in an undertaking of the kind. They had 
 to combine administrative with executive functions : to 
 be magistrates, judges, arbitrators, advisers, police super- 
 intendents, and military commanders : to conciliate as Avell 
 as repress, to attract as well as awe, and to inculcate honesty 
 and fair dealing by example as well as by precept. Outram 
 had, in addition, to instil discipline and obedience into the 
 minds of tliose whom he was to rear as a local force. 
 
 To render acceptable the humane and enlightened policy 
 about to be initiated, military operations were reduced to a 
 minimum. To stop them entirely would have been unwise, 
 impolitic, and unfair to the peaceful inhabitants of Khan- 
 desh : but a general amnesty was offered to all Bhils but 
 the more heinous offenders, for whose apprehension largo 
 rewards had been proclaimed ; and indeed a free pardon for 
 past crimes was granted to those who surrendered at discretion. 
 
 Altluiugh the order lo organise a Bhil corps under a 
 European officer was l<»ng delayed, and the incident of the 
 Malair rebellion, in which Outram bore so conspicuous a 
 part, doubtless hastened its issue and execution, credit may 
 not be Avithheld from the local Government for the measures 
 eventually taken. ]Mountstuart Elphinstone, Governor of 
 Bombiiy from 1819 to 1827, had had a long experience of 
 Western India. Great natural ability, combined with a keen
 
 ,iS2S BREAK IXG GROUND. 59 
 
 insight into the native mind, and that cool courage which had 
 caused Colonel Arthur Wellesley to hold him ' certainly born 
 a soldier,' soon gave him a high local reputation, which was 
 afterwards not diminished by his tenure of the Presidential 
 diofnit V. In the matter of the Bhils he leaned to the milder 
 policy of conciliation, and looked hopefully to the possibility 
 of ameliorating the condition of these proscribed brigands 
 and outcasts. He would reclaim rather than exterminate; 
 and happily the Home (xovernment, despite of objections put 
 forward, eventually supported his proposals. The selection 
 of so junior an officer as James Outram for the double work 
 of morally civilising and physically disciplining the rough 
 and ignorant Bhil of Khandesh, was not more creditable to 
 the nominee's character than to the judgment of the 
 (lovernor. In at once throwing up his regimental position 
 and accepting the appointment offered, the young adjutant 
 acted against the advice of friends, who expatiated on the 
 poor prospect of a successful result to his labours. But he 
 was wise in his generation. 
 
 A severe illness detained Lieutenant Outram until the 
 beginning of May in Malegaon, Avhere his regiment was 
 stationed. Here also were the head-quarters of a field force 
 designed to keep in check the Bhils of the Ajanta or 
 Satmala range, who, under the guidance of one Pandu and 
 other leaders of local celebrity, had long ravaged the plains 
 lielow the mountains with impunity, setting at nought all 
 attempts to dislodge them from their fastnesses. As it was 
 not ])racticable to open communications from this place, 
 (Jutram proceeded up to Kanur, a small station in the 
 Nizam's country above the ghdts^ but with no practical result. 
 Hence he returned to Malegaon in the hope of persuading 
 the local authorities to consent to active operations ; for he 
 was convinced that his mission would be Aain so long as 
 the spirit of rebellion was fostered by the belief that our troops
 
 6o JAMES OUTRAM. 1825- 
 
 could not attack the evil at its source, by penetrating the 
 mountain retreats. Again disappointed, he made his way to 
 a native officer's post at Jatigjiou, some thirty miles distant, 
 also above the ghdts, whither the men were detached from 
 his own regiment. The commandant, recognising one whom 
 he had long been accustomed to obey, and ignorant that a. 
 General Order, placing the English adjutant of the 23rd N.I. 
 on separate staff employ, had virtually cancelled his immediate 
 authority over the sipahis, even though drilled and disciplined 
 by himself, at once complied with (.)utram's requisition to 
 hold in readiness all his disposable men for a march after 
 nightfall. Thus provided, he set off under guidance of a 
 native spy, marched upon a strong position where he had 
 heard the Bhils were then concentrated, and came upon his 
 quasi-enemy by daybreak. His detachment consisted of only 
 thirty bayonets, but the surprise had its anticipated effect. 
 On the first alarm that the red-coats were upon them, given 
 by the scouts when the distance was too great for actual 
 assault, the whole body of rebels fled in every direction 
 panic-stricken, leaving their women, children, and scant 
 property at the mercy of the soldiers. Separating then his 
 small party into threes and fours, Outram directed the 
 sipahis to pursue the Bhils so long as any came in sight, 
 and to rendezvous at a particular spot, searching the ravines 
 closely on their way thither. The sight of the scarlet 
 uniform and the sound of musketry in many different 
 quarters confirmed the fugitives in the idea that the whole 
 British force was upon them, and j)revented all attempts at 
 rallying; in tine, the dispersion for the time was complete. 
 ( )n this occasion two Bhils were killed and many supposed 
 to be wounded, while most of the families remained in the 
 power of the assailants. I^ut the matter did not end here. It 
 was determined to prevent, as much as possible, renewal of 
 mischief. Information of the proposed covp de main had
 
 -1 828 FIRST PROCEEDINGS. 6i 
 
 been sent to Major Deschainps, commanding at Malegaon, 
 and his co-operation invited and accorded. Reinforcements 
 consequently appeared, and a pursuit of the Bhils, carried 
 out on a more extensive scale than before, ended in the 
 occupation of their haunts by regular troops, and the 
 destruction of their power to such an extent that a way was 
 opened for the introduction of restorative and remedial 
 measures. 
 
 Outram then coimneaced his work of organisation, and, as 
 he himself expresses it, laid the foundation of the corps 
 through the medium of his captives, ' some of whom were 
 released to bring in the relatives of the rest, on the pledge 
 that they all should be set at liberty.' He has further non- 
 officially recorded the particulars of this interesting and 
 remarkable inauguration of a great philanthropic as well as 
 political movement : — 
 
 ' I thus effected an intercourse with some of the 
 leading Xaicks, went alone with them into their jungles, 
 gained their hearts by copious libations of brandy, and 
 their confidence by living unguarded among them, until 
 at last I persuaded five of the most adventurous to risk their 
 fortunes with me, which small beginning I considered ensured 
 ultimate success.' 
 
 (Jutram's first report bears date July 1, and is addressed 
 from Dharangaon to Colonel Kobertson, collector of Khan- 
 desh. It relates thjTt on May 8 the writer, agreeably 
 to his instructions, proceeded to Chalisgaon in search of 
 recruits. At this place he received all necessary aid from 
 !Mr. Graham, the assistant-collector, who explained personally 
 to the superior native officials, and caused them to explain 
 to those under their orders (as well as to the Bhils them- 
 selves, when forthcoming), the nature and advantages of 
 enlistment in the service of the British Government. Pendin*-
 
 62 -JAMES OUTRAMi 1825- 
 
 the result of such appeal, he went to a station above the 
 ghats privately, to secure the support of Captain Kelly, of the 
 Nizam's army, an officer generally credited with influence 
 among the people with whom negotiations were to be opened. 
 The gentleman thus addressed was not slow to act upon his 
 young friend's requisition ; but his efforts were unavailing, 
 and, as he declared it to be his decided opinion that the 
 prejudices and fears of the Bhds in the matter were not to 
 be overcome, the applicant returned to Chalisgaon on 3Iay 
 20. Here, too, during the few days of his absence, no 
 candidates for service had been induced to offer themselves ; 
 but Oatram thought too well of this particular part of 
 Khandesh, in its relation to his main object, to abandon 
 it in a hurry, so he continued in the district, visiting and 
 residing at neighbouring Bhil villages imtil June 15. 
 
 In the official report of these proceedings there is no 
 mention of the affair in which the slpahis of the Jatigaon 
 detachment were engaged ; but it must have occurred at the 
 period we have reached, and it was not improbably the result 
 of the visit to Captain Kelly and failure to obtain recruits at 
 Chtilisgaon. The unsuccessful application to ]Malegaon for 
 armed men was doubtless as jn-ivate in its way as the 
 promptly met requisition on the native officer ; and conse- 
 quently neither circumstance appears on the record in 
 official foolscap. It is not hard to understand the shyness 
 of the Bhils to enter upon a new line of life on the representa- 
 tion of comparative strangers. They had had ample cause 
 to mistrust authority under Native (njvernments, and insul- 
 ficient experience of the British rule to accept it in a 
 thoroughly. trusting spirit. The fears of the men at some 
 supposed lurking mischief wert^ among the main obstacles 
 to enlistnu'ut ; and three? or four of the first comers were 
 frightened away by a report that they had been enticed with 
 a view to eventual transportation beyond the seas. At length,
 
 -1 8^8 OBSTACLES TO PROGRESS. 63 
 
 as already shown, five of the bolder, it may be the more 
 intelligent, of the number were persuaded to take the shilling 
 in earnest, and, though not a man seems to have been 
 actually enrolled until late in June, Outram had, on July 1, 
 as many as 25 recruits. On September 1 he again wrote 
 to Colonel Kobertson from Dharangaon which, on hygienic 
 reasons, he had constituted for the time his head-quarters, 
 and where he had commenced hutting his recruits for the 
 monsoon. From 25, the number of enlistments had increased 
 on August 1 to G2, and on the date of writing to 92, but it 
 will be seen that the progress was held insufficient. The 
 report is explicit : — 
 
 ' You will be sorry to observe that they have not, 
 during the last month, increased in number in the ratio 
 that might have been expected from the former. Several 
 are the causes of this : partly from the ]Mohurrum festival 
 having intervened, during which I kept all my men together 
 to make them pass a happy holiday; partly because I find it 
 prudent at present not to appear to press the rapid assembly 
 of a large number whilst yet unarmed ; but chiefly, I am 
 sorry to say, because the suspicious of our motives gain 
 ground daily. Alarming reports are doubtless kept alive by 
 those who are interested in frustrating this measure, in the 
 success of Avhich they foresee the deathlilow to plundering 
 with impunity.' 
 
 The necessity for keeping the recruits unarmed gave 
 a colour of truth to the mischievous stories circulated : 
 and an unfortunate coincidence, arising from the locality 
 selected, rendered the recruiting officer's position more 
 delicate still : — 
 
 ' The town of Dharangaon, and the very cutcherry in 
 v.hich I am residing, having been the scene of the massacre
 
 64 JAMES OUTRAM. 1825- 
 
 of a number of Bhils (enticed on a very similar plan about 
 eleven years ago, during the Peshwa's government), the 
 butcheries of that period are fresh in their memory, 
 and a repetition is dreaded by all but those who are now 
 with me. I have spared no endeavour to remove their 
 fears by constant intercourse with them ; by talking of the 
 cruelty above alluded to with marks of detestation and 
 without reserve ; by explaining the advantages we expect 
 from their services (for they could not understand and 
 would suspect any other motive for the liberality of the 
 Cxovernment) ; by listening to their complaints, enquiring 
 into and obtaining redress for oppression, to which the 
 fomilies of many were subjected when unable to complain ; 
 by interceding for those who, though proscribed, have sought 
 my intercession ; and by taking every opportunity of display- 
 ing a perfect confidence in them, and exacting little services 
 from them. 
 
 ' By these means I have succeeded in inspiring almost 
 all who are in the corps with a feeling of security, and a 
 confidence in me, of which I have had ample proof. Had 
 this not fortunately been the case, the undertaking must 
 have been ruined on the 26th instant, when, by some means 
 or other, a report was spread among them that, in the great 
 concourse of people assembled in the town on that day (being 
 the last of the festival), were concealed the agents by whom 
 they were to be slaughtered in the evening. Well calculated 
 to strike terror in the minds of people most of whom had 
 liad relations or friends cut off by similar treachery during 
 the Peshwa's reign, the story was only credited by about 
 fifteen of the newest and most timorous of the recruits, who 
 fled on the first alarm. 
 
 ' The moment 1 heard of the niiuour I ordered the Bhils 
 to assemble, and was promptly obeyed. I explained to them 
 how much disappointed I had reason to be in men who
 
 -1 8:8 RECRUITIXG PARTIES. 65 
 
 notwithstanding the confidence I placed in them, sleeping 
 under their swords every night (having none but a Bhil 
 guard at my residence), still continued to harbour suspicions 
 of me. The feeling with which they answered me was so 
 gratifying that I do not regret the cause which brought it 
 forth. They immediately went after the fugitives, and re- 
 turned with eight in the evening. The others, whose fears 
 had carried them out of reach, are still absent, but I have 
 not struck them off the strength of the corps, their friends 
 having gone to recall them, and I have no doubt they will be 
 happy to return when they find their fears were groundless. 
 
 ' Others have given early proof of their fidelity. In the 
 beginning of August I despatched two parties to recruit, the 
 one of a havildar and 20 Bhils to the Chalisgaou, the other 
 of a naick and 10 Bhils to the Londir tcClukas. Most of 
 them were inhabitants of the countries to which they were 
 sent, and on their arrival at their homes, they found that 
 report had been busy with their fate during their absence. 
 So terrified were their relations from what they had heard 
 of our intentions, that they endeavoured by every means to 
 persuade my men to desert, but notwithstanding such solici- 
 tations they all returned, though they could only prevail on 
 nine men to accompany them. . . . 
 
 ' Agreeably to your permission I purchased twenty swords, 
 wliich I have distributed among the Bhils, but they are not 
 calculated to give the appearance of security I am anxious to 
 display. 
 
 ' 1 have shown that those now with me are free from fear, 
 but if kept without arms, I could not answer for their long 
 remaining so. . . . 
 
 'Having previously received your assent, on July 1, 1 
 promoted three Bhils to naiclcs,^ and on August 1, one of 
 the naicks to havildar? My motives for making such early 
 ' jS'iujaJc. a corporal. - Havildar, a sergeant. 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 JAMES OUTRAM. 1825- 
 
 promotions were to excite a spirit of emulation by showing 
 what they had to look up to as a reward of good behaviour, 
 and to teach obedience to non-commissioned officers of my 
 creation, in opposition to what they had only been accustomed 
 to pay to their hereditary naicks. My wishes have been 
 completely answered; the non-commissioned officers are 
 aware of their responsibility, and the privates look up to them 
 as they ought. 
 
 ' The great bar to order at first was their frequent indul- 
 gence in intoxication : this I have put out of their power 
 by the mode of jmyment, which provides them daily with 
 merely the necessaries of life ; except on the last day of the 
 month, when the surplus of their pay is given, which I am 
 happy to find they are beginning to expend in articles of 
 finery in preference to spirituous liquors, and I have not 
 observed a single instance of excess in this respect during 
 the past month. . . . 
 
 ' To terrify the Bhils into taking timely refuge in the 
 corps, I also employed my men on one or two occasions to 
 apprehend offenders. You have already been informed that 
 a detachment from the Bhil corps was anticipated in the 
 seizure of the notorious Heeria Naick, by one day. They also 
 apprehended a gang of thirteen which had just committed a 
 highway robbery ; but the stolen articles not being found 
 upon them, the prisoners were released — though there was no 
 doubt they were the perpetrators, the information against 
 them having been given by an accomplice whose evidence 
 I did not think it prudent to bring forward. 
 
 ' The alacrity they evince in the performance of these 
 services convinces me they will soon have no scruple to 
 bring about their nearest relations to justice when required to 
 do so. That these exertions have terrified the Jihils Avho 
 continue to oppose the laws, is fully proved by the cir- 
 cumstance of two of the most notorious naicks, Lallia and
 
 -1 828 HOPEFUL RESULTS. 67 
 
 Saibia, who have for years eluded all attempts to apprehend 
 them, having voluntarily tendered their submission to me. 
 Although they are proscribed, taking advantage of their 
 being thus in my hands would have been very detrimental 
 to establishing the character of the friend of the Bhils, on 
 which the success of my undertaking so much depends. I 
 therefore promised my intercession with you in their behalf, 
 on which subject I had the honour to address you on the 
 22nd ultimo. 
 
 ' I may also mention in proof of this position, the circum- 
 stance of the country for fifteen miles round my head- 
 quarters, which had hitherto been most particularly a prey 
 to the rapacity of the Bhils, ha\-ing been perfectly free from 
 their depredations since the establishment of the Bhil corps 
 at this place : not a single robbery having taken place, though 
 formerly of daily occurrence, while travellers, who once 
 never ventiured out without the protection of horsemen and 
 sehundies,^ now proceed alone and unarmed. Should the 
 Bhils in the corps prove faithful and efficient servants — 
 which the little experience I have now had in them leads 
 me confidently to hope I shall render them — the rest of that 
 class will be compelled to have recourse to peaceable occu- 
 pations for a livelihood, when it is not unreasonable to 
 hope that this hitherto degraded race, finding protection 
 under our mild rule, may become gradually habituated and 
 attached to the change. Such is what I foresee will be the 
 reward of this humane measure ; and though I am aware it 
 will at present be treated as a vague speculation, I do not 
 hesitate thus early to express my confidence of the result. 
 
 ' In consideration of the irregular class of people I have 
 to deal with, I entreat that the few propositions I may 
 submit in the first stages of this undertaking may be treated 
 with more indulgence than, as coming from so young and 
 
 ' Sibandi, a kind of militia for revenue and police diitief^. 
 F 2
 
 68 . JAMES OUTRAM. 1825- 
 
 inexperienced a man, they might otherwise be entitled to. 
 I may possibly in some instances be unable to abide by 
 former custom or rule in my attempts to reform the Bhils, 
 wherein I must be guided chiefly by circumstances as they 
 occur. Placing early trust in them, for instance, will naturally 
 be regarded as imprudent, and as placing temptation in their 
 ^•jvy — yet I am persuaded that this is the only way to make 
 them trustworthy. Delay in the sanction of any measures 
 is what I dread, and to show the necessity of avoiding this is 
 my reason for making these remarks, and humbly requesting 
 that you will consider the expediency of sanctioning or 
 rejecting my propositions — while this undertaking is still in 
 its infancy — without the delay of reference.' 
 
 Long extracts have been purposely made from this early 
 report of progress, because it affords a very practical illus- 
 tration of the difficulties arising at the outset of a great 
 ^vork— difficulties apt to be overlooked or underrated by 
 those who have had no experience of similar ventures. 
 Among other annoyances with which the writer had to con- 
 tend, was the want of a long-expected detachment of regular 
 sipahis which Grovernment had placed at his disposal. 
 These men were to constitute the nucleus of the new levy, 
 and Outram had, with instinctive sagacity, given out from 
 the first that they were coming. Only it was feared that 
 their appearance at a late hour might rather impede than 
 assist the growth of the corps, by encouraging the notion 
 that they were intended as a check upon the Khils already 
 recruited. As it happened, when the sij^aMs did arrive 
 in November, it was necessary to disarm them temporarily, 
 so as to put them on a like footing Avith the recruits who 
 had not yet been provided with weapons. In October, 
 however, the newly enlisted men had commenced to show signs 
 of usefulness, and to convince their young commander that
 
 -1 828 A BHIl detective. 69 
 
 they were unwilling to eat the Government salt, without 
 making return of some kind for benefits received. One Jambii 
 Jsayak, leader of a large body of marauders, who had slain a 
 horseman in the Potran district, was brought in a prisoner 
 to camp, and handed over to the civil authorities. His 
 capture had been effected by a Bhil like himself, one of 
 Outram's recruits, who, by direction of his British leader, 
 had joined the lawless gang a few days before, without ex- 
 citing suspicion that he was a mere detective. The man 
 having accompanied Jambu — at a time that he was separated 
 from the main body, and attended only by a few of his 
 ft)llowers — to the locality of a tribe whose leader was in 
 British pay, had there found means to secure and carry him 
 off. This act was soon succeeded by other proofs of in- 
 dividual or collective zeal and devotion ; and on November 1, 
 when the total number of Bhil recruits had exceeded a 
 hundred, and the whole scheme looked more than ever 
 promising, and likely to bear fruit in accordance with the 
 more sanguine expectations of its promoters, the periodical 
 report to Colonel Eobertson showed that the exertions of the 
 men on police duty had on several occasions merited the 
 collector's approbation, and that three privates had been 
 made corporals for specially good service. 
 
 On the other hand the following passage in the report would 
 infer that all was not couleur de rose at this period: — 'As 
 was to be expected from suddenly raising the hitherto lawless 
 lihil to be the instrument of power, my parties were in one 
 or two instances at first guilty of making petty exactions, 
 which, though given as presents, were of course only granted 
 from the idea of the donors that more would otherwise be 
 extorted.' But Outram checked the system by timely 
 pimishment; and the reduction to the ranks of a oidrah 
 thus oflfending, brought the more intelligent of his men to a 
 correct appreciation of their duties and responsibilities.
 
 JO yAMES OUTRAM. 1S25- 
 
 After little more than four months' experience of the work, 
 he trusted to render his Bhils fully efficient for the outpost 
 duties of Khandesh, and contemplated relieving all or most 
 of the Line detachments then employed upon them. 
 
 The corps marched in December, and, passing through 
 the parganas of Burgaon, Chalisgaon, and Nandigaon, 
 encamped within a short distance of Malegaon. Nothing 
 could well be more satisfactory than the behaviour of the 
 young Bhil soldiers, to whom the change of scene and camp- 
 shifting on this occasion afforded a pleasurable novelty. 
 Some hundred miles Avere thus traversed with excellent 
 effect. On January 1, 1826, according to the provincial 
 report, the levy had increased to 1.34 men. There had been 
 36 enlistments since November 1, but 7 desertions and 4 
 rejections had reduced the number to 25, to be added to 
 109 previously borne on the rolls. The new year's report 
 is the more interesting because it refers to the introduction 
 of drill and discipline in a less indirect way than before 
 attempted ; and chronicles the admirable behaviour of the 
 older sipahis towards their low-caste brethren. We gather 
 that the ' regulars obtained the entire confidence of the 
 Bhils by their conciliatory conduct ; ' that the ready associa- 
 tion of the regular troops with the irregular recruits had the 
 happiest effect, for these last 'began to rise in self-esteem, 
 and feel proud of the service,' which placed them ' on an 
 equality with the highest classes.' The behaviour of Outram's 
 own regiment (the 23rd N.I.) in this respect, when the 
 men of the Bhil corps were sent bodily into the Malegaon 
 cantonment, is told in a manner so characteristic of the 
 honest heart of the narrator, that we make no apology for a 
 full quotation : — ' Not only were the Bhils received by the 
 men without insulting scoffs, but they were even received as 
 friends, and with the greatest kindness invited to sit down 
 among them, fed by them, and talked to by high and low —
 
 -1828 ARMS AND ACCOUTREMENTS. yi 
 
 as on an equality from being brother soldiers. This acci- 
 dental circumstance will produce more beneficial effects 
 than the most studied measures of conciliation ; and Bhil 
 reformation will owe much to it. The Bhils returned quite 
 delighted and flattered by their reception, and entreated me 
 to allow them no rest from drill until they became equal to 
 their brother-soldiers ! Thus happily has another obstacle 
 been removed.' This obstacle — a purely moral one — he ex- 
 plains to have been caused by the impression that his men 
 would be unfavourably disposed towards the regular army; 
 whereas, instead of any such result accruing from the con- 
 tact, a feeling of regard for the red-coats arose in the minds 
 of the Bhils, which would assuredly, in his opinion, be com- 
 municated to future recruits. A postscript dated January 4 
 reports the arrival and distribution of arms and accoutre- 
 ments. The men seemed highly pleased with, and proud of, 
 the former, notwithstanding that a very few months before 
 they had expressed themselves strongly against receiving 
 them. 
 
 Early in 1826, Outram had returned to Dharangaon, 
 which place he then determined to make his permanent 
 head-quarters. On May 1 of that year, he states that it is 
 his intention to discontinue for a time recruiting ; and on 
 July 1 he reports that he has 'now in the service 308 
 Bhils, of whom 258 attend drill.' During the two previous 
 months the men had been much engaged in the construction 
 of barracks. Their conduct continued to be satisfactory ; 
 there had not been a single complaint against them from 
 \ illagers throughout June, and none that coidd be remem- 
 bered in May. They abstained from spirituous liquors, 
 except on certain special occasions, when the use was 
 authorised ; they exerted themselves with zeal and success 
 to suppress robbery and violence ; and they loyally responded 
 to the call of their commandant to set an example of
 
 72 JAMES OUT RAM. 1825- 
 
 soldierly obedience and good behaviour, whether on duty or 
 parade, or in quarters with their families. 
 
 In December the Bhils were inspected by ]Mr. Bax, of 
 the Bombay Civil Service, who had succeeded Colonel 
 Robertson as collector of Khandesh. The corps was reported 
 competent to take part in the charge and escort of treasure ; 
 to keep the peace in case of plundering or disturbance ; to 
 act in a body, or detachments, against outlaws or rebels ; to 
 assist regular troops in the event of serious field operations ; 
 and to supply ordinary guards and escorts to the local 
 authorities. Outram concludes an ofiicial report, dated 
 December 13, with the exi^ression of his intention to recom- 
 mence recruiting so soon as the arrival of his expected 
 adjutant would enable him to move about the country. ' I 
 shall endeavour,' he says, ' to draw off recruits from all parts 
 of the Saptura range, and make myself perfectly acquainted 
 with every stronghold and place of refuge in these mountains ; 
 so that, on the occurrence of any disturbances, similar to 
 those of last rains, and every former year, I may be able to 
 circumvent all such gangs by my Bhils, and at once.' 
 
 The inspection of the corps by the Division General was 
 attended by circumstances of a peculiar character. We relate 
 the story ^ as received from an unexceptionable source. A 
 day was fixed for the important occasion, and at the time 
 appointed the appearance of the inspecting officer was eagerly 
 awaited. Eventually he came, accompanied by so large an 
 escort that the Ijhils were alarmed, and suspected that harm 
 was intended. The effect was instantaneous: not one df 
 Outram's men was to be f >uiul (Hi ])ara(le ; they had fled to 
 the jail gal. Angry and disappointed, the General aban- 
 doned all idea of a review, and left the ground intent upon 
 lodging a complaint somewhere. No sooner, however, had 
 
 ' It is substantially told in a letter of the Eev. Amlrcvr Jukes; foi'inorly 
 a lieutenant in the Bombay Army.
 
 -1 828 MARAUDING BHILS. 
 
 11 
 
 the brilliant array of staff and attendants disappeared than 
 the Ehils came back from their several hiding-places. Outram 
 at once ordered a parade; and, clothed in the full uniform of 
 the corps, addressed his men in strong language. He had 
 come among them, he said, thinking they could be made 
 soldiers, but he had found them all cowards ; he would have 
 nothing more to do with them ; he had called them out to 
 tell them his mind : they would now part for ever. Having 
 said this, he took off his cap and his coat, threw them on the 
 ground, and, kicking them from him, declared he would 
 never again wear any part of a dress which made him look 
 like one of such a craven set. He then turned from them 
 and walked away. In a moment the men, breaking up their 
 ranks, surrounded their commander, and begged him not to 
 leave them, for they would do anything he wished. ' On 
 one only condition will I stay,' was his reply ; ' that is, that 
 you remain here under arms until I bring back the General 
 to see you.' They promised obedience ; and Outram, jumping 
 upon his horse, rode after the departing officer, brought him 
 back from a considerable distance, and persuaded him to 
 return to the drill ground. When he came the men were 
 all present, went through their evolutions admirably, and so 
 impressed the General with their smartness and efficiency 
 that he reported on them in most laudatory terms. 
 
 In April 1827 an affair took place which enabled the 
 authorities to judge more fairly of the temper and quality 
 of the Bhil corps. A gang of marauding Bhils had been 
 assembled for mischief in the hills beyond Sirpur. It had 
 been just strengthened by the accession of two notorious 
 characters, jNIahdeo Singh and Govinda Nayaks, bringing 
 more than twenty followers, and one Lahnu who had been 
 expelled from Outram's levies; and rumours were current 
 to the effect that emissaries from these men were busily 
 engaged in endeavouring to draw together the disaffected,
 
 74 JAMES OUTRAM. 1825- 
 
 and seduce the loyal inhabitants and Groverament servants 
 throughout the province. Their numbers were said to be 
 increasing daily, and it was generally believed that they 
 would attack the village of Bonwari, which from its strong 
 position had already resisted one attempt made by them 
 upon it. 
 
 Outram was moving with a detachment of his men in 
 search of recruits when he learnt the state of affairs, and his 
 first impulse was to solicit the orders of the collector. But the 
 news reaching him that six carts and twenty-four bullocks had 
 been just seized by the gang, he took the responsibility of 
 action on his own shoulders. ]Marching his recruiting party 
 to a village at ten miles' distance, he selected a detachment of 
 one jama'ddr, one hav'ddar, and twenty-five rank and file dis- 
 ciplined Bhils. And this is his account of the sequel : — 
 
 ' The whole body eagerly pressed to go, but, being 
 desirous to prove the power of discipline, I informed them 
 that a larger force would detract from their merit, as I 
 believed the enemy were not above double the number of 
 those I had selected. 
 
 ' With the detachment above mentioned, I marched at 
 nightfall on Boorwarry (twenty miles) at which place we 
 arrived at about three A.M. The jungle around the village 
 was all on fire, and fearing that it had fallen into the hands 
 of the rebels I proceeded to reconnoitre. Being perceived 
 by the villagers, who in the obsciurity took mo for an enemy, 
 I was fired upon ; but upon giving them to understand who I 
 was, the gates were opened, and the detaclunent received as 
 deliverers, the villagers having been in momentary expecta- 
 tion of attack. 
 
 ' I caused Calliau Chowdry, and Dhen Sing, and Anchit 
 Naicks immediately to assemble their followers, and under 
 their guidance proceeded to attack the rebels, whose haunt 
 was represented to be about six miles further in tlie bills. AVe
 
 -1 828 ENGAGEMENT WITH THE MARAUDERS. 75 
 
 reached a rugged ravine in which it was situated at sunrise, 
 but I was surprised and disappointed to find they had been 
 warned of our movements, and were nowhere to be seen. On 
 dispersing some of my men to look for their traces, they 
 attacked me very spiritedly from ambush, and before a shot 
 was fired by our party, had wounded my jemadar. This, 
 together with their terrific shouts, and showers of arrows and 
 stones from a height commanding us, at first startled my 
 Bhils, but they were speedily rallied, and maintained the 
 skirmish very steadily. The enemy having the advantage 
 of the height and the cover of trees and rocks, it was 
 necessary to draw them from their position. To this end 
 I feigned a retreat which brought them down from the 
 heights ; my detachment then turned, charged very gallantly, 
 and put them to flight. There being no prospect of ever 
 taking a nimble and hardy Bhil on such precipitous ground, 
 with men burdened with arms and accoutrements, and who 
 had marched upwards of thirty-six miles, I again drew my 
 detachment off, and induced the enemy to follow, when 
 another charge totally dispersed them, leaving two killed 
 behind them, besides several wounded, whom they carried 
 off. Our loss was great in proportion to my small party ; the 
 Bhil jemada7' severely wounded by two arrows, three sepoys 
 with arrows, and about a fifth of the whole bruised by 
 stones. . . . 
 
 ' Having returned to Boorwarry, where we were joined by 
 the remainder of my detachment (which I had directed to 
 follow in the morning from Tekwarry), at midnight I again 
 marched into the hills with a detachment of twenty nicn and 
 an officer, in the hope of securing the families of the enemy ; 
 but they were secreted, or sent off to other haunts. After 
 searching tUl midday yesterday to no purpose (only five 
 Bhil scouts having been seen, who fled at our approach), I 
 returned to Boorwarry, and having left a detachment at that
 
 76 JAMES OUTRAM. 1-825- 
 
 place sufficient to overawe the dispersed Bhils from reas- 
 sembling, and to assist the niamlutdar ^ (whom I have sent 
 with his police to that place to endeavour to apprehend some 
 of the fugitives), I marched this day with the remainder of 
 my detachment to Talnair. 
 
 ' The conduct of the Bhil detachment on this occasion is 
 highly satisfactory, being the first opportunity I have had of 
 proving my men when opposed to their own tribe. They 
 have freely risked their blood in our cause, and fought boldly. 
 
 ' The quickness with which they rallied, and the boldness 
 with which they charged, together Avith the fatigue which 
 they had undergone and the eagerness they showed to ac- 
 company me on the second night, entitle them to the ap- 
 probation of Government ; especially considering that they 
 were imsupported by regulars (whom I purposely left with the 
 remainder of tlie detachment), and that, of the whole party- 
 engaged, only four were above eighteen years of age, and 
 that the enemy they had to encounter had obtained consider- 
 able celebrity by the success with which nearly the same 
 number of Bhils, with the same leaders, and nearly on the 
 same ground, had repulsed a detachment last year, consisting 
 of an officer and seventy-five rcgidar troops,' 
 
 The above is extracted from a report dated Camp, Talnair, 
 April 22, 1827. Fifteen daA's later a further report, daicd 
 from ' Ajunda,' shows that Outram had since pushed on to 
 this latter village, with as many ' horse and foot ' as he could 
 collect together, and dispersed a gang under one Seepria 
 Nayak, whicli liad been hovering around the scene of a recent 
 disttirbance with the manifest object of joining the rebels 
 under Mahdeo. ' All the J^heels in this neighbourhood,' he 
 writes, ' had been more or less concerned, though few had 
 
 ' Mitmlal-tlar : doubtless from the Pcrso-Arabic Nuumula-dav; a native 
 revenue official.
 
 -iS28 MEASURES TO RESTORE TRAXOUILLITY. 77 
 
 joined in arms. All had connived at the assembly of the 
 gang, and maintained correspondence with it. I deemed it 
 prudent therefore to secure in the first place as many of 
 their persons as possible, both to obtain information, and to 
 prevent their absconding from fear of their connection with 
 the rebels becoming known — in which case it would have been 
 difficult to settle the country, whilst they would be driven to 
 plunder for a livelihood. Accordingly, at midnight, my 
 parties apprehended simultaneously eighteen Bheels, of 
 several villages, and, having these in my hands, I secured the 
 attendance of all with whom they are connected. From 
 them I learnt that the gang had been formed here, but 
 was chiefly composed of Bheels from a distance ; that having 
 assembled they proceeded to join the rebels in the hills, but 
 returned and dispersed ; and that only two or three were 
 now in this ijergunnah, the rest having separated and found 
 safety individually. . . . 
 
 ' Having now satisfactorily ascertained that no more of 
 the gang are left in this country, and having no fear that 
 any of the rebels will dare to return and unite to disturb it, 
 I took upon me such measures as I deemed immediately 
 necessary to restore confidence and preserve tranquillity. . . . 
 
 ' I released all prisoners excepting the two who had be- 
 longed to the gang, after giving them and the Bheels of the 
 surrounding villages written protections from any further 
 molestation on account of the late rising, giving them to 
 understand that this clemency is owing to the speedy dis- 
 persion of the rebels before the commission of any violence, 
 and that all who are still absent (except the five leaders) 
 who return to their villages within ten days shall nut be 
 molested. . . . 
 
 ' I am happy to state that these measures have had the 
 desired effect ; the peace of the country is entirely restored. 
 ... Of the leaders not one is left in the countrv. . . .
 
 78 JAMES OUTRAM. 1S25- 
 
 ' I have explained to the Bheels of the country that they 
 will not be treated so leniently : that the mere circumstance 
 of their concealing their knowledge of a rebellion being 
 meditated or proposed, will subject them to severe punish- 
 ment ; and that in future Government will not merely make 
 examples of the principal leaders as heretofore, but that all 
 concerned in such risings shall equally suffer. They are 
 now so fully convinced of the utter uselessness of such 
 attempts, and of my ability and determination to carry my 
 threats into execution, that I can confidently answer for 
 their remaining quiet.' 
 
 In a history of local progress, there is little more to be 
 added for the year 1827, beyond the fact of reduction of 
 establishment in the northern agency and successful coloni- 
 sation in the south of Khandesh. A new agency on the prin- 
 ciple of the other three was at the same time created in the 
 Nizam's territory. As for the Bhil corps, it grew gradually 
 stronger and more efficient, and, on the occasion of a review 
 by the brigadier commanding the province, numbered as 
 many as 600 men. It was now enabled to relieve the regu- 
 lars wholly from outpost duty. In 1828, the collector 
 reported that, for the first time in twenty years, the country 
 had enjoyed six months of uninterrupted repose. 
 
 P^airly to judge of the services thus rendered, the reader 
 must not lose sight of the material of which the new levies 
 were composed. An amusing illustration of the Bhil recruit 
 in 1827 occurs in a note of introduction from Captain Ovans, 
 thus describing its bearer : — ' He is a restless and dangerous 
 character, who will not settle at the plough, and who must 
 not be left without a subsistence. But he will make a famous 
 grenadier when you form your flank companies.' On De- 
 cember 18 in the same year, Mr. Giberne, the collector of
 
 -i828 LETTER TO HIS MOTHER. 
 
 79 
 
 Khandesh, referring to Captain Ovans's views, in which he 
 agrees, writes : — ' You should never consider looks or cha- 
 racter in taking recruits : yours is a peculiar duty.' 
 
 From Outram's private correspondence during the last- 
 named year, we gather that his mother had been under 
 grave apprehension on the score of his personal exposure to 
 danger in the hunting-field. He had sought to reassure her 
 in the following terms : — ' It is not dangerous hunting tigers 
 on an elephant as I do ; it is as safe as firing at the mon- 
 sters from the top of a tower. If I have been carried away 
 by enthusiasm occasionally to expose myself unnecessarily, 
 believe me, I shall bear your advice and admonitions in mind, 
 and abstain for the future. In my situation a little daring was 
 necessary to obtain the requisite influence over the minds of 
 the raw, irregular people I command ; and if ever you hear 
 of any act of temerity I may have hitherto been guilty of, do 
 not condemn me as unmindful of what I owe to you and our 
 family, but attribute it to having been a part of my peculiar 
 duty. . . . The necessity for a recurrence of such duties is 
 now at an end.' Boar-hunting was not to be had in Khan- 
 desh, and he had not experienced its pleasures and excite- 
 ment for three years. The rapid diminution in the number 
 of tigers was, moreover, even rendering that sport a com- 
 paratively rare one. As regards his bodily health, never 
 had he felt better or stronger. He spoke of going home, 
 but thought it well to await the termination of his brother 
 Frank's proposed furlough, so that the younger son's visit 
 might succeed the elder's, and the absence of one would in 
 some way be compensated by the presence of the other. 
 We shall see with how little of the foresight displayed in his 
 professional career he was reckoning up the concerns of his 
 family and home. 
 
 To Mr. Giberne, the collector, he expressed himself con-
 
 8o JAMES OUT RAM. 
 
 tented to remain as long as possible in Khandesh. Puna 
 and Nagar — the two favourite stations, cited as typical of 
 convivial gatherings — had no special attraction for him. ' I 
 care not for their society,' he wrote, 'not being calculated to 
 shine out of the range of my own forests.'
 
 8i 
 
 CHAPTEK IV. 
 
 Bhlls at School — Francis Oiitram — Dang Expedition of 1830— Summary of 
 Eeniaining Service with the lihils in 1835— Shikar Experiences. 
 
 Early in the new year Outram had reported to the collector 
 of Khandesh that the time had arrived Avhen the experiment 
 might be made of opening a school for the children of his 
 Bhil soldiers. Heretofore the scheme had been judged 
 impracticable; because that, in the eyes of these men, to 
 educate was to degrade, and no Bhil had been known, on 
 the testimony of an existing generation, to be capable of 
 either writing or reading. A change had, however, been 
 effected, which, without directly affecting the Bhil estimate 
 of education, greatly facilitated the introduction of a 
 healthier state of things. The discovery had been made 
 that an Englishman could use the rod with impartiality, 
 even though it were one of iron. If other Englishmen were 
 of the stamp of those sent to govern Khandesh, within the 
 limits of the agencies, then, it might reasonably be argued, 
 must their words and wisdom be trustworthy; and if they 
 said that education was essential to those under their charge, 
 it was more than probable that they were right. It was not 
 to be expected that so little advanced a thinker as the Bhil 
 would stop to inquire whether all Englishmen were alike. 
 And of course he knew nothing whatever of policies, or of 
 the views of particular Governments, and particular Vice- 
 
 VOL. I. (i
 
 82 JAMES OUTRAM. 1829- 
 
 roys. A school was accordingly established at Bhil head- 
 quarters, to teach the sipahis themselves and their 
 children. 
 
 One event in the year 1829 would have, doubtless, cast a 
 deeper gloom over the routine life of the Bhil commandant, 
 had his mind not been so healthily and usefully engaged 
 in the service of the State. As it was, he felt the blow 
 severely. The death of his Engineer brother, at the early 
 age of 26, occurred on September 18, under painful circum- 
 stances. 
 
 We have before stated that Francis Outram was a man of 
 no ordinary abilities. That he was also generous and unselfish 
 above the average of his fellows, is demonstrated in a little 
 incident which occurred on the occasion of his leaving 
 England for India. He was then, like other cadets of his 
 stamp, supplied with a first-class passage ; but, without in- 
 forming others of his intention, he exchanged his passage- 
 ticket for one of the second-class, so as to be enabled to make 
 parting presents to his sisters and friends out of the money 
 saved. The discomfort and indignities to which he voluntarily 
 subjected himself by the arrangement, in a long voyage round 
 the Cape, were as nothing in the scale to the satisfaction he 
 derived from the knowledge that the tokens of affection pro- 
 vided would be received after his departure, and that he had 
 not become indebted for them to any resources but his own. 
 Many may consider the story insignificant in its simplicity; 
 others may agree with ourselves that it illustrates the 
 morality of a whole life, in which it would be the key to 
 many apparent anomalies. 
 
 In India he soon established a character for talent, 
 energy, and professional zeal. His standard of honour was 
 high and well maintained; but his independent spirit in- 
 volved him sometimes in trouble. On one occasion, when 
 he came in contact with a superior whom he could not
 
 -iS35 FRAXCIS OUTRAM. S3 
 
 respect, he laid himself open to a charge of insubordination, 
 and the result was a court-martial, which sentenced him to 
 the loss of six steps. Opinion was divided on the justice of 
 the finding, but the severity of the sentence was generally 
 admitted, and there is every reason to suppose that, had the 
 sufferer proceeded home as intended, a reversal would have 
 been obtained. He did not, however, await the result of his 
 appeal to this effect, for, in a fit of delirium, caused by 
 jangal fever, he put an end to his life. Feeble in health, 
 and keenly sensitive, he was morbidly jealous of character, 
 and a year had scarcely elapsed since the fiat of the court 
 had gone forth, when some misdoings on the part of a native 
 subordinate led him to imagine a defalcation in his cash- 
 sheet for which he would be held morally, if not legally, 
 responsible. That his apprehensions were in point of fact 
 unfounded, and the nature of his personal responsibility in 
 the matter exaggerated, became clear upon after-investigation. 
 Individual statements of men of position and honom*, added 
 to the proceedings of the court of inquiry, and the Govern- 
 ment letter — which in exonerating his memory from reproach 
 added a high tribute to his worth — give ample proof that the 
 self-accusation which preceded self-destruction was nothing 
 else but the delusion of a fevered brain. Among other testi- 
 monies to his character, those of Sir John Malcolm and Mr. 
 Elphinstone, both Governors of Bombay, might be cited. 
 The latter, when in England, had written to ]\Irs. Outram in 
 eulogistic terms of her elder son. The former, when in the 
 discharge of his pro-consular duties in India, expressed a 
 strong opinion of the harshness of the sentence of the 
 court-martial, so soon to be followed by a yet more serious 
 calamity ; and, in after years, spoke of the young officer in 
 terms indicating peculiar esteem. 
 
 For a Native Infantry subaltern, however intelligent, and 
 even on staff employ, to address the Governor of the Presi-
 
 84' JAMES OUT RAM. 1829- 
 
 dency in which his corps is serving, on his personal affairs, 
 is a bold and unusual step. But the object of his appeal 
 being to seek vindication of the character of a deceased 
 brother, James Outram felt satisfied that he need make ' no 
 further apology for the liberty ' taken ' to Sir John ^Malcolm.' 
 After this preface he wrote : — 
 
 * The knowledge I have of my late brother's honourable 
 sentiments, and implicit confidence in his integrity, impel 
 me to solicit the influence of your authority to cause the 
 strictest inquiry into the accounts of the office which was 
 under his charge, in order that his innocence may be estab- 
 lished of any knowledge of the defalcations (if such there 
 were) in his treasury, and tliat the guilty authors, who in that 
 case were the murderers of my poor brother, may be brought 
 to justice. The only information I have received of such 
 deficiency in the treasury lately under my brother's charge, 
 is contained in the subjoined copy of a memorandum' found 
 on his death-bed. No communication from himself, or 
 other circumstances have let me to believe that such is tlu^ 
 case. I presume the first knowledge my brother had of the 
 circumstance must have been obtained when on the point of 
 leavincr his station for the sea-coast on account of dangerous 
 illness. 
 
 ' Though he could have had little anxiety on account of 
 the deficient sums, which he must have known he had 
 friends able and willing to assist him to replace, yet the 
 idea, perhaps, that the uncharitable world might be 
 too apt to impute dishonourable motives to him — together 
 with the disgrace he had been subjected to by a late 
 court-martial (which had ever since preyed much upon his 
 mind) — have driven him, weakened in mind and body 
 from disease, into a state of temporary madness, during 
 
 ' This paper is not forthcoming, but its nature is cviilent.
 
 -I S3 5 -5770 yonx MALCOLM. 85 
 
 which he committed the dreadful act which terminated his 
 life. I am confident the only guilt that can be laid to my 
 brother's charge is neglect. For this there is no excuse ; 
 but to account for it, I have to state that the unfortunate 
 result of the trial at Poonah must have greatly tended to 
 lessen his zeal, to the over-exertion of which he attributed 
 that misfortune ; and though he was assured of reinstate- 
 ment to former rank by your exertions in his favour, for the 
 kind tender of which he ever entertained the most lively 
 gratitude (and latterly, by the promise of assistance from 
 his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief), yet the impression 
 that he had been disgraced could not be removed from his 
 highly honourable mind, and drove him into that state of 
 carelessness to which he alludes.' 
 
 He adds an impression of certainty that his brother would 
 not have allowed the loss of a single rupee to accrue to Gov- 
 ernment through his neglect; and that he 'holds it a ' sacred 
 duty' to that brother's memory to fultil his wishes in this re- 
 spect, by personally making good 'the deficiency he appears 
 to allude to, should any be really found to exist.' He leaves 
 to the Governor, on becoming officially assured of the inno- 
 cence of the deceased officer, to give the same publicity to 
 such assurance as already obtained for the self-accusing 
 memorandum above mentioned. 
 
 ' Should the style of this letter be faulty,' is the con- 
 cluding passage, ' I beg you will pardon it, in consideration 
 of the state of feeling and of excitement under which I write, 
 for nothing but the highest respect can be intended.' 
 
 To this appeal Sir John replied: — 
 
 ' I have received your letter, and can fully understand, 
 and as fully approve, the motives which have led you to 
 write to me upon the melancholy subject of your late brother's
 
 86 JAMES OUTRAM. 1829- 
 
 death. You may depend upon every effort in my power to do 
 justice to his memory. He had his errors and failings — and 
 who is without them ? but all, I believe, are impressed with 
 the same conviction that I have, that he was as distinguished 
 for zeal and integrity as he was for professional talent. I 
 assure you, I consider his death a serious loss to the public 
 service.' 
 
 When writing to his sister, jNIrs. Farquharson, on the 
 subject of an epitaph to be inscribed on their brother's tomb, 
 Outram thus expressed himself: — ' It is my wish that nothing 
 in the usual strain should be written. The feelings of friends, 
 or the worth of the deceased, cannot be described by words. 
 The most unworthy and commonplace characters have ful- 
 some eulogiums written on their tombs by those who despised 
 the person when living. No estimation of the character is 
 formed from these memorials. Poor Frank's memory is 
 esteemed by all : his worth and talents are known by all our 
 army. The simple inscription I propose is 
 
 THE REJIAINS OF 
 
 LIEUTENANT FEANCIS OUTRAM, 
 
 BOIIBAT EXGINEKUS. 
 
 A MOST TALENTED AND HOXOTJRABLE MAX. 
 
 BIRD IX THE TVTEXTY-SEVENTU YEAR OF HIS ACE. 
 
 Pray let me know your opinion, and that of Colonel Farqu- 
 harson.' 
 
 Some relics of Francis Outram's inventive genius and 
 scientific attainments are to be found in practical designs 
 for the economy of manual labour by the use of self-acting 
 machinery ; but they would hardly convey a true notion of 
 the intrinsic power which his contemporaries considered 
 him to possess. So marked, indeed, were his artistic tastes 
 and capabilities, that he seriously entertained the idea of
 
 -1 83 5 THE DANG COUNTRY. 87 
 
 resigning the service and adopting the profession of an artist, 
 in the event of his appeal against the sentence of the court- 
 martial proving unsuccessful. 
 
 In the year 1830 occurred the invasion of the Dang 
 country and capture of its chiefs. This tract of tangled 
 forest, situated on the west of Khandesh, and on the further 
 side of the Sukhain hills, had never been penetrated by 
 troops. Its Bhil inhabitants, as little used to subjection as 
 the Arab of the desert, had long been in the habit of seek- 
 ing prey and plunder beyond their lawful limits, and of 
 encroaching upon the lands of their neighbours. From 
 time immemorial retaliatory measures having been found 
 as difficult as actual suppression, a legacy of disorder had 
 been left to the successors of native rulers, to deal success- 
 fully with which would have sorely taxed the powers of a 
 Government less chary of oppression and generally scrupu- 
 lous than our own. Captain Douglas Graham looked upon 
 the Dangchis as the most uncivilised of all the wild tribes 
 he had come across in "Western India; deficient in intel- 
 lect of the most ordinary description ; physically stunted by 
 hardships of living, climate, and poverty ; extremely super- 
 stitious ; addicted to intoxication, and careless of any fixed 
 home. He thought it no matter of surprise that among a 
 set of such degraded beings the principle of right and wrong 
 was entirely lost, or the fear of consequences overwhelmed 
 in a blind reliance on fortune ; that the dread of treachery 
 was the predominant idea, and that the animal instinct alone 
 remained in full force to urge the supply of daily necessities. 
 Outram was convinced that by the medium of his own 
 Bhils he could effect a settlement of the Dang, the unruly 
 occupants of which could easily be turned one against the 
 other, and thus prevented concentrating against the sovereign 
 authority represented by British officers. Accordingly he 
 imdertook to march a body of troops into the heart of their
 
 88 JAMES OUT RAM. 1S29- 
 
 country, consisting of 250 of the newly raised Bhil corps, four 
 companies of native infantry from Surat and Khandesh, 120 
 auxiliary horse, and 1,100 auxiliary Bhil s under their own 
 chiefs or Kajahs. 
 
 Entering himself from the eastward,* with two companies 
 of native regular sipahis, his own Bhils, 50 of the Puna 
 auxiliary horse, and some Bhil auxiliaries, and awaiting 
 simultaneous advances of detachments from four separate 
 stations on the opposite frontier, he had contemplated a 
 partial junction of his forces in the centre of the Dang, but 
 could give no fixed points of meeting, as his actual routes 
 were unknown. When he had descended from the Grhats 
 to the village of Gabrai, after a march of eighteen miles 
 effected on the first day, the jangal was found so thick on all 
 sides that, even had he known the localities reached, it would 
 have been no easy task to open communications -with his 
 detached officers. As for the inhabitants of the country, his 
 party had not fallen in with even one; they had passed 
 sites of destroyed huts, and had arrived at the residence of a 
 petty Kajah, where the dwelling-places were entire but utterly 
 deserted. On the day following he heard of the arrival of 
 one detachment of his force at Garvi. Two days afterwards 
 he visited that village, which eventually became a connecting 
 post, with forty horse and fifty Bhil auxiliaries. Two days 
 later still he was able with three detachments to effect a 
 thorough scour of a jangal twenty miles in circumference. 
 The Dangchi leaders soon became fugitives and disheartened, 
 and the ' Silput,' their chief authority, was openly deserted 
 
 ' One of the great, approaches to (aijrat from the eastward was through the 
 Sindwa Ghat. It appears that the pass in this direction was formerly paved 
 liy the ^luhummadan conquerors, and that after consolidation of their powers 
 they constructed a line of as manyas eighty-four forts in a convenient position 
 west of the Sindwa, to keep the turbulent tribes in subjection. The few of 
 these that remained on the Eritish occupation were distinguislied by the names 
 of the respective commanders under whose auspices they were erected.
 
 -i835 RESULT OF THE CAMPAIGN. 89 
 
 by his more prominent followers. On April 18, or not a 
 fortnight after commencement of active proceedings, four 
 local Eajahs had personally presented themselves with offers 
 of assistance, and two others had expressed a wish to be re- 
 ceived in the British camp ; while 500 head of cattle with 
 many prisoners were in British hands. Outram promised to 
 restore the former and release the latter on the apprehension 
 of the Silput. 
 
 On May 22, the British force returned, as its leader him- 
 self expresses it, ' with the principal chiefs our prisoners, and 
 all the others in alliance, after having subdued and surveyed 
 the whole country.' In the morning of that day, the Silput 
 himself had surrendered, conditionally that his life be 
 spared. The followers of the captives had been dispersed ; 
 and an opposing force, said to consist of some 10,000 bows, 
 had vanished into thin air. When it is borne in mind that 
 the country was unexplored, and had been reported impreg- 
 nable because impracticable,^ and that the end was attained 
 with scarce a shot fired, and the loss of one life only, the 
 feat will doubtless appear eminently satisfactory. This is 
 one of those expeditions, the importance of which must not 
 be measured by the casualty list. It is to be judged by a 
 knowledge of the difficulties of country traversed, and rapid 
 movements of the lawless enemy, as well as by the results 
 obtained, and their bearing on the pacification and well-being 
 of the peoples concerned, whose habitat may be defined as 
 situated between the Nizam's and Holkar's territories and 
 the sea. Another element of anxiety not to be forgotten is 
 to be traced in the connivance of the ofiicers of a neighbour- 
 ing native state, Baroda, with the movement we sought to 
 suppress. The Gaikwar was apparently ever willing to lend 
 
 ' The description of the Dang in the Collector's Kevcnue Ecport, dated 
 August 1, 1828, was rather an aeconnt, and a brief one, by Mr. IJax, of the 
 
 chiefs and their resources than of the features of the country.
 
 90 JAMES OUTRAM. 1829- 
 
 assistance to the robbers of the Dang in their opposition to 
 British supremacy.^ 
 
 Of Outram's share in the miniature campaign we should 
 give but a faint idea did we restrict it to field operations, or 
 even to the exact fulfilment of the orders and wishes of the 
 civil authorities. We have the best authority for stating 
 that Sir John Malcolm, governor of Bombay, had expressed 
 his opinion in council that a strong brigade of regular troops 
 would be insufficient to attempt invasion of the Dang 
 country ; and it was his confidence alone in the foresight of 
 his Bhil agent and commandant that led him to sanction the 
 project so satisfactorily put into practice. On Outram's 
 shoulders rested the whole responsibility, and to him was 
 naturally due the main credit accruing from the expedition. 
 
 But though there was barely any loss of life on either 
 side occasioned in actual warfare, much sickness prevailed 
 among the troops at the close of the campaign and on their 
 return from the Dang. The several detachments had been 
 scarcely broken up when nearly half the men and officers 
 were seized with fever, caused, it may be presumed, from 
 the fatigues, exposure, and privations undergone during the 
 two months of their employment in an unhealthy climate. 
 Eventually, it would appear that more harm still resulted 
 from this expedition, for of the thirteen officers engaged, not 
 one was exempt from jangal fever ; three or fom- died, and the 
 rest were compelled to leave Khandesh for change of climate. 
 Outram alone, of all the Europeans, escaped, and his immu- 
 nity he attributed to ' covering his head and face with fine 
 gauze ' when sleeping in feverish tracts — a habit which his 
 comrades in the Dang could not be induced to adopt. 
 
 On May 20, 1830, the magistrate of Khandesh conveyed 
 to Lieutenant Outram, and the officers and men under his 
 
 ' Captain Douglas Graliain : S_i/7iop--ui of Bhil Settlement in KhandcfJi. 
 See also Public /Reports mid Despatches of Captain Outram.
 
 -1 835 THANKS OF GOVERXMENT. 91 
 
 command, the thanks of the Bombay Government ' for the 
 highly meritorious service of the detachment in the Dang ; 
 and four days later, in acknowledging the report of the 
 Silput Kajah's surrender, the same functionary added : — 
 ' Nothing can exceed the indefiitigable exertions made by 
 yourself and the officers and troops under your command, in 
 bringing this most harassing duty to a conclusion .... 
 which has now been most happily effected through the un- 
 yielding perseverance maintained, and the judicious measures 
 you have pursued throughout.' On June 7, Government 
 endorsed the magistrate's personal opinion by a renewal of 
 thanks to Lieutenant Outram ' for the zeal, activity, and 
 judgment he has displayed on this occasion, to which is to be 
 attributed the fortunate conclusion of the harassing service 
 he has had to conduct.' It will not do to dwell further on 
 this brief passage of an illustrious career; but, as the 
 necessity for economising space and the reader's attention 
 forbids the indiscriminate recourse to extract, we take the 
 opportunity of remarking that Outram's final report to Mr. 
 Collector Boyd (the state of whose health would not admit 
 of his meeting the Dang chiefs near their own country), 
 shows, on the part of the writer, a knowledge of his subject, 
 and of his men, as well as an administrative ability and a 
 rare energy of character deserving of appreciation and study. 
 Not the least noteworthy feature in his recommendations is 
 the care with which cause is shown for grants of money and 
 other presents to particular chiefs and native officials who 
 had rendered good service to the British Government. 
 
 In 1831, the collector of Khandesh deputed Lieutenant 
 Outram to inquire into certain daring outrages committed in 
 the districts of Ytiwal and Sauda, in the north-eastern Bhil 
 agency; also to determine and apprehend the offenders. 
 Accompanied by some of his own Bhils and a few auxiliai-ies, 
 not fifty in all, he captm-ed 469 suspected persons, and in-
 
 92 'JAMES OUTRAM. 3829- 
 
 vestigatcd the charges against them, selecting for trial such 
 as appeared to be actually guilty. Of 158 so committed, 114 
 were Bhils, accused for the most part of gang robbery. 
 Attacks had been, moreover, made on the Dhulia treasury, 
 and on the houses of bankers, showing an inclination to 
 serious mischief which called for immediate check and 
 punishment. The official reports on these proceedings show 
 that, owing to the measures taken, the spirit to break out had 
 not only been subdued, but the apprehension of all offenders 
 had been effected without the offer of a single reward, or 
 any expense to Government further than the maintenance 
 of the prisoners. The native Mamlutdar of Yawal and his 
 Sarishtadar were considered to merit especial notice for 
 services rendered. Of the first, named Eam Chandar Balaji, 
 Outram wrote, with characteristic warmth, that he had 
 ' throughout exerted himself in a manner ' he had ' never 
 found equalled in an officer in his situation.' 
 
 In ]March 1831, he learnt the death, in India, of his 
 sister JNIargaret, wife of Colonel Farquharson, one whom he 
 describes, in replying to her husband's letter conveying the 
 sad intelligence, as ' the warmest and most excellent friend ' 
 he possessed on earth, and the most affectionate of sisters. 
 About three months later, addressing the same correspondent, 
 he mentioned also having heard from Glasgow of the death 
 of his uncle Joseph Outram, and adds: — 'All, aU are falling; 
 I shall have no relations left to welcome me home, if I ever 
 can return.' 
 
 With a short notice of one more minor campaign which 
 occurred in the spring of the year 1833, we shall bring to a 
 close the historical portion of ten busy and useful years 
 among the l^hils, passing on to consider the less palpable 
 and direct, but not less efficacious, means employed to 
 effect the reformation and discipline of this rough and 
 turbulent people. Let us premise that Outram was no longer
 
 -1 835 /;////. TO CATCH UIIIL. 93 
 
 a subaltern : liis Captain's commission dated from Oc- 
 tober 7, 1832. 
 
 The Bhils of the Barwani territory, in the Satpura 
 mountains, north of Khandesh, and of the neighbouring petty 
 states on the Xarbada in Nimar, having risen in rebellion, 
 became so formidable that their Kajahs were unable to control 
 or face them, and parties of the rebels having entered the 
 British collectorate of Khandesh under Hatnia and Esnia 
 Xaj-aks, sacking several villages, killing a patellj^ and 
 wounding others of our subjects, it was found necessary to 
 send against them such force as could be hastily collected. 
 
 On April 24, Captain Outram took 25 men of the Bhil 
 corps, and 20 horse, strengthened by some hundred auxiliary 
 Bhils, with the intention of cutting off communication 
 between the gangs of the two leading insurgents, and also of 
 attacking Nayak Esnia when joined by a coming detachment 
 of 50 men of the 18th Eegiment. After a fatiguing march 
 of two days through difficult jangal and over strong passes, 
 and in a country uninhabited and destitute of supplies, his 
 party arrived iu the centre of the Satpura hills. The im- 
 mediate result of this movement was the capture of Esnia, 
 who was betrayed into the hands of the British officers by his 
 uncle. On April 26, Outram was joined by the men expected 
 from the 18th Eegiment X.I. , and marched the day following 
 to a place called JMang^vara, Avhere he had appointed a 
 meeting with the Barwani Rajah. This chief, however, failing 
 to appear, though a special escort had been sent to attend 
 him, it was resolved, after three days' waiting, to push on at 
 once against Hatnia, who, it was affirmed, had been joined 
 by a large number of attendant rebels. The small force, 
 marching 24 miles during the night, came upon his encan)i)- 
 ment at daylight of ]\Iay 1. It was deserted ; but the signals 
 heard among the surrounding heights showed the enemy to 
 ' Village head man, or local authoritv.
 
 94 JAMES OUT RAM. 1S29- 
 
 be on the alert. Thither, then, did the detachment move. 
 Hatnia — observed ascending a hill with two or three followers, 
 to join his companions assembled on the summit — was cap- 
 tured by Lieutenant Hart's horsemen, who intercepted his 
 retreat. The rest fled on the loss of their leader, with the 
 exception of one small body of bowmen, who stood their 
 ground for a time and shot many arrows, but finally decamped 
 on seeing mounted assailants in their rear. One hundred 
 and seventy head of cattle were recovered on the pursuit of 
 the fugitives. 
 
 This blow, however decisive, was not considered sufficient 
 to check the misdoing of the Barwani Bhils and their ac- 
 complices. Outram accordingly proceeded to the village of 
 Auli, whither the Eajah came to meet him, bringing the 
 before-mentioned escort, and about 50 horse and followers of 
 his own. Having ascertained there that two ndyalcs and a 
 jpatell, suspected of active participation or indirect complicity 
 in the recently reported outrages in British territory, were 
 in the camp of his native ally, he obtained the consent of the 
 latter to arrest and forward them to Khandesh ; and it is 
 worthy of remark that these men, together with the captive 
 chief Hatnia, were handed over, for this purpose, to the charge 
 of auxiliary Bhils under native officers. The next step was 
 to cross the Narbada and move against one llajia, N^yak of 
 Dassowa, said to have harboured the scattered rebels of the 
 Satpura, to have long committed depredations in the terri- 
 tories of Holkar and the Barwani Kajah, and to have become 
 strong enough to defy the whole body of neighbouring chiefs 
 in Nimar. 
 
 It was at the solicitation of his native friends and our 
 allies that Outram had come to the resolution to assist in 
 this matter until the strength of the insurgents had been so 
 far broken as to enable the more powerful State officials to 
 act unsupported against their common foe. And he called
 
 -i835 MOVEMENTS ACROSS THE XARBADA. 95 
 
 upon the Barwaui Kajali, aud a certain 31amlutdar of Chikaldi, 
 to join him with such troops as they could get together. 
 But when arrived on the northern side of the Narbada, the 
 news that Eajia had vacated his stronghold, followed by that 
 of the dispersion of his followers, caused him to change his 
 plans; and he judged it prudent to leave the pursuit of a 
 scattered gang to the chiefs themselves, simply furthering 
 and facilitating the object in view by the nearness to the 
 scene of his own detachment. The repugnance of the 
 Mamlutdar to act on this proposal was, however, so evident 
 that he was allowed to return to his home, and Outram 
 himself had eventually to scour the tract in which were 
 situated Eajia's principal posts. Led by a friendly Eajah, 
 Dm-jan Singh of Dliir, he pressed on during the night to one 
 of these ; but on reaching the place at daybreak he found 
 that the usual occupants had decamped. After a march of 
 more than 30 miles, with little intermission, he encamped at 
 Piplod, a deserted village in the Dliir district, aud in the 
 heart of Eajia's retreats. Here he stayed for two full days 
 in the hope of securing some of the leading offenders ; but 
 the threatening weather operated against him. He was 
 compelled to recross the Xarbada and seek shelter for his 
 men, who were totally unprovided with tents or extra 
 clothing, or indeed any necessaries for a prolonged absence 
 on active service. Arriving at Barwani on May 13, he 
 addressed the collector on that date, signifying his intention 
 to halt there in completion of his arrangements on behalf of 
 the Eajah, and then to return to Khandesh via the Siudwali, 
 doing such further service with his detachment as he might 
 ' find necessary to insure tranquillity after its departure.' 
 
 On June 2, a full report of these proceedings was made 
 from Dhulia, satisfactory aud to the point. Already, some 
 three weeks before this date, the collector had addressed 
 Government on the subject as follows : — ' The capture of the
 
 96 JAMES OUTRAM. 1829- 
 
 Hatnia Naick (the rebel chief), previous to the monsoon, was 
 what I could not, I confess, feel sanguine enough to expect ; 
 and as he is in reality a person of greater weight and im- 
 portance in the country than his hereditary chief and 
 superior, the raja of Barwani (an independent prince, whose 
 country is situated between the Satpura hills and the Nar- 
 bada), his having escaped for the present must in probability 
 have called for the employment of a regular expedition the 
 ensuing season, till which period our whole northern frontier 
 would have been a prey to the numerous gangs which would 
 have risen at the instigation of Hatnia and his adherents. 
 
 ' I cannot sufficiently commend the prompt and judicious 
 manner in which Captain Outram proceeded against and 
 captured Hatnia, who in considerable force occupied a 
 position in a tract of country the nature of which can only 
 be known to those who have entered the Satpura range of 
 mountains, and considered by themselves as totally imprac- 
 ticable. 
 
 ' The effects of this decisive and successful measure will 
 be experienced not only at present, but for years to come ; it 
 will now check the rising inclinations of our own Bhils on the 
 immediate frontier, who showed signs of beginning to join in 
 the robberies perpetrated in the vicinity, and for the future 
 it will prove a lasting warning to the foreign chiefs and Bhils, 
 that, however little we know of their country and its strength, 
 no outrages committed upon our territories can remain un- 
 noticed, or the culprits undiscovered.' 
 
 On June 27, Government expressed to the magistrate of 
 Khandesh their great satisfaction at the successful termina- 
 tion of the expedition, and requested him to communicate 
 to Captain Outram tlie high sense which they entertained 
 'of his ability and judgment in concerting, and zeal and 
 activity in executing, those measures by which the insurrec-
 
 -i835 A WIDER FIELD REQUIRED. 97 
 
 tion had been suppressed, and the neighbouring parts of the 
 province of Khandesh preserved from plunder.' The thanks 
 of Government were also conveyed to Lieutenants Hart and 
 Partridge, Ensigns Morris and Kenny, and Jemadar Allahyar 
 Khan, who co-operated mth Captain Outram on the occasion, 
 with an intimation that their deserving conduct would be 
 brought to the notice of the Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 Prior to this expedition of 1833, Outram had begun to 
 feel that he should like a wider field for the exercise of his 
 powers : and now that it was brought to a happy conclusion 
 his mind not unnaturally reverted to the prospect of a new 
 appointment. He had written to his mother in April 1832, 
 to use her home interest to get him employed in the political 
 department, 'the only line in the Indian services which 
 allows a military officer to display his talents, both civil and 
 military.' His great wish was to be appointed an Assistant 
 to the British Kesident at Holkar's Court, or Indor, where 
 he thought that his services might be useful, and an antici- 
 pated vacancy would give reasonable ground for the applica- 
 tion. In November 1833, when there was question of the 
 formation of a separate Agra Grovemment, we find him 
 writing home in the following strain : — ' I am most anxious 
 to leave the Bombay Presidency for the new one in Central 
 India, for there is no further honour and advancement to be 
 obtained for me here in this confined sphere. ... In India 
 I believe I can ensure success, having gained some little 
 distinction, and many friends in power ; therefore, get me 
 home patronage, and strong recommendations to the new 
 Grovemor ; I will do the rest. INIr. Elphinstone, I think, 
 would espouse my cause, as he was my first and best 
 friend.' 
 
 To Mrs. Outram's letter, in accordance with and quoting 
 the above request, Mr. Elphinstone replied : — 
 VOL. I, H
 
 98 JAMES OUTRAM. 1829- 
 
 ' Albany, May 5, 1834. 
 ' Having the highest opinion of Mr. Outram, both for his 
 enterprise and gallantry, and for his power of conciliating 
 and gaining the confidence of the natives, I should be most 
 happy to forward his views, if it were in my power ; but I 
 have not seen Sir Charles Metcalfe for these five-and-twenty 
 years, and I do not feel myself entitled to address such a 
 recommendation to him as Mr. Outram desires, or indeed to 
 make any such application as would be effectual in a case 
 like the present. This being the case, it is with much 
 satisfaction that I perceive the date of INIr. Outram's letter, 
 from which I conclude that he had not then heard who was 
 to be the new Grovernor, and supposed that it would be some 
 stranger from this country, on whom Indian reputation 
 would have no effect. The Governor who has been named, 
 however (Sir Charles Metcalfe), spent all his life in India, and 
 probably is more difficult to approach from this quarter than 
 from others more within Mr. Outram's reach. I make no 
 doubt that he is already well acquainted with Mr. Outram's 
 merits, and he is a great deal more likely to employ him 
 from his own impression of his fitness, than in consequence 
 of any recommendation that could be sent from England.' 
 
 The Bombay Government, however, were not going to 
 part with so valuable a public servant without further putting 
 to the test, and reaping the advantages from his capabilities 
 within the limits of their own control. His work with the 
 Bhils was not yet over ; nor, when over, was it to be ex- 
 changed without a second and equally hard apprenticeship 
 before he would be permitted to acknowledge other imme- 
 diate superiors. 
 
 But we have now to illustrate Outram's ' non-official ' 
 dealings with the Bhils ; that is to say, his off-parade be- 
 haviour to his men, at times when he might have kept aloof
 
 -i835 THE POWER OF SYMPATHY. 99 
 
 from them altogether without prejudice to the strict letter 
 of his duty to the State. Should it have been no infrequent 
 practice with young oflficers of the native Indian army to 
 avail themselves of leisure hours rather for the indulgence of 
 their own particular tastes than the indirect advantage of 
 their profession, they have only done what their fellows 
 have done in other walks of life. Time and example often 
 work, in these cases, a wholesome and effectual change. The 
 real evil is, to ignore, or to forget that the sipahi, whom 
 they are accustomed to meet at drill or in orderly room, is 
 a human being like themselves, and susceptible of heart in- 
 fluences as much as professional instruction. Those who do 
 this, and consequently touch no chord of personal sympathy 
 in their relations with the Indian soldier, are assuredly not 
 acting in the true spirit of the covenant under which they 
 serve. To use a hackneyed, but appropriate term, they are 
 to all intents and purposes ' hard bargains.' 
 
 Had James Outram followed such impulses, the Bhil 
 corps would never have been raised by him, and never would 
 he have become a power for good throughout these un- 
 civilised regions. The secret of his success lay in the un- 
 selfish and unwearied pursuance of principles exactly the 
 opposite. He spared no pains to establish over his outlawed 
 friends the power which springs from tested sympathy — not 
 that inspired by awe alone. They found, not only that he 
 surpassed them in all they most admired, viz. in all that 
 was most manly, but that he thoroughly understood them 
 and their ways ; that he loved them ; that he could and did 
 enter thoroughly into their fears and their difficulties, their 
 joys and their sorrows. Such a bond, all-powerful in its 
 action, could be established and maintained only by the 
 genial intercourse of daily life. Though his wild subjects saw 
 their sahib exercising the open-handed hospitality of Anglo- 
 Indian bachelor life in his costly residence at Dharangdon — a 
 
 H 2
 
 loo JAMES OUTRAM. 1829- 
 
 palace in their eyes — yet they felt that he essentially be- 
 longed to themselves ; while his active habits brought him 
 into constant contact with the minute interests of their 
 every-day existence. 
 
 No wonder that we hear of his memory still lingering in 
 Khandesh, shrouded by a semi-divine halo. We are told 
 that, a few years ago, some of his former sipahis happened 
 to light upon an ugly little image. Tracing in it a fancied 
 resemblance to their old commandant, they forthwith set it 
 up and worshipped it as ' Outram Sahib.' About the same 
 time we hear of an ancient Bhil who, showing the chhdrpdi, 
 or cot, on which Outram had slept one night, when resting 
 at his hut, declared that no one had ever lain there since the 
 sahib used it. 
 
 Keminiscences of Khandesh life must now be brought to 
 a close by extracting a few of the many anecdotes still extant 
 regarding those exploits in the jangal which formed an 
 efifective Hnk in the chain of influence the young soldier 
 made it the business of life to draw around his Bhils. He 
 loved dangerous sport for its own sake, but rightly con- 
 sidered it a duty, though it happened to be a congenial one, 
 to follow his own instincts in outdaring the brave little 
 hunters whose hearts he sought to win. It must be con- 
 fessed that his assurances to his mother were more honoured 
 in the breach than the observance. For James Outram to 
 eschew 'acts of temerity' within his reach, when duty did 
 not absolutely forbid, seemed a physical impossibility. 
 
 The following are among the many gleanings of Captain 
 Stanley Scott from the recollections of old Bhil native 
 officers. They will serve to illustrate, in some degree, the 
 kind of impression made on the minds of the narrators them- 
 selves by the deeds of prowess recorded : — 
 
 In April or May, 1825, news having been brought in by his 
 shikari, Chima, that a tiger had been seen on the side of the
 
 -1 835 TIGER ADVENTURES. loi 
 
 hill under the Mussulman temple, among some prickly pear 
 shrubs, Lieutenant Outram and another sportsman proceeded 
 to the spot. Outram went on foot, and his companion on 
 horseback. Searching through the bushes, when close on 
 the animal, Outram's friend fired and missed, on which the 
 tiger sprang forward roaring, seized Outram, and they rolled 
 down the side of the hill together. Being released from the 
 claws of the ferocious beast for a moment, Outram with 
 great presence of mind drew a pistol he had with him and 
 shot the tiger dead. The Bhils, on seeing that he had been 
 injured, were one and all loud in their grief and expressions 
 of regret; but Outram quieted them with the remark, 
 ' What do I care for the clawing of a cat ! ' This speech was 
 rife among the Bhils for many years afterwards, and may be 
 so until this day. 
 
 In 1827, it was reported to Outram that a tiger was 
 lurking in the densely wooded ravine of ' Mahi Burda ' in 
 the Saigaon jangal. He proceeded thither, with his rifle, on 
 foot. When near the spot indicated, it suddenly occurred to 
 him that, by commanding the narrow end of the ravine, and 
 placing the beaters at the other, the tiger must make his 
 exit through the gorge, and he would get the opportunity of 
 a close shot ; but to find on the bank a place from which to 
 fire was impossible, as the jangal grew close up to the sides, 
 and the bottom of the ravine was not visible from the top. 
 Outram's mind was not one to be baffled by trifles. He and 
 some followers climbed a tree, a branch of which overhung the 
 ravine. Securely posted on that branch, the Bhils tied their 
 pagris (turbands) and waistbands together, passed a band 
 round their commandant's chest and under his arms, and let 
 him down dangling in the air. He now saw clearly all that was 
 taking place beneath. The tiger, driven down by tiie shouts 
 of the beaters, came within easy range of his rifle, and from 
 his wonderful position he got the desired shot and killed the
 
 102 JAMES OUTRAM. 1829- 
 
 animal dead. Instantly drawn up into the tree again, he 
 turned round laughingly to the Bhils, and said, ' You have 
 suspended me like a thief from a tree, but I killed the 
 tiger.' 
 
 In 1832, the inhabitants of Virgaon, in the Taluka of 
 Pimpalnair, brought information to Outram that there was a 
 tiger in Xh^ir ^angal. He immediately caused search to be 
 made, and it was discovered that the animal had taken up 
 his abode in a dark cave. Outram went to the mouth with 
 three or four native followers and, placing them outside, he 
 entered. On hearing a low growl immediately in front of 
 him, he fired ; the tiger not coming out, he fired again, 
 when to his delight he found he had killed him. 
 
 In 1833, in the month of April, when encamped at 
 Sirpur, the villagers gave Outram information of a tiger 
 that had been marked down in the thorny jangal to the 
 north of the village. This part of the country was plain, 
 and there was no hill or ravine near. Outram started on 
 foot, spear in hand, a follower carrying a rifle, and some 
 six others bows and arrows. The tiger broke ground on 
 their approach ; Outram followed him up on foot for three 
 miles, and eventually speared him to death. This act, it 
 is affirmed, has never been equalled, before or since, in 
 Khandesh. 
 
 For the following spirited account of Outram and his Bhil 
 trackers we are indebted to Colonel Davidson : — ' Selecting 
 a few of the most dashing and expert men (who could follow 
 up the trail of man or animal for days together through 
 those jungly wilds), he formed a band of scouts or trackers, 
 with a famous Httle fellow named Khundoo at their head. 
 In conducting a tiger-hunt on elephants, the first thing to 
 be done is to disperse the Bheels over the country. They 
 scatter, and yet act in concert ; and when the " pug " (or 
 print of the tiger's foot) is found, they collect, and follow up
 
 -1835 TIGER TRACKING. 103 
 
 the marks. In this, their dexterity, to one who is not 
 initiated in the art, surpasses credence. They seem to 
 follow the game over places where no vestige of a mark 
 could light. Sometimes they are at fault, at others the 
 scent (as it were) seems to run breast high, and on they 
 go at a jog trot, marking as they run, with the point of a 
 spear, the last decided print. Should they reach any thick 
 jungle, covered with high grass and herbage, where no trace 
 can possibly be found, they divide into two parties, right 
 and left, and circle round the obstructive patch, till they 
 meet on the opposite side, looking with lynx eyes at every 
 inch of the line by which they circumscribe the spot. Find- 
 ing no signs of egress they conclude at once that the tiger 
 is within the circle; so they divide again and circle back, 
 dropping a man at intervals till they have formed a ring of 
 sentinels round the path. These sentinels get into trees, 
 partly for safety, but chiefly to extend their range of vision. 
 The tiger, perhaps not satisfied with his resting-place, or 
 for reasons tigers can only know, is about to quit the spot. 
 A Bheel sees him from aloft, and utters a low deep cough. 
 The tiger, awed by the human voice, generally retires in- 
 wards, and tries another place. Again he encounters the 
 same mysterious cough, till at last, from necessity, he 
 becomes reconciled to his quarters, and, the sun being hot, 
 he lays himself down to rest. A messenger is then sent to 
 tell the 8oMh log ^ that the tiger is marked down. Should 
 the sportsmen be at a distance, or should any circumstance 
 prevent their immediate attention to the call, these staunch 
 pointers will keep their posts ; and if the tiger break cover, 
 they track him up from place to place, even for days together, 
 to his final halting place, when they again surround him 
 with their guardian wing ; and this faculty of tracking is not 
 
 ' For the benefit of the few to whom this Indian expression is strange, we 
 may state that it means British officers or residents generally.
 
 104 JAMES OUTRAM. 1829- 
 
 confined to the case of animals, for they follow up traces of 
 men with the same facility. This makes them a valuable 
 agency for the capture of marauders when they take to the 
 jungles to escape detection. Outram's band rendered much 
 good service in this way when Khandesh was a sort of hiding 
 place for outlawed men. . . . 
 
 *Khundoo, the naich or commander of this band of 
 trackers, was the very heaii ideal of a Bheel. Though a little 
 fellow, he was a great man with his master, and it was one 
 of the saddest days in Outram's chequered life when this 
 faithful follower met his death. A man-eating tiger had 
 killed a native, and Khundoo, with a few men, was hard 
 upon his track. Just previous to this, Khundoo had dis- 
 appointed his master of a tiger, and he laid it so much to 
 heart that he secretly resolved never again to send in word 
 unless he had actually seen the beast himself. Following 
 out this resolution in the present instance, with nothing in 
 his hand but a slight spear, Khundoo approached the bushes 
 where he believed the tiger to be concealed. In a moment 
 the beast sprung out, Khundoo's spear glanced off his thick 
 head, and in the next instant the tiger's fangs had met in 
 the upper part of the little fellow's chest. The tiger slunk 
 back to cover, where he was surrounded by a portion of the 
 Bheels : the others took up their dying chief, carried him to 
 Outram's tent, and laid him at his master's feet. Outram's 
 first impulse was to destroy the savage beast, and, vowing he 
 would neither eat nor drink till the tiger had bit the dust, 
 he seized his rifle and rushed ofif.^ A well-directed shot laid 
 the man-eater low, and when Outram galloped back, he 
 found poor Khundoo's life was ebbing fast. It was a touch- 
 ing spectacle, as the brave Outram bent over the dying chief 
 
 ' The Bhils firmly believed that a man killed by a tiger became subject 
 to the beast in the next world, unless instantly avenged. Hence their com- 
 mandant's prompt pursuit, to ease Khundoo's mind in his latest moments.
 
 -i835 TIGER ADVENTURES. 105 
 
 to catch his last farewell. Khundoo took the hand of his 
 little son, and placing it in Outram's, bid him supply a 
 father's place to him.' 
 
 Major C. Giberne, late of the Bombay Army, tells a story 
 of these days of Indian shikar too good to be here omitted. 
 His acquaintance with Outram dated from 1825, towards the 
 close of which year he proceeded up country to do duty with 
 the 23rd N.I. at Malegaon : — 
 
 * A party of us went out under Outram's leadership. . . . 
 Word was brought us that the Bheels had tracked a tiger 
 into the dry bed of a river, where he had taken refuge 
 among the tamarisk bushes on a small island in the centre. 
 We were at once divided into three or four parties, and sta- 
 tioned on both banks of the nulla, while the Bheels were 
 distributed on the rising ground a little farther off to watch 
 our proceedings and prevent the tiger making his escape. 
 Outram, followed by a few sepoys, then deliberately walked 
 across to where the tiger was lying, fired at him and broke 
 his fore leg. He immediately charged out of his lurking 
 place, and was received by us with a volley of balls, when . . . 
 he rushed across and laid himself down in a bush on the 
 opposite bank to where I was. Outram then advanced 
 towards him, supported in rear by three sepoys with fixed 
 bayonets, under which it was his intention to cast himself 
 should his shot prove a failure and the tiger spring out upon 
 him. Just as he arrived within three paces of the tiger, and 
 he was on the point of springing upon him, he fired, and the 
 tiger fell down dead.' 
 
 The following is from Colonel Ord's notes, but no date is 
 assigned to the occurrence related : — ' One day when Outram 
 was in our camp, some villagers came in from a village 
 about eight or ten miles off, to pray that some of us
 
 io6 JAMES OUTRAM. 1829- 
 
 would come out to kill a well-known man-eating tiger, 
 who had just killed a man not very far from the village. 
 It was not long before Outram, myself, and one or two 
 others, among whom was Ensign S. Parr, of the 23rd 
 Eegiment N.I. . . . mounted and were on the spot, 
 guided by some of the villagers. There lay the body in a 
 sequestered part of the jungle, with the fleshy part of the 
 throat torn out, and the legs and arms eaten clean off to 
 their junction with the body. The trunk alone remained, 
 and it was neatly covered with green grass, though still 
 visible. The villagers not being of the hunter caste, knew 
 not where the tiger was. But there was no lack of foot- 
 marks, and we were soon in his trail, accompanied by a few 
 of the Bheels, led by their determined chief, Outram ; who, 
 on all these occasions, was our chief also. After an in- 
 tensely exciting hour or two, occupied in pugging him 
 through the jungle, we came suddenly upon him, or rather 
 he came upon us, or at least on Parr, for on looking to one 
 side, we saw him standing on his hind legs, with his jaws, as 
 it seemed to us, about to close on our friend's head, who was 
 instinctively pulling at the trigger of his gun. No explosion, 
 however, followed, for he, like ourselves, not expecting the 
 tiger at that precise moment, had not cocked his gun. 
 Fortunately this was of little consequence, for the brute, 
 scared either by our appearance or the click of our guns 
 being put on full cock, turned away without having so much 
 as touched Parr. He did not go far, however, for a well- 
 directed shot from Outram's famous gun laid him low.' 
 
 By his fearless bearing in the presence of danger, and 
 his general prowess in the chase, Outram attracted the 
 affection and admiration of the wild men among whom his 
 lot was cast for so many years. Willingly would they have 
 followed him anywhere. He could excel in tiger-slaying —
 
 -i835 DOUGLAS GRAHAM. 107 
 
 a feat in which was their own greatest pride. He could 
 trust their rude honour — a result at which none of his 
 predecessors could arive, though officials of a native 
 government. He was clearly their pattern of an authority 
 which they could acknowledge without loss of self-esteem, 
 or such equivalent for caste as they were contented to 
 accept. That caste^ in the Indian sense, is not a term 
 applicable to themselves, is perhaps undisputed. Even the 
 common village barber would not exercise his profession 
 upon the Bhil otherwise than on compulsion ; and one col- 
 lector of Khandesh had to administer a fine before the razor 
 was produced for shaving the men of his guard. 
 
 Lieutenant Douglas Graham, from whose writings we 
 have already quoted, succeeded Lieutenant Beck as adjutant 
 of the Bhil corps. Writing of his commanding officer in 
 T833, he designates him his own ' staunchest friend,' and 
 the ' boldest and the best sportsman ' in Western India. 
 ' We have lived together,' he says, ' for seven long years now 
 . . . without having had a difference. ... He has saved 
 my life ; I have done the like good office to him ; we have 
 fought together, and fed together, been for months without 
 any but our own sweet society ; and, to sum up the story, I 
 do not think friendship can go a step further than what 
 exists between us two.' 
 
 If Douglas Grraham's journals are known mainly by 
 repute in Bombay, many of the exploits related in them 
 should be familiar there as household words, especially 
 among sportsmen, and have doubtless been circulated far 
 beyond the limits of the Western Presidency. We shall, 
 therefore, select for extract only three or four of the more 
 striking narratives : — 
 
 'Before starting this morning (June 12, 1828) on very 
 sure intelligence, I had been wondering why a certain long
 
 io8 JAMES OUTRAM. 1829- 
 
 spear, one of your real Maratha lances, with a knob of rusty 
 iron at one end, and a bayonet-like bit of steel at the other, 
 was undergoing the process of excessive filing and sharpen- 
 ing ; when I recalled to my remembrance some expressions 
 of my commandant, that tended to imply a determination 
 of spearing a royal tiger. And as the exploit was said to 
 have been once perpetrated on horseback on the Bangalore 
 race-course, a sort of vow rose floating among the mazy 
 recollections of the last evening's conversation, of his in- 
 tention to perform it on foot. Fifty good reasons were 
 adduced why the attempt was rash, nay, amounted to a 
 sort of indifference to the least chance of existence in the 
 struggle ; but no, the word had gone forth, and he would 
 peril to the uttermost to redeem the pledge. 
 
 * Fears were laughed at, and dissuasion entirely set at 
 nought, so we had nothing for it but to see we had French 
 caps in our pockets (H.B. never miss) and proceed, anxiously 
 desirous that no opportunity would occur for our too adven- 
 turous friend. There was a fine thick cover down each side 
 of the broad nullah that ran past the tents, and at intervals 
 on either side two or three small topes, with abundance 
 of under creepers, well known to us as frequented haunts. 
 There were only two elephants out that day, so, of course, 
 each took his own side. We had beat through the first cover, 
 which was on our line, and had halted abreast of the second, 
 to observe the operations of the other howdah, on the oppo- 
 site bank, when a startling volley came provokingly across 
 from the very centre of the thicket, and the loud and con- 
 tinued bursts of uproarious music, fully declared that there 
 was more than one of the right sort on foot. Our position 
 was by no means so commanding as our wishes. We were 
 stuck on a bank which extended half a mile on each side of 
 us, and presented, as far as I could see, a perpendicular fall 
 of ten or twelve feet ; but this was no time to stick at trifles,
 
 -i835 LIEUTENANT GRAHAM'S JOURNAL. 109 
 
 so we shoved old Hyder at the place, notwithstanding the 
 remonstrances of the mahout, who declared the descent im- 
 practicable. But, making a virtue of necessity, for he saw 
 the butt-end of a rifle coming in contact with his sconce, he 
 began to manoemTe his " ankoos " ' in style. Hyder got down 
 on his belly in the most scientific manner, and stretched 
 his fore legs to their fullest extent over the side, but finding 
 no bottom, and not at all relishing a drop leap, withdrew 
 speedily from this position. Thrice he was brought down, 
 but to no avail ; in the third attempt, luckily, the bank 
 gave way, and down we came, elephant, howdah, and all, but 
 landed in safety on the bed of the nullah. The firing still 
 continued in the tope, and on our arrival, we found one tiger 
 mortally wounded on the ground, and two others charging 
 fiercely from below a thicket of creepers. A cast round the 
 wood soon put us in possession of their mark. We had 
 hardly proceeded a hundred yards when the track went right 
 into a porcupine's earth, and I was indulging in the idea of 
 enjoying a novel sort of sport, when I saw my friend's eye 
 turn to the Maratha spear, with a meaning glance that 
 could not be mistaken, and the condition of my nerves was 
 by no means improved on seeing him alight from the how- 
 dah, and on his knees creep a little way into the hole, to 
 look, as he said, for the glittering of the eyes. Ha\TDg 
 ascertained that there were only two entrances to the den, 
 he blocked up one passage with thick bushes, placed the 
 elephant about two yards in fi-ont, and my friend took up his 
 station at the very mouth of the remaining hole. 
 
 ' There he stood, spear in hand, like a gladiator in the 
 arena of a Eoman amphitheatre, ready for the throwing 
 
 ' As this word seems to call for erplanation, the opportunity is taken to 
 interpret with it four preceding words in the same letter, i.e. : — Nullah, 
 strictly ndla, a river or river-bed ; tope or top, a wood, tuft of trees ; howdah, 
 strictly hauda, an elephant's turret ; mahout, strictly mahdwat, the elephant 
 keeper or driver ; ankoos or dnkus, ankus, a goad.
 
 no JAMES OUTRAM. 1829- 
 
 open of the wild beast's cage. The bushes were set fire 
 to, and the tiger, by no means relishing the smoke, came 
 puffing and blowing like a porpoise, every five or six seconds, 
 to get a little fresh air ; but scenting the elephant, he was 
 always fain to retreat again. This sort of work went on for 
 some time, and bush after bush blazed away without produc- 
 ing the desired effect. I could not have stood the suspense, 
 when life was at stake. At last there was a low angry growl, 
 and a scuffling rustle in the passage. The tiger sprang out, 
 and down descended the long lance into his neck, just 
 behind the dexter ear. With one stroke of his powerful paw 
 he smashed the spear close to the head. There was a pretty 
 business. Mr. Tiger one step below, with the steel sticking 
 in his neck, which by no means improved his temper, had 
 gathered his huge hind quarters below him for a desperate 
 spring ; and my friend, armed after the fashion of the South 
 Sea Islanders, standing on a little mound, breathing defiance 
 and brandishing his bamboo on high — odds by far too over- 
 powering; so, to bring things a little more to equality, I 
 threw in a couple of balls from old Hyder, which turned the 
 scale, as Brennus's sword did of old. The tiger was luckily 
 stunned and floored by this salute, but shortly recovered, 
 and finding too many enemies besetting him on the open 
 ground, scampered away to the thicket. We found him 
 again below an old bush, and very vicious he was, tearing 
 through the jungle, and charging in mad fury whenever we 
 came near his entrenchment. Three times he was on the 
 elephant, roaring and screaming ; charge succeeded charge, 
 ball after ball went into his inside, and at length he yielded 
 up the ghost, under the very trunk of the elephant. Had 
 the spear not been directed with the most cool self-posses- 
 sion, so as to arrest the progress of the tiger, and give me a 
 slight chance of hitting, and had not old Hyder remained 
 perfectly steady, without taking at all into consideration my
 
 -1835 BEARDING THE TIGRESS. in 
 
 fluttering nerves and state of anxiety, there would have 
 been an end of one whose like we shall seldom see again ; 
 at best it was the happy accomplishment of a very rash 
 vow.' 
 
 Undated, but headed 'Fragments, 1828 to 1832,' are 
 two entries appropriate to these pages. It need scarcely 
 be said that Outram is the ' commandant ' whose directions 
 are so implicitly obeyed in sporting attire as in uniform : — 
 
 ' Moved to Pingulwara, where we killed a very splendid 
 tiger after breakfast, and on our way home fell in vdth the 
 marks of a tigress and cubs, which we followed for about two 
 miles, when they went into an old tunnel that had been car- 
 ried for eighty or ninety yards through a small hill. As the 
 aperture was of just sufficient size to allow us to enter 
 abreast, we put our rifles, double-barrelled two-ounce ones, 
 all ready, and went in together, on the understanding that 
 the moment we saw the glittering of the brute's eyes we 
 were to fire sharp and fall flat on our faces. I have no hesi- 
 tation in saying that it was with fear and trembling that 
 I entered this ugly den ; but as my commandant proposed 
 the thing, I could not be off, so, making up my mind for a 
 pretty scrimmage, away we went. The place was foul, dark, 
 and damp ; but, as good luck would have it, the tigress had 
 made no stay in the place, but had gone right through. As 
 there was no arguing about these things with my com- 
 mandant, I always did as he did, and left the result, in this 
 and a hundred other mad tricks, to the entire direction of 
 the fates. The elephants were close at hand, and we 
 bagged the tigress and cubs among some very high reeds 
 in the nullah, not a hundred yards from its mouth. She 
 had no chance, as we saw her crouched for a spring, about 
 twenty yards off, and took the liberty of checking her in- 
 tentions by a couple of well-directed balls. A tiger is very
 
 112 JAMES OUTRAM. 1829- 
 
 difficult to twig just at the proper moment. His colour 
 confounds him with the decayed leaves and wood, and were 
 it not for his strawberry-leaf shaped ears, which some way 
 always catch a practised eye, the game would pass often 
 unseen on very open ground.' 
 
 The next is entitled ' The First Accident :' — 
 
 ' I remember well the occurrence, whilst on a hunting 
 trip among the rocky mountain ranges that separate 
 Khandesh from the Deccan. It was towards the close of a 
 June day, when but little of vegetation and water remained : 
 the leaves of the bushes were shrivelled up, the country 
 parched and cracked, the very stones in a glow of white 
 heat. 
 
 'We had been particularly successful during the trip, 
 and had upwards of forty full-sized tigers on our list, owing 
 to the research and sagacity of our Bheels, and the skill and 
 perseverance of our chief ; and flushed with the fulness of 
 sport, and rendered careless, probably, from success, we all 
 entertained rather too contemptible an opinion for the tyrant 
 of the flock. 
 
 ' The country was a difficult and dangerous one to hunt 
 — the side of a long waving hill, intersected by numerous 
 broad stony ravines, and covered with short, thick, thorny 
 bahul bush, whose yellow, discoloured leaves increased the 
 difficulty tenfold of discovering our game. "We beat up a 
 nullah with three elephants, but an accidental shot had 
 scared the monster. He had quitted his lair, which we 
 found quite fresh, and sneaked off among the bushes. The 
 party separated, and each elephant took his line about a 
 quarter of a mile apart from the other. I had that day 
 charge of old Hyder — that pink of elephants — and was lean- 
 ing over the side of the howdah with my rifle in my hand, 
 half a dozen Bheels close beside me, eagerly examining a patch
 
 -1 835 THE BHILS DEATH. 113 
 
 of open ground which extended fifteen or twenty yards from 
 the edge of the nullah where the jungle commenced, and 
 pressing forward, notwithstanding the strict injunctions they 
 had received to keep well behind, when a roar loud and deep 
 startled me from my position. All had either fallen to the 
 ground or fled, except one, a fine, handsome, active young 
 fellow, and a particular favourite with us all, named Gurwur. 
 He stood riveted to the spot, fascinated by the tones of that 
 awful roar. The huge yellow form came cleaving through 
 the air with the rapidity of Kght ; in one fell swoop he 
 pounced on his prey, and in the same instant his paw rested 
 deep in the shoulder and his ruthless teeth were crashing 
 through the skull of the unfortunate one. I could see the 
 fierce glare of his eye as he stood overtopping his victim, and 
 holding him up in his terrible jaws. It was all the work of a 
 second. I had scarce time to bring my gun to my shoulder, 
 but I aimed high and fired both barrels. The savage 
 quitted his grasp and disappeared amongst the thicket. Poor 
 Grurwur's sword was half drawn, but his fight was over ! ' 
 
 About a week afterwards. Lieutenant Grraham was sur- 
 prised at seeing his chief gallop up to camp with an enor- 
 mous tiger-tail strapped to his saddle-bow. It was that of the 
 fierce destroyer of the foregoing story. After committing the 
 act narrated, the beast, in accordance with invariable practice, 
 fled across the hills to seek concealment in the thickest cover 
 available. Outram had followed with steady determination 
 to avenge, if possible, his Bhil. For three days, we are told, 
 the pursuit lasted, through rain and wind, over mountain 
 and torrent, and across valley and forest. On the evening 
 of the fourth day the tiger was brought up by a long shot, 
 whilst skulking along the side of a palm jangal. 
 
 In May 1828, there is a vivid account of an assault upon 
 a herd of wild bufl"aloes in Meywar, ending in the death of 
 a fine bull, who made a vigorous defence against the many 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 JAMES OUTRAM. 1829- 
 
 spears and rifles brought against him. But we have no 
 more space for extract from these journals of exceptional 
 shikar. A summary from Outram's personal record will 
 aptly illustrate the case, in conclusion. 
 
 He has noted that, during ten years, or from 1825 to 
 1834 inclusive, he himself and associates in the chase killed 
 no fewer than 235 tigers, wounding 22 others ; 25 bears, 
 wounding 14 ; 12 buffaloes, wounding 5 ; and killed also 
 16 panthers or leopards. Of this grand total of 329 wild 
 animals, 44 tigers and one panther or leopard were killed 
 during his absence by gentlemen of the Khandesh hunt ; 
 but Outram was actually present at the death of 191 tigers, 
 15 panthers or leopards, 25 bears, and 12 buffaloes. It 
 is to be regretted that, during the period specified, five 
 natives, while assisting in the shikar, were killed, and 
 four wounded ; but it must be remembered that the Bhil 
 is not a participator in such dangerous doings upon com- 
 pulsion, but under pressure from his own restless nature. 
 In 1825-26, of the five English gentlemen who composed 
 the party, two died of jangal fever, and Outram, while on 
 foot, was severely wounded by a chita. In 1827-28, he 
 though usually mounted on his elephant Haidar (who was 
 twice wounded), killed and wounded two tigers off horseback, 
 besides spearing one tiger on foot, as before mentioned. In 
 1831, the highest figure was attained in the account of 
 spoil. Out of 65 animals then killed and wounded, 46 
 tigers were killed. Outram speared a bear during the same 
 year. In 1 830, however, with the exception of ten days passed 
 with the Nagar hunt,i he had shared but little in the ex- 
 citements of the chase, owing to the campaign in the Dang ; 
 
 ' At -which time he took 10 first spears — all but one contested — in a party 
 of six, 55 hog being killed ; broke the small bone of his right leg the first day, 
 and was compellled to give up running altogether on the eighth, in conse- 
 quence of bruises. He had before been with the Nagar hunt in 1829, when 
 he managed to take 12 first spears — all contested.
 
 -1 835 SUMMARY OF SPORT. 115 
 
 and he was again much occupied in the Satpura expedition 
 of 1833. 
 
 The time has now come to take leave of Khandesh, and 
 though the scene of action in the next chapter will not be 
 very far away from that province, we shall have to treat of a 
 comparatively new subject, and new characters. 
 
 112
 
 ii6 JAMES OUTRAM. 1835- 
 
 (JHAPTEK V. 
 
 1835-1838. 
 
 Appointment to a Special Mission — Leave to Bombay — Marriage — Two years 
 and three quarters in the Mahi Kanta. 
 
 Early in 1835 Captain Outram accompanied Mr. Bax, then 
 Resident at Indor, through Malwa and Nimar. The scant 
 supply of home letters received from him at this period finds 
 ready explanation in his reports of constant marching and 
 attendance on native darhars and festivals. Later on, the 
 same deficiencies are accounted for by other and more 
 pressing demands of the public service. After return from 
 his annual Khandesh tour in June, he was confidentially 
 addressed by G-overnment, and his opinion invited on the 
 affairs of the neighbouring province of Grujrat, which had 
 long been in an unsettled state, and which, in the Mahi 
 Kanta, had assumed a threatening aspect. This tract of 
 territory, literally but incorrectly interpreted as the littoral 
 of the river Mahi, comprised, in those days, all that portion 
 of Grujrat proper yielding tribute to the Gr^ikawar on com- 
 pulsion only, or realised at the point of the bayonet. It is 
 situated far above Khandesh and the Narbada, and extends 
 up towards Sirohi and Udaipur on its north, leaving Kaira 
 on its south, Dungapur east, and Palanpur west. From 
 south-east to north-west its length is estimated at about 100 
 miles, and its breadth in the direction of the opposite angles 
 at about 60 ; the area is given at 3,400 square miles. 
 
 The following descriptive account from the Ras Mala is
 
 -1838 THE RAS MALA. 117 
 
 SO clear and explicit that we make no apology for its insertion 
 here : — 
 
 The level country (which, covered with noble groves of trees, 
 
 * may vie,' says Mr. Grant Duif, the historian of the Mardthas, 
 
 * for hundreds of miles with the finest parks of the nobles of 
 England') was almost entirely reduced by the Mardthas imder 
 direct government ; though the jungles of the Choonwal and the 
 banks of the Myhee, as far south as Baroda, still furnished shelter 
 to independent tribes, and many villages, including those which 
 belong to the Rajpoot landholders, in some of the richest districts, 
 required an annual armament to enforce payment of their tribute. 
 As the smallest streams branched off, many independent commu- 
 nities appeared among the ravines and jungle on their banks ; as 
 these rivulets increased in number, and the forest grew thicker 
 and more continuous, the independent territoiies also became more 
 frequent, and were found in more solid masses, until at length the 
 still untamed principalities of Eedur and Loonawara were reached, 
 amidst the mountains of the north-east. Many Koonbees, 
 Waneeas, and others of the peaceable classes, were included 
 among the population of the Myhee Kanta ; but the castes which 
 bore arms, and in whom the whole authority of the country was 
 vested, were Rajpoots, Kolees, or Muhammadans ; of these the 
 Kolees were by far the most numerous, though they wei-e for the 
 most part found under Rajpoot rule. All the Rajpoots used swords 
 and shields, matchlocks and spears. They often wore defensive 
 armour either of leather or chain, and placed it upon their horses. 
 Their plan of warfare was to defend their villages; they seldom, 
 except after an ineffectual defence, took to the woods like the 
 Kolees. and were quite incapable of the desultory warfare so con- 
 genial to the latter tribe. The Kolees or Bheels (fo:;, though the 
 former would resent the classification, the distinctions between them 
 need not here be noticed) were more diminutive than the other 
 inhabitants, and theii' eyes wore an expression of liveliness and 
 cunning ; their turbans, if they used any, wei'e small ; their common 
 head-dress was a cloth carelessly wrapped round the temples ; then' 
 clothes were usually few and coarse ; they were seldom seen with- 
 out a quiver of arrows, and a long bamboo bow, which was instantly 
 bent on any alarm, or even on the sudden approach of a stranger. 
 The natives described them as wonderfully swift, active, and hardy ;
 
 ii8 JAMES OUTRAM. 1835- 
 
 incredibly patient of hunger, thirst, fatigue, and want of sleep ; 
 vigilant, enterprising, secret, fertile in expedients, and admirably 
 calculated for night attacks, surprises, and ambuscades. Their 
 arms and habits rendered them unfit to stand in the open field, and 
 they were timid when attacked, but had, on several occasions, 
 shown extraordinary boldness in assaults, even upon stations occu- 
 pied by regular British troops. They were independent in spirit, 
 and, although professed robbers, were said to be remarkably faith- 
 ful when trusted, and were certainly never sanguinary. They 
 were averse to regular industry, exceedingly addicted to drunken- 
 ness, and very quarrelsome when intoxicated. Their delight was 
 plunder, and nothing was so welcome to them as a general dis- 
 turbance in the country. The numbers of the Kolees would have 
 rendered them formidable had they been capable of union; but 
 though they had a strong fellow-feeling for each other, they never 
 regarded themselves as a nation, nor ever made cause against an 
 external enemy. 
 
 The iuhabitants of this country— and we do not confine 
 the term to the ' Kulis,' or supposed aborigines — had long 
 been known as a warlike and rebellious people : and when 
 the British Grovernment was first brought into immediate 
 contact with them in 1820, it soon became evident that 
 without the application of stronger and fairer measures than 
 had been attempted by the Graikawar for the suppression 
 and control of these his unruly tributaries, there could be no 
 security to life and property in the villages and lands which 
 they occupied. The establishment of a British agency was 
 due to Mr. Elphinstone, who visited the MahiKanta in 1821 ; 
 and who had hoped, by this means, to secure quiet to the 
 country, and a peaceful realisation of his dues to the native 
 ruler. Our local authorities, however, while using undoubted 
 goodwill and good intentions to introduce order into chaos, 
 were unfortunate in the choice of means. Whether right 
 men were not consulted for right measures, or not put into 
 right places, it matters little now to inquire. The result 
 was signal failure to achieve the desired end. But in order
 
 -1838 INTERNAL FEUDS. 119 
 
 to make the situation intelligible, we must resort to a sum- 
 mary of the state of afifiiirs in the Main Kanta, when Outram's 
 services were to be put in requisition there, practically much 
 in the same way as for Khandesh. 
 
 In the year 1828, Grambhir Singh, Eajah of Edar, burnt 
 the village of Kiri, which belonged to Fath Singh of Rupal. 
 The latter complained to the British agent at Palanpur, who 
 then exercised a temporary superintendence of the Mahi 
 Kanta. Grambhir Singh was directed to pay a heavy fine ; 
 but, as the decision remained a dead letter, Fath Singh took 
 the law into his own hands, and imprisoned the brother of 
 Khem Chand, a minister of the Edar Eajah, when a guest in 
 his house. Such a hostage would, he thought, prove better 
 seciurity for damages due than less tangible professions and 
 promises. Khem Chand, however, pleaded the attachment of 
 the Edar State by the British Grovernment as a cause for 
 non-payment of fine ; and his brother remained a prisoner. 
 At this time, one Suraj Mall, the turbulent son of Jalum 
 Singh, lowest in rank but greatest landholder of eight Rajput 
 feudatories of Edar, was in banishment ; and to him appeal 
 was made for assistance against Fath Singh. He readily 
 undertook the task assigned, and, raising a body of 400 or 500 
 men, attacked and plundered Rupal. But as the unfortunate 
 hostage was not to be found, Khem Chand refused to pay the 
 promised reward ; and Suraj Mall was left to his own devices. 
 His ways were those of strong and unprincipled contem- 
 poraries : he supported himself and followers by a course of 
 pillage and devastation among the villages of Edar. Seven 
 years after the occurrence of the original cause of quarrel — 
 and long after the death of Gambhir Singh, the main offender 
 — the feud threatened to become a chronic infliction. A 
 third disturber of the peace had, moreover, appeared on the 
 scene, in the person of Pirthi Singh, son of the deceased Karn
 
 120 JAMES OUTRAM. 1835- 
 
 Singh of Ahmadnagar, who, with his brother Hamir Singh and 
 many adherents, caused three widows of the late Eajah to be- 
 come satis,^ in despite of the injunctions, and almost within 
 sight, of the British political agent. MiHtary operations were 
 rendered imperative, and a field force was called out against 
 Suraj Mall and the Thakur of Eupal, By the middle of 
 March 1835, the principal strongholds of both chiefs had been 
 destroyed — and Ahmadnagar was in the possession of British 
 soldiers. But in the former case, the offenders themselves, 
 both outlaws, were still at large, while the occupation of a 
 town was, at best, but a superficial measure of success. A 
 report, favourable to an approaching peaceful settlement of 
 the Mahi Kdnta, sent to the Court of Directors by the Bombay 
 Government in September, was succeeded by one in October 
 of a less cheering kind. It was to the effect that, notwith- 
 standing the ' severest suffering and privations on the part 
 of the troops in toiling through a most difficult and rugged 
 country' with which the authorities were imperfectly ac- 
 quainted, the chiefs had not been captured, and the causes of 
 disaffection and disturbance had not been removed. What 
 was required was a better knowledge of the place and people, 
 and an influence over the popular leaders : something, in 
 fine, which, in effecting the work of pacification, could be 
 substituted for the too common remedy of overwhelming 
 brute force. 
 
 In furtherance of its views of amelioration, the local 
 Government proposed to make a survey of the tract under 
 report, and to aim at the acquisition of moral control over its 
 warlike inhabitants through the exercise of a concihatory 
 policy such as had been successfully adopted for Khandesh. 
 Hence the consultations with Captain Outram to which we 
 have referred, and which only took official shape after a 
 frequent interchange of thought embodied in a confidential 
 ' Anglice, ' Suttee.'
 
 -1838 MISSION TO THE MAHI KANT A. 121 
 
 correspondence with Grovernment officers. Among the last 
 was the late jNlajor-General, then INIajor Orlando Felix, so 
 long on the personal staff of Indian governors, whose urbanity 
 and tact in the fulfilment of social duties were on a par with 
 a highly intelligent appreciation of the more strictly profes- 
 sional part he had to perform. One of the subjects discussed 
 with this gentleman was Outram's own proposal to divide his 
 Bhil corps, and, instead of raising it, as contemplated, to a 
 thousand strong, to break it into two regiments or battalions 
 of five hundred men each. The palpable advantage recognised 
 in the modification was that, in case of emergency, the force 
 could be doubled in number without any fresh accession 
 of officers. But another question arose from this discussion. 
 Should there be occasion to form a brigade of Kulis in 
 Gujrat, who more fit than Outram to advise on, and, if 
 practicable, take under his immediate charge the organisa- 
 tion of the scheme? His services would be invaluable for 
 the purpose, and it was natural to try and secure them. A 
 much wider responsibility, however, than involved in the drill 
 and discipline of Kulis, was to rest upon him in his new 
 sphere of action. 
 
 About the middle of March 1835, Sir Robert Grant had 
 succeeded Lord Clare as Governor of Bombay. In prompt 
 obedience to the orders of Government, bearing date August 
 27 of the same year. Captain Outram quitted Khandesh on 
 September 11 following, for Indor. His object in taking this 
 circuitous road to the Mahi Kanta was to consult with JNIr. 
 Bax on some details of his mission ; but more particularly to 
 enter, if possible, the disturbed districts from the IMalwa 
 side, through a part of the country on which trustworthy 
 information was urgently needed. At Indor he was des- 
 tined to disappointment; for the route he had laid out for 
 himself was reported impracticable, owing to the deep mud
 
 122 JAMES OUTRAM. 1835- 
 
 which, impervious to cattle or carriage of any kind, had 
 generally covered Malwa, during six weeks of continuous 
 rain. He was, therefore, forced to make the best of his way 
 to Baroda, nearer the northern bank of the Narbada, by Bho- 
 pawar, and Chhota Udaipur. Through the care of the British 
 Eesident at Indor, the journey across Holkar's territory 
 was uneventful and free from obstruction ; but the passage 
 across this section of the Vindhya mountains, and through 
 the neighbouring jangal, in autumn, are acts always 
 attended with serious risk to health for Europeans or 
 natives, and it is not strange that fever and other sickness 
 should have visited the camp. Out of Holkar's Kmits a 
 certain annoyance was experienced in the behaviour of the 
 Gaikawar's employes. These, it had been inferred, would 
 have readily aided the progress of a duly accredited British 
 officer traversing the tracts in which they exercised a little 
 brief authority ; and faith in their friendly disposition caused 
 Outram, on entering Gujrat, to dismiss the horsemen who 
 had been placed at his disposal by the Eajah of Udaipur. But 
 the event proved he had made a mistake. On reaching, late 
 at night, one of the Graikawar's large towns, the servants of 
 the mission were refused a guide to show them the public 
 resting-place, and could not procure even a little milk on 
 purchase. Outram himself was not more successful at the 
 Police Thana, and though supperless, like the remainder of 
 his party, was glad to accept the shelter offered him by a 
 kindly Brahmin schoolmaster. From Baroda he proceeded 
 to Ahmadabad, and thence to Ahmadnagar, Edar, and Disa, 
 returning to Ahmadabad to draw up his report, in personal 
 communication with the political commissioner, Mr. Wil- 
 liams, and with the advantage of access to the records of his 
 office. This report, completed at Baroda, was prepared with 
 much care and ability, and is an elaborate and comprehensive 
 State paper. It set forth the measures necessary for dealing
 
 -1838 OFFER TO WAIVE COMMAND. 123 
 
 with the insurgents at once, and under certain future contin- 
 gencies; it detailed the cases of individual leaders ; it investi- 
 gated the elements of which the hostile forces were composed, 
 and the sources and causes of hostility ; it entered into the 
 question of Police for preservation of the peace of the coun- 
 try present and future ; it discussed the liabilities of the 
 native ruling power ; it showed the importance of survey, 
 and the opportunities likely to offer for carrying out the 
 measure ; finally it expressed the writer's conviction that the 
 Mahi Kanta could not be tranquillised, nor could a system of 
 active reform be successfully introduced among its inhabit- 
 ants, until the unruly clans had been brought under subjec- 
 tion, and the chiefs punished for their opposition to British 
 troops. Its date of November 14, little more than two 
 months after departure from his old Bhil head-quarters of 
 Dharangaon, gave ample evidence that no time had been lost 
 by Captain Outram in fulfilling a mission which, mentally 
 and physically, was arduous, and of special kind. 
 
 Later in the same month of November, Outram was 
 offered by the commander-in-chief. Sir John Keane, com- 
 mand of the troops then about to be assembled against the 
 insurgents of the Mahi Kanta. In the spirit which actuated 
 him throughout life, but which circumstances have rendered 
 more conspicuous in his later years, he declined the honour 
 in favour of a friend very much his senior. His letter to the 
 chiefs military secretary on this occasion is very characteristic. 
 He declared himself sensible of the distinction conferred upon 
 him by such mark of confidence, but felt it his duty to point 
 out that the appointment of so junior an officer might give 
 umbrage in quarters where imanimity was necessary. The 
 senior officer on the spot was almost the senior captain in the 
 army : none above him could be sent with the detached 
 companies of which the force would be composed ; whereas 
 he himself, from his junior position in the army, would, if in
 
 124 JAMES OUTRAM 1835- 
 
 comtnand, be the cause of separating captains from their 
 companies, to the detriment of the service. He wrote, 
 moreover: 'The qualifications of the officer now commanding 
 the detachment in the disturbed districts are far superior to 
 mine. I willingly stake my humble reputation on his con- 
 duct. Associated with him, as I presume I shall be in the 
 duty, while his be the honour of success, mine be the blame 
 of defeat, in measures of which I am the proposer.' 
 
 If the sentiment here exhibited appear to some in any 
 way Quixotic, it was certainly genuine. Nor was it the 
 expression of an unambitious soldier, or of an untried man, 
 whose temper was unknown to his employers. Sir John 
 Keane, while appreciating the objects of Captain Outram,and 
 admitting the merits of the senior officer on whose behalf he 
 had written, could not accept the change of arrangements 
 submitted. 'His Excellency considers,' replied Major Mac- 
 donald, ' that the ultimate success of all the plans of 
 Government will mainly depend upon your being left in the 
 free exercise of your own good judgment without anybody 
 being placed over you to control it. It is not alone the task 
 of meeting the enemy in the field that devolves upon the 
 person having the chief arrangement of affairs in these 
 rebellions districts. . . . His Excellency highly approves of 
 what he understands to be the intention of Government — 
 namely, to invest you with civil and political powers, which 
 will render you independent of the authority of senior officers ; 
 and the military, of whatever rank, must take their directions 
 from you. This is according to precedent and Indian usage ; 
 and why should it not be acted on in your case, who possess 
 the confidence of Government, and are looked up to, of all 
 others, as the person best qualified to put their plans into 
 execution ? ' 
 
 Seldom has a more complimentary letter than this been 
 addressed to a jimior captain under the circumstances. Mr.
 
 -1838 APPROACHING MARRIAGE. 125 
 
 Bax, the former collector in Khandesh, wrote privately to 
 Outram on the subject of this correspondence, that he had 
 ' acted judiciously and most considerately ' in declining a 
 command which must have annoyed many of his seniors in 
 the service — a result which would have been ' overlooked by 
 nineteen men out of twenty,' for the sake of the distinction 
 to be conferred. 
 
 On completing his report, Outram repaired to the Presi- 
 dency. It was not alone on public grounds that the requisite 
 leave to make this visit had been solicited, though a personal 
 conference with the members of Oovernment on the affairs 
 of Grujrat seemed an indispensable sequel to the late in- 
 quiry and proceedings. Another urgent cause prompted 
 the application. He was about to be married to his cousin, 
 Miss jMargaret Anderson ; and the bride was daily expected to 
 arrive in Bombay. He had hoped to have welcomed her in 
 the previous year : for the engagement had been of some 
 standing ; but passages to and from India were more serious 
 affairs then than now considered, and not arranged as at 
 present, irrespective of particular ships and particular seasons. 
 
 The settlement of the Mahi Kanta was a matter of so 
 urgent a nature in the eyes of the local Grovernment that no 
 time was lost in issuing instructions for the more immediate 
 guidance of the executive officers ; but Outram's proposals 
 were held to be too warlike, and conciliation was to be put in 
 practice, and thoroughly tested, before recourse should be had 
 to violence. Sir Eobert Grant, the Governor, was essentially 
 a man of peace and a philanthropist. He could not believe in 
 the existence of disaffection among the chiefs without a cause, 
 which, at least, demanded full and patient inquiry. He 
 wished this inquiry, if possible, to precede any sterner mea- 
 sures : and no disarming, or tooth-drawing, would be sanc- 
 tioned in the interim. In the words of the memoir already 
 quoted : 'he had seen a purely conciliatory policy successful in
 
 126 JAMES OUTRAM. 1835- 
 
 another province of Gruzerat ; and, overlooking the difference 
 in the condition of the two countries, he assumed that the 
 measures which, under the masterly management of Major 
 Walker, Captain Barnewell, and Mr. Willoughby, had given 
 peace to Kattywar and Eajpeempla, must necessarily suffice 
 for the tranquillisation of the Mahi Kanta. ... So confident 
 was this estimable and benevolent Grovernorof the omnipotence 
 of gentle speech and singleness of purpose, that he actually 
 diminished the strength of the force which had already found 
 itself inadequate to control the insurgents, though Captain 
 Outram had recommended that it should be temporarily 
 increased, not necessarily for employment, but for purposes 
 of demonstration.' To what extent such views were con- 
 curred in by the Court of Directors will shortly become 
 apparent. 
 
 Though we read of breakfasts and interviews at Grovem- 
 ment House at this period, there is no record of any conver- 
 sations which transpired. The Grovernor invited; Major 
 Felix issued the invitations ; Outram and others attended : 
 further particulars are wanting. But there is also no lack of 
 official correspondence to throw a light on the course of 
 events. Before referring to this, we have to note that, in 
 December 1835 Outram's marriage was solemnised in 
 Bombay, where his affianced bride was temporarily residing 
 in the house of her brother-in-law, Mr. Morris, of the Civil 
 Service. During the week or two of leave which preceded 
 the wedding-day, his time was chiefly occupied at the 
 Secretariat offices, reporting, or otherwise employed on public 
 matters. A fortnight after his marriage, or in January 1836, 
 he was forced to hurry off to his rough work in the Mdhi 
 Kanta, under injunctions to modify his original plans of 
 settlement in accordance with the benevolent intentions of 
 Government. He was now to all intents and purposes a 
 political agent ; but notice of confirmation in the appoint-
 
 -18.58 JUSTICE BEFORE GENEROSITY. 127 
 
 ment was not received by him until the end of March, when 
 his friend, Douglas Graham, succeeded him in the command 
 of the Bhil corps. 
 
 A very few days subsequent to his departure from 
 Bombay, he was again at Ahmadabad, and there made 
 acquainted by the assistant political commissioner, Mr. 
 Arthur Malet, with the lines of policy laid down for his 
 conduct of the agency, as defined in writing by Mr. Secretary 
 Willoughby. The remarkable administrative faculty of the 
 last-named gentleman, and his general aptitude of expression 
 in communicating the instructions and meaning of his Govern- 
 ment to the several officials it was his privilege to address, were 
 almost universally admitted by those who were capable of 
 forming an opinion on the subject, and Outram was not 
 behind his fellows in respect for the Secretary's abilities. 
 But in the matter of the Mahi Kanta troubles, the new 
 political agent found it very difficult to believe that the 
 Government programme was suited to the occasion. ' I will 
 pay every attention to your remarks on the subjects you 
 notice,' he writes on February 7, ' but while Government 
 thus generously pardons the transgressions of these chiefs 
 against us, no provision appears in my instructions for the 
 satisfaction of the claims of others who have suffered at their 
 hands. Such claims will, I fear, prove numerous and not 
 easily answered, as, for instance, that of the Edar soxikar^ 
 Akka Chand, whose capture by Suraj Mall was reported by 
 Mr. Erskine, and from whom a ransom of 10,000 rupees was 
 extorted after a long exposure to dreadful tortures ; also 
 for the blood that has been spilt by them, and property 
 destroyed in their attacks on the Edar village in Kuppora — 
 in which, I hear, lives were lost, and a hundred buffaloes and 
 other property taken ; and the attack on Bottawur, another 
 Edar village, where one man was killed, and property 
 
 ' Now transliterated sdhukdr, a merchant or banker.
 
 128 JAMES OUTRAM. 1835- 
 
 destroyed, reported on the 5th instant. On these chiefs 
 being taken under our protection, it will, I presume, be 
 necessary to satisfy all well-founded claims against them, 
 both in justice, and to prevent retaliation ; and I beg to 
 know how far I may hold out hopes of remuneration to the 
 sufferers, either from the chiefs who plundered them — the 
 pecuniary claims against the one being already so great, and 
 the other having no means or estate whatsoever- -or from 
 the Edar Eaja, or from the British Grovernment, by whom 
 their aggressors are protected ? ' 
 
 The language was strong ; and it will surprise no one 
 versed in the ways of official correspondence to learn that the 
 writer was apprised how, in addressing his Grovernment, he 
 must find a second word for ' spade,' which was inadmissible 
 at any cost. But the rebuke was administered in the 
 mildest possible terms, and the Grovernor in Council highly 
 approved of Captain Outram's determination, distinctly ex- 
 pressed in his letter, impartially to follow the tenor of his 
 instructions. 
 
 Conspicuous among the refractory chiefs with whom 
 the political agent had to do were Fath Singh, Thakur of 
 Eupal, Suraj Mall, the adventurer, Partab Singh, of Aglor, 
 and Karm Singh, Thakur of Cforwara. Of the first two we 
 have already spoken ; and we now refer to them, as to the 
 whole four, in the light of illustrative cases. To understand 
 the Grovernment position with regard to these persons, it must 
 be borne in mind that we were fighting the battle of a native 
 power as much as on our own account. Indeed, one main 
 cause of contention was the exaction of a tribute called the 
 Ghas ddjid, acknowledged by precedent and the custom of the 
 country. This was the Gaikawar's, and could not, therefore, 
 be permanently reduced without that ruler's consent; but 
 the Bombay Government reserved to itself the right to make
 
 -1838 THE THAKUR OF RUPAL. 129 
 
 temporary remissions when found expedient. Another pay- 
 ment exacted was the Rlchri, regarding which simikir diffi- 
 culties existed. 
 
 On first assuming charge of the political agency, Outram 
 despatched letters, calling the outlawed chiefs to his camp. 
 An amnesty was granted for all past offences under condi- 
 tions which well-meaning men, however proud and inde- 
 pendent, might easily have fulfilled ; but which those who 
 saw more personal gain in lawlessness and vagabondage 
 would naturally disregard. Fath Singh, Thakur of Kupal, 
 appeared with others, but soon absented himself, on the plea 
 of seeking for securities. A long year was consumed in 
 endeavouring to effect a settlement of his affairs. He shuf- 
 fled and evaded, argued, objected, threatened, but did not 
 proceed to violence. Eventually — in 1837 — his case was 
 settled in the spirit of leniency by which the Gfovernment 
 was actuated, and which pervaded all its instructions, in 
 respect of the disturbers of the peace in Mahi Kanta. The 
 proceedings are not of sufficient public interest to be de- 
 tailed ; but there are passages in the recorded official corre- 
 spondence regarding the Thakur of Eupal which we feel it a 
 duty to reproduce, in proof of the loyalty and honourable 
 action of the political agent. 
 
 There was a little cavilling at the departure of the 
 Thakur in the present instance without furnishing securities, 
 which, caused perhaps by suspicion of mismanagement, 
 called for full explanation on Outram's part. Certainly there 
 was something expressed or signified in the communications 
 from Bombay which touched the sensitiveness of this honest 
 servant of the State ; for he had only been three months in 
 the discharge of his new functions when he stated his 
 apprehensions that he had lost the confidence of Govern- 
 ment. A long despatch signed by the Chief Secretary thus 
 VOL. I. K
 
 I30 JAMES OUTRAM. 1835- 
 
 removes, in a concluding paragraph, all cause for such appre- 
 hension : — ' I am directed to request that you will assure 
 Captain Outram that the confidence of Government, as it 
 was not lightly given, will not be lightly withdrawn. The 
 Eight Honourable the Governor in Council trusts that he will 
 go on cheerfully, under the conviction that though Govern- 
 ment may dissent from his judgment on some points, it 
 entertains the firmest general reliance on his zeal, enterprise, 
 and sagacity, and confidently anticipates from his efibrts — 
 under Providence — the ultimate achievement of one of its 
 most important and most favourite objects — the civilisation 
 of the Mahi Kanta.' 
 
 At a later stage in the correspondence, ' the Governor in 
 Council very much commends the tone of Captain Outram's 
 communications to the Thakur, leaving, as it does, the door 
 open for the extension of mercy, and the avoiding extremi- 
 ties.' Later still, 'the Governor in Council thinks that 
 Captain Outram's proceedings are entitled to the highest 
 commendation of Government ; for though his own opinions 
 of the course of conduct to be pursued towards the Eupal 
 Thakur varied in some respects from those entertained by 
 Government, he has most faithfully adhered to the latter, 
 without which they could not have been successful.' But a 
 higher compliment followed. Outram had recommended to 
 the favourable consideration of Government the Thakur's 
 request to be permitted to pay the first instalment of the 
 sum with which he was authoritatively debited one year later 
 than the year fixed. To this Government objected on certain 
 reasonable grounds ; but the objection was followed by an un- 
 usual concession to the Government agent, thus expressed : — 
 ' Should that officer, notwithstanding what has been stated 
 above, still incline to think that the advantage of begin- 
 ning a year earlier is not worth the difficulty or the risk 
 which may be incurred by insisting on its being yielded, the
 
 -r838 SURAJ MALL. 131 
 
 Governor in Council is willing to forego that advantage, and 
 to abide by the terms Captain Outram proposed.' 
 
 The despatches quoted were written in 1836. In the 
 subsequent year, the political agent forwarded the bonds re- 
 quired from the Thakvir, and received the further approval of 
 Government to his proceedings. But he himself was never 
 satisfied that the settlement was real: for he saw mischief in 
 the character of the man with whom he was dealing ; and 
 we find it on record that Fath Singh subsequently broke out 
 when he saw his opportunity, and when there was no Outram 
 in the M^hi Kanta to keep him to his better behaviour. 
 
 Suraj Mall had left the British agent's camp in search of 
 securities, much in the same way as the Thakur, Fath Singh. 
 During his absence, his case became further complicated by a 
 charge brought against him, similar to that which first intro- 
 duced him to the reader. Some three months before, he had 
 seized and imprisoned a native merchant of Sidhpur, a subject 
 of the Gaikawar ; and it was ascertained that he still retained 
 the man in confinement, with the view of extorting a ransom 
 of 2,000 rupees.^ Outram, already believing that the treat- 
 ment he had been instructed to pursue with the refractory 
 chiefs was marked by unnecessary forbearance, could not but 
 
 ' The details of Siiraj Mall's offence, gatliered from the Ras Mala, are 
 illustrative of the state of affairs in the Mahi Kanta and neighbourhood at 
 the time of commission, and also of the extraordinary audacity of the chief 
 offender. It appears that ou tlie death of the principal of a Hindti monastery 
 at Sidhpur, the succession to his authority "was disputed by two disciples. 
 One of these, named Raj Bharti, turned rebellious, donned Rajput attire, and 
 enlisted Suraj Mall in the cause under promise of payment. The two together 
 appeared one day with a body of horsemen at a town near Sidhpur, and ac- 
 counted for themselves to the satisfaction of inquirers by a made-up plausible 
 story that they were peaceable travellers. In the evening they entered the 
 market-place with the intention of seizing the person of the head merchant ; but, 
 failing to find him, they went in search of a fitting substitute, one Lakhu Shot. 
 This unfortunate individual they discovered at his dinner, forced him into the 
 street, and carried him off on one of the horses of the party. The alarm was 
 raised, and an attempt made to close the town gates against tlic maraiiders ; 
 but boldness and violence won the day, and they escaped.
 
 132 
 
 JAMES OUTRAM. 1835- 
 
 feel highly indignant at this new proof of determined misdoing. 
 And the circumstance that the evil-door had quite recently 
 been admitted to pardon, and publicly received by the poli- 
 tical agent, greatly enhanced the seriousness of the offence. 
 He therefore addressed a letter to Suraj jNIall, informing him 
 that he was again amenable to punishment for his conduct, 
 and that if he did not accept certain conditions required of 
 him to atone for his acts, he would be proclaimed and re- 
 garded as an enemy. As he was known to be close at hand, 
 a period of three days was considered sufficient time to allow 
 for acceptance or refusal of the terms offered. In reporting 
 this matter to Government, Outram hoped for approval of 
 his proceedings, but expressed his apprehension lest their 
 tendency should be considered ' too lenient.' Government, 
 however, did not approve, and there were no telegraphs in 
 those days to supersede or supplement postal communication. 
 The ball had been set rolling, and could not be stopped. 
 Suraj Mall, declining to take advantage of the peaceable 
 solution of the difficulty offered, was proclaimed an outlaw. 
 Captain David Forbes, commandant of the Mahi Kanta field 
 detachment, was called on to co-operate with the political 
 agent, and a few troops were moved to take up here and 
 there a position of precaution. The outlaw was followed up 
 into his mountain fastnesses, and finally tendered his submis- 
 sion without striking a blow. 
 
 Mr. Willoughby's despatch, animadverting on the pro- 
 ceedings reported at the outset, was dated April 9. In the 
 meanwhile, active measures had been taken with complete 
 success, and the result submitted for the consideration of 
 Government on the 29th of the same month. The despatch 
 in acknowledgment of this subsequent report presents a 
 curious contrast to the preceding one. We have no wish to 
 criticise the writings of a secretariat so redolent of genuine 
 philanthropy as that under the control of Sir Eobert Grant ;
 
 -183S GOOD OUT OF EVIL. 133 
 
 we are, moreover, willing to believe that this ruling spirit of 
 benevolence was not only appreciated by Outram at the very 
 time he was supposed to swerve from its teaching, but that 
 its lessons greatly influenced his own after-career ; neverthe- 
 less, we are bound to continue our extracts from official 
 papers, which, if a controversy be admitted as between 
 master and servant, give at least an apparent victory to the 
 latter. 
 
 The Bombay Grovernment, on April 9, 1836, expressing 
 concern at what had occurred, directed that Captain Outram 
 be called upon, without a inoinenVs delay, to explain a pro- 
 ceeding which could not, j)rlmd facie, be reconciled with his 
 instructions ; and they stated their strong apprehensions 
 that the measures he had taken might precipitate the crisis 
 which it was their wish to avert. On April 26, when all had 
 ended satisfactorily, the secretary acknowledged receipt of 
 the intelligence that Suraj Mall had surrendered on the sole 
 condition that his life be spared, and, expressing the gratifi- 
 cation of the Governor in Council, requested that Captain 
 Outram be congratulated 'on so fortunate a result of his 
 spirited, though, in their opinion, somewhat rash proceed- 
 ings.' 
 
 Then followed these four paragraphs : — 
 
 ' The outlawing of Sura] IsVixW is conceived by the 
 Governor in Council to have been harsh, and the consequent 
 march of our forces unnecessary ; but the plan has been 
 executed with a skill and decision worthy of Captains Outram 
 and Forbes, and which, no doubt, have contributed to the 
 event. 
 
 'I am desired to observe that good may arise out of evil, 
 and the Right Honourable the Governor in Council is 
 perfectly willing that Captain Outram's success should be 
 ascribed, not to his instructions, but to his departure from
 
 134 JAMES OUTRAM. 1835- 
 
 them, provided only that the spirit of the instructions be 
 henceforth carried into effect. 
 
 ' With the exception of the measure of outlawing Suraj 
 Mall, the whole of Captain Outram's proceedings, I am 
 directed to state, reflect on him the highest credit, and entitle 
 him to the warmest commendation of Government. 
 
 ' I am at the same time instructed to observe . . . that 
 in calling Captain Outram's march unnecessary, the Grovernor 
 in Council considers it so only in this view, viz. that it was 
 the consequence of an unnecessary proclamation of outlawry. 
 Under the circumstances ... it was an expedient and excel- 
 lent measure.' 
 
 Not a fortnight after the date of this letter, Suraj Mall 
 presented himself before the political agent, accompanied 
 Ijy the merchant of Sidhpur ; when Outram, acting in the 
 spirit of his instructions, and not perhaps against his own 
 good judgment, released the turbulent chief from arrest 
 without infliction of fine. For this act of unexpected 
 clemency we read that the latter appeared to be deeply 
 grateful. 
 
 In the following year the same Suraj Mall had proved so 
 good and loyal a subject to the paramount power, by active 
 assistance afforded to British officers, that Outram was 
 authorised to present him with apagri and selu^ in the name 
 of his Grovernment for the purpose of indicating the sense 
 entertained of the service he had rendered. ' We rejoice,' 
 said the Governor in Council, writing from Bombay to the 
 Court of Directors, ' in being able to report the continued 
 good conduct of Suraj IMall since his admission to pardon, 
 and we feel pleasure in having it also in our power to state 
 to your Honourable Court that his exertions have been joined 
 
 ' The scld is, according to Dr. Forbes, 'a kind of sheet constituting a part 
 of dress especially worn and given in presents in the Dakhin,'
 
 -183S PARTAB SINGH. 135 
 
 with those of Captain Outram in re-establishing peace and 
 good order in the Mahi Kanta.' 
 
 Partab Singh, the third on the list of chiefs whose eases 
 we have selected for notice, was one of the most dangerous 
 of the Kuli insurgents in opposition to his liege lord the 
 Gaikawar. Though his nominal range was the pargana of 
 Bijapur, yet he possessed influence, and was likely to do 
 mischief, beyond such narrow limits. In March 1837, owing 
 to a threatened insurrection at this man's instigation, Outram 
 made requisition on the officer commanding at Hargol for a 
 troop of cavalry and company of infantry to proceed to 
 Parantej for the protection of the Ahmadabad territory, and 
 to co-operate with detachments prepared to act from 
 Ahmadnagar and Sadra, amounting in all to one company of 
 infantry and some Graikawar horse. The requisition was 
 duly attended to, and the presence of the troops at Parantej, 
 together with the arrest of four principal chiefs, must have 
 had a good effect in checking the general progress of the out- 
 break. But some of the rebels, to the number of 500, took 
 up a determined position in the strongly situated village of 
 Ranispur, on the banks of the Sabar-Matri, whence they 
 ravaged the surrounding districts, and openly defied the 
 native authorities. 
 
 The Gciikawar's commander-in-chief appealed to Outram 
 for aid, implying that we were bound to place our available 
 soldiers at his disposal. The political agent would not for a 
 moment admit the notion that the men should be transferred 
 from his orders to those of a native state, but lent a ready 
 ear to the alternative proposal of acting in concert with an 
 ally. Accordingly, with no other warrant than that given b}^ 
 the political commissioner at Baroda, he resolved to become^ 
 a party to the attack on Ranispur. A proclamation was 
 issued in the name of the Gaikawar, allowing eight days'
 
 136 JAMES OUT RAM. 1835- 
 
 reflection. If, within that period, the rebels did not come 
 in and state their grievances, they were to be treated as 
 ' thieves ' and destroyed, wherever found, in the dominions of 
 ' either Sirkar ' (that is, the British Government, or that of 
 the Graikawar) by ' the troops of both Sirkars.' 
 
 The eight days having passed without advantage taken 
 of the offer of peaceable adjustment, Outram proceeded to act 
 in accordance with the plan of operations agreed upon with 
 the native commander-in-chief. Colonel Troward commanded 
 the British troops, consisting of one troop of cavalry and two 
 companies of infantry. The Gaikawar's force was composed 
 of 400 horse, and about an equal number of foot sibandis. 
 The local field artillery was to have been strengthened by a 
 horse artillery gun supplied from Disa; but this did not 
 arrive until too late for use. From Colonel Troward's report 
 we learn that the infantry and guns were in position 
 early in the morning of May 2 ; that ' Captain Outram's en- 
 deavours to induce the enemy to lay down their arms having 
 failed,' the batteries opened ; and that after a few rounds of 
 shell, the town was fired in several places. 
 
 'The Gaikawar's troops then attacked,' continues the 
 Colonel, ' and, after some brisk skirmishing, entered the 
 place, when the Ivholis crossed the river, and endeavoured to 
 break through the ravines of the eastern side (where part of 
 my detachment was formed), but suffered most severely in 
 the attempt, about 50 being killed and 47 taken prisoners. 
 A very few succeeded in escaping through some very thick 
 jungle, where horse could not act or follow them. 
 
 'Our loss in the affair was one sepoy of the 17th 
 Regiment severely wounded, and one of the 9th Kegiment 
 slightly so, but I cannot ascertain correctly the loss of the 
 Giiikawar's troops. 
 
 ' When the enemy approached the ravines commanded by
 
 -1S38 AFFAIR OF RANSIPUR. 137 
 
 our own troops, they were called on to surrender, and assured 
 their lives would be spared, which they only answered by firing 
 arrows, and rushing sword in hand upon us, when they were 
 met by our fire, with the destructive effect above mentioned. 
 
 ' The slaughter in the town must have been very great, 
 as His Highness' troops were engaged for some time within 
 it, and were opposed in a most determined manner. 
 
 ' The principal rebel chief, the Thiikur of Paria, was 
 wounded and taken prisoner ; and the other, the Thakur of 
 Ransipur, was slain by the Giiikawar's troops, who displayed 
 much gallantry in the attack.' 
 
 A subsequent report shows that on the British side there 
 had been one man killed and one wounded ; 8 killed and 29 
 wounded of the Gaikawar's troops ; and that, while no true 
 figure could be given for their killed and wounded, 77 bodies 
 of the rebels had been actually found. 
 
 It has been stated, with a certain amount of authority, 
 that Outram, when proposing to act in concert with the Gujrat 
 executive against Ransipur, solicited the early instructions of 
 Government ; that, owing to some official accident, never 
 satisfactorily explained, a delay occurred in placing his letter 
 before Council ; and that no answer to the reference was 
 received in time to allow operations to be suspended.* At 
 first sight such a statement is hardly to be reconciled with the 
 assertion before made in these pages that the attack on Ran- 
 sipur had been determined on in communication with the 
 political commissioner at Baroda. But the question is one 
 of mere routine and form: the latter functionary was the 
 natural referee in such matters, and it was his particular 
 duty, not that of the political agent of the ]Mahi Kilnta, to 
 address the Bombay Government. Outram reported fully to 
 Mr. Williams all his proceedings, regarding his sanction or 
 
 ' Memoir of the Public Services of Colmid Outram, p. 44.
 
 138 JAMES OUT RAM. 1835- 
 
 disapproval as coming with the authority of the Grovernor in 
 Council ; and no affair of magnitude could be undertaken 
 at all without his express concurrence. In the matter of 
 Partab Singh, the requisition for troops to protect the Ahmad- 
 abad territory was communicated to the commissioner on the 
 day that it was made to the local military authorities con- 
 cerned, and the subsequent arrangements for co-operation 
 with the Giiikawar's officers were carefully and systematically 
 detailed for his approval. Active interference, it was ex- 
 plained, was not so much desired from a conviction of justice 
 in the original action of the Baroda darhdi\ as of necessity 
 for securing the tranquillity of the Mahi Kanta, in which 
 district the insurrection had spread, and was threatening to 
 spread yet further. On the other hand, a combination of 
 forces might give opportunity for beneficent interposition 
 between the Gaikawar and the insurgents, both in the 
 event of submission, and even if submission were delayed. 
 Outram's last recorded despatch to Mr. Williams, prior to 
 the assault on the town, is a statement of his ' cheerful com- 
 pliance' with a proposal of Ganpat Eao, the Gujrat com- 
 mander, for the temporary release of an imprisoned Eajah, on 
 the ground that the act might indirectly tend to a preven- 
 tion of hostilities. 
 
 Unfortunately, there ivas an element of injustice in the 
 Gaikawar's dealings with Partab Singh ; and the rebellion of 
 that chief against his sovereign had been in some measure in- 
 stigated by the sovereign's disregard of the subject's personal 
 grievances. The Government of Sir Robert Grant was more 
 likely to keep this ill-treatment in view than to sympathise 
 with their agent's anxiety for the maintenance of British 
 prestige and power. Outram saw the mischief of leaving 
 unpunished the lawless acts of a bold rebel, whose example had 
 its immediate effect on the surrounding people, British sub- 
 jects as well as others ; while in the eyes of authority in Bom-
 
 . 1S38 REASONS FOR DECIDED ACTION. 139 
 
 bay, the first duty was to ascertain and remove the cause of 
 offence, so as to be in a position to mediate between our 
 native ally and his dependent before taking the part of either 
 against the other. Undoubtedly the aims of both were the 
 same ; but the process to be pursued was differently devised. 
 In one case repression would precede inquiry ; in the other, 
 inquiry would lead the way, and might possibly obviate the 
 necessity of repression. 
 
 But there were other signs which made him act Avith 
 determination. During the first year of his work in the 
 ]Mahi Kanta Outram had received a confidential communica- 
 tion from the Governor's private secretary, at Dapuri, to the 
 effect that there were reasons for apprehending a combina- 
 tion of native powers against the British Grovernment, and 
 an attempt on their part, through secret agents, to seduce 
 the sipahis from their allegiance. A Brahmin had intro- 
 duced two subadars of a native infantry regiment to the son 
 of the minister of the Satara Eajah, in whose presence they 
 were informed of the names of many well-known princes and 
 chiefs who had, it was alleged, united to subvert the British 
 supremacy. The native officers had reported the circum- 
 stance, and were instructed to watch further proceedings ; 
 but although their good faith was held unimpeachable, and 
 a commission had assembled to investigate the charges, the 
 affair fell through without practical result, the Rajah stoutly 
 denying his own complicity. Now, notwithstanding the 
 failure to prove an accusation which, if estabhshed, would 
 have implicated some of the most distinguished of our native 
 allies and feudatories in the most barefaced sedition, there 
 was at this time cause for especial vigilance on the part of 
 British officers who, like Outram, had so much to do with 
 internal politics. It was essential to show that British jus- 
 tice was not weak, nor British mercy a mere expediency ; 
 and acts were so much more intelligible to the mass than
 
 140 JAMES OUTRAM. 1835- 
 
 ■worcls. At the same time, the omission of the Gaikawar's 
 name from the list of compromised Indians of distinction 
 seemed to afford a strong reason for favourable consideration, 
 should this ruler ask or need our assistance. 
 
 When it did come, the censure of the Bombay Govern- 
 ment was couched in strong language. Mr. Secretary 
 Willoughby's despatch, expressing the sentiments of the 
 Governor in Council on becoming first acquainted with the 
 measures proposed to be taken by Captain Outram in con- 
 junction with the Gaikawcir's troops, was only dated May 6, 
 whereas, three days before, Outram had officially reported to 
 his immediate chief the success of his operations against 
 Eansipur. The secretary had been instructed to inform the 
 political commissioner that the proceedings he had sub- 
 mitted were the most extraordinary that had ' ever come 
 Tmder the observation of Government ; ' for, with a full 
 acknowledgment that the Kuli insurrection in the Gaika- 
 war's district of Bijapur had originated in wrong and 
 injustice, Captain Outram had, upon his own responsibility,' 
 consented to combine his forces with those of an officer of the 
 Gaikawar, for the purpose of reducing the rebels. He went 
 on to remark that whatever the result of these injudicious 
 proceedings, ' even should Captain Outram succeed, by the 
 skill and judgment which have heretofore invariably marked 
 all his military operations, either in inducing the insurgents 
 to submit, or in capturing them without bloodshed, the Gov- 
 ernment could not but disapprove of the interference exer- 
 cised. And he conveyed to both the political commissioner 
 and political agent unqualified disapprobation at their omis- 
 sion to seek in the first instance the instructions of higher 
 
 ' Mr. Williams, in acknowledging Captain Outram's notes of conference 
 •with Ganpat Rao Damdorah, and plan of combined operations to be undertaken 
 against the refractory Kiilis, added that he perfectly coincided in the opinions 
 expressed, and requested that action be taken accordingly.
 
 -183S CENSURE AXD EXCUSE. 141 
 
 authority before adopting measures ' embracing such delicate 
 and important matters.' 
 
 But nearly six months after this date, a despatch, dated 
 October 19, was more severe upon the political commis- 
 sioner in Baroda, who had brought to notice and defended 
 the exercise of his own responsibility, in suppressing the 
 insurrection according to the programme recommended and 
 adopted by the political agent. ' It matters not to Govern- 
 ment,' are the words of this communication, ' whether your 
 consent was influenced by any strong opinion and plausible 
 arguments which might have been expressed to you by 
 Captain Outram in favour of the measure, since such an 
 excuse, in the opinion of the Governor in Council, could in 
 no way shift the responsibility from the superior to the 
 subordinate officer. Whoever suggested the measures in 
 question, you took it on yourself to order them, and for 
 having done so, you, I am desired to state, and you alone, 
 must be held the accountable person.' 
 
 As for Outram, he was relieved from the censure with 
 which he had been visited for assuming an unjustifiable 
 responsibility, his possible offence of persuasiveness being 
 left to a tribunal of conscience, with which Government had 
 nothing to do. The remarks passed upon his conduct in 
 other respects were such as to leave it questionable whether 
 the occasional disapproval of superiors might not be made in 
 form more acceptable than their stereotyped satisfiiction. 
 In one paragi'aph, the Governor in Council, lamenting ' the 
 impolitic and mistaken proceedings ' taken by both officers 
 concerned, could not doubt that both ' acted from a sincere 
 and honest conviction ' that they were doing for the best ; 
 and they could ' not help taking into consideration the 
 eminently able and highly valuable services performed by 
 Captain Outram in the Mahi Ktinta since his appointment 
 to the agency of that province.' In the next, while rudely
 
 142 JAMES OUTRAM. 1S35- 
 
 contrasting, to the disparagement of the civilian, the respec- 
 tive merits of the two public servants addressed, the writer 
 states that ' the terms in which Grovernment have felt them- 
 selves compelled, on the present occasion, to speak of Captain 
 Outram have been productive to them of indescribable pain.' 
 The paragraph immediately succeeding we reproduce more 
 in extenso : — ' Captain Outram is regarded by Government as 
 one of the finest military officers under this presidency, being 
 full of courage, resource, activity, and intelligence ... at 
 those periods when the British power was struggling for exist- 
 ence or for empire he would have acted a brilliant part ; but 
 ... his fault is that, though perfectly fitted for the perform- 
 of civil duties, he is essentially warlike. The capture 
 of Ransipur was of easy accomplishment, yet, so far as was 
 compatible with operations on so minute a scale, those of 
 Captain Outram were, in the opinion of Grovernment, perfect 
 both in conception and execution, and deeply do they regret 
 that his great military talents should have been exercised on 
 such a field.' 
 
 Before reverting to the views expressed by the Court of 
 Directors in England on these acts of their Bombay Govern- 
 ment and its officers, we will glance at one more case illus- 
 trative of Outram's first Mahi Kanta career — that of the 
 Thakur of Gorwara, one of the more notorious bharivattis, 
 or outlaws, of the day. The word hharivattia was expressive 
 of a kind of self-imposed outlawry or vagabondism, which in 
 French colonies is known as marronage ; and when openly 
 resorted to by a discontented chief, it was commonly accom- 
 panied by abduction, plunder, or some act of violence, 
 which rendered unmistakable the offender's hostility to the 
 State, and contempt of law and order. Karm Singh was a 
 chief whose quarrels with other chiefs, and consequent resort 
 to hhariuaitia, placed him for the better part of two years in 
 constant opposition to the authorities. In the spirit of his
 
 -1838 JUSTIFICATORY RESULTS. 143 
 
 general instructions, and also in obedience to special orders 
 hearing on the case in point, Outram tried to arrive at the 
 root of this man's grievances; and called in the aid of a 
 native court, known as a j^nnchaiyat, in the hope of a suc- 
 cessful result. The investigation was held, but the Thakur 
 of Gorwara declined to abide by its decision. He would 
 neither heed the political agent, nor the pancliaiyat. 
 Eventually Sir Robert Grant and his Council acceded, though 
 with great reluctance and regret, to the adoption of strong 
 measures recommended in this case by the political agent. It 
 was well they did so ; for Karm Singh repented of his mal- 
 practices, and surrendered himself unconditionally to the 
 latter officer — a result which caused great satisfaction in Bom- 
 bay. We add an extract from the despatch communicating the 
 intelligence, because it explains how success was obtained: — 
 
 ' This event -will, I trust, justify in the eyes of the Right 
 Honourable the Governor in Council the policy to which I 
 expressed myself compelled to adhere, though at variance 
 with the wishes expressed by Government in Mr. Secretary 
 Willoughby's letter. 
 
 ' Had any negotiations with the hharwattl been at- 
 tempted, as therein suggested, I am convinced that the 
 Thakur would have continued " out," in the hope of ulti- 
 mately gaining his ends ; and had any modification in the 
 terms finally decided on, and publicly promulgated by Gov- 
 ernment, been allowed, it would have encouraged a continu- 
 ance of the system of bahnuattia-isia, which I am convinced 
 it is in our power, as it is our duty, I conceive, to put an 
 end to. 
 
 ' The Thakur sent to me last night to say he would abide 
 by the decision of the panchaiyaty if he might now be 
 admitted to pardon, and that he was ready to come in on 
 that condition. I answered that, having committed a breach
 
 144 JAMES OUTRAM. 1835- 
 
 of the peace in the face of the public proclamation of 
 Grovernment, by seizing a banian, I would give him no con- 
 ditions ; that if he came in, he would be placed in confine- 
 ment to answer for his conduct, as might be directed by 
 Grovernment ; at the same time, intimating to him that, as 
 he had since released the banian, and committed no further 
 excesses, his adopting the step of peaceably giving himself up 
 would ensure my good offices with Grovernment to obtain his 
 pardon, on the full understanding, however, that he was to 
 abide by the settlement of the panchaiyat. 
 
 ' On this understanding, the Thakur surrendered himself 
 this morning, and is now a prisoner in my camp.' 
 
 In October 1837, the Honourable Court of Directors 
 wrote an important letter expressive of their sentiments on 
 the affairs of the Mahi Kanta, and the arrangements then 
 recently made by the Bombay Government for the political 
 superintendent of Gujrat. It need scarcely be said that this, 
 in common with many like manifestoes issued in the halcyon 
 days of Leadenhall Street, was a State paper worthy of at 
 least as much attention as the despatches of more exalted 
 but not more qualified critics in ministerial offices. But the 
 body corporate was just as jealous of its principles as any 
 individual statesman could be of his, and no cabinet minister 
 could take more pains to show that he had rightly forecast 
 coming events than did the Court to prove infallibility in 
 political prescience. Throughout the Bombay letter there 
 was an evident tendency to impress upon the Governor's 
 mind that any success which had attended his benign policy 
 in the Mahi Kanta was to be attributed to the attention he 
 had given to fulfilling home instructions, contrary to the 
 habit of his predecessors. Captain Outram's report, on first 
 proceeding to reconnoitre his new field of labour, had dis- 
 appointed him ; they would ' not have expected that an 
 officer who had assisted in reclaiming by mildness and con-
 
 -183S RULING OF THE COURT OF DIRECTORS. 145 
 
 ciliation wild tribes which had been driven to desperation 
 by a system of coercion, would have fallen into the common 
 error of supposing that severity must precede indulgence : ' 
 but that same officer must now, they felt assured, have 
 become convinced that his recommendation at the outset had 
 been rightly set aside. They would not refuse sanction to 
 his nomination as political agent : and they saw no advantage 
 in making the political commissioner at Baroda the organ for 
 transmitting his correspondence. 
 
 A subsequent letter congratulated the Bombay Govern- 
 ment on the complete success of their 'just and generous 
 policy ' in the Mahi Kanta, and on ' the re-establishment of 
 a tranquillity not previously enjoyed for many years,' to be 
 ascribed to the Grovernor's 'judicious instructions, and to the 
 manner in which Captain Outram has carried those instruc- 
 tions into effect.' And the Court immediately added : — 
 
 ' In bestowing this commendation upon Captain Outram 
 we are not forgetful of the fact that on several occasions that 
 officer has shown a disposition to act in a more peremptory 
 manner towards refractory chiefs, and to resort sooner to 
 measures of military coercion, than your Grovernment has 
 approved. In all such cases which have been reported to us 
 we agree in the main, or altogether, in the opinion of your 
 Grovernment.' 
 
 When the Court's ruling was made known to Outram, he 
 chafed under what he considered to be injustice or miscon- 
 ception. His impetuous and sensitive nature could not 
 brook in silence remarks which he himself described as ' very 
 severe animadversions on the opinions' expressed in his 
 report of November 1835. The official communication to 
 his address bears date June 7, 1838, but the letter to- which 
 it referred may have been six months or more on the road. 
 On receipt he proceeded with characteristic fervour to reply 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 JAMES OUTRAM. 1835- 
 
 to the objectionable passages seriatim; but he prudently 
 reserved completion and despatch for some weeks, and the 
 consequence was that he sent in a fairly temperate and 
 logical paper. We have no space to analyse, but may allude 
 to the prominent points of his defence, as a demonstration 
 that his policy with the Bhils, admitted to have been suc- 
 cessful and therefore not quoted against him, had not always 
 been conciliatory ; a disavowal of entertaining warlike views 
 in dealing with the rebellious Thakurs ; a recapitulation of 
 reasons for disposal of particular cases and assuming un- 
 sought responsibilities ; and an appeal to practical and 
 apparent results for a general confirmation of his zeal and 
 devotion. The Bombay Government, in acknowledging the 
 receipt of this reply for transmission, request the political 
 commissioner in Gujrat to inform Captain Outram that 
 ' while the Government are fully satisfied with the soundness 
 of the principles which have governed the Honourable Court 
 and themselves in the affairs of the Mahi Kanta, the spirited 
 and energetic manner in which he has frequently acted on 
 his own responsibility has, whenever the Governor in Council 
 conceived that officer exercised a sound discretion, received 
 the commendation of Government, and that whenever, as at 
 Ransipur, approbation could not be awarded, it has been 
 withheld under much regret.' 
 
 The next paragraph has a force which seems to disallow 
 compression : — 
 
 ' You are further requested to inform Captain Outram 
 that on the occasions on which ho acted on his own responsi- 
 bility and received the commendation of Government, he has 
 shown how judicious was the selection which placed him, 
 from the experience of his most valuable services in 
 Khandesh, in the office of political agent of the Mahi Kanta. 
 But if his energy and prompt decision have been often
 
 -1838 KH ANDES h AND THE MAHI KANT A. 147 
 
 important in their consequences, not less have been his 
 execution of instructions varying from his own impressions of 
 what was best, and his scrupulous obedience when unexpected 
 events did not call for his assuming the responsibility of 
 action. The confidence of Government in the influence of 
 this principle not unfrequently recorded will, I am directed 
 to state, be particularly pointed out to the Honourable Court 
 as showing the very high opinion entertained of Captain 
 Outram's military and political character.' 
 
 After the extracts already given in this and the two 
 preceding chapters, it would be superfluous to quote from 
 public documents further testimony to the extraordinary 
 estimation in which were held Outram's services in Khandesh 
 and the Mahi Kanta. We should have been glad to have 
 introduced here and there a sketch of the work performed 
 by other of his fellow-labourers in the same field; but beyond 
 casual mention of names it has been impossible to carry out 
 any such intention. Colonel Ovans, for instance, will be 
 long known in Indian local story as a great reclaimer and 
 benefactor of the Bhils ; nor can his merit be classed as 
 inferior to that of any oSicer associated with him in the 
 same line of duty. He did not, however, transform the 
 Bhil recruit into the Bhil soldier, nor make, out of the very 
 materials of disorder and destruction, instruments of discipline 
 and preservation. In saying this we are not seeking to draw 
 invidious distinctions ; only to explain that there are separate 
 spheres of action and usefulness in India as elsewhere ; and 
 all workers do not attain the same degree of honour in one 
 that they would in another. 
 
 To those unaccustomed to the ways of Indian public life, 
 any description of the routine of a political agent in the 
 Mahi Kanta would be barely intelligible. In his more 
 strictly official capacity, Outram had to attend to the well-
 
 148 JAMES OUTRAM. 1835- 
 
 being of his barons and minor feudatories : to make judicial 
 investigations into their complaints, extricate them from 
 financial embarrassment, and keep them, as much as practic- 
 able, in the paths of respectability. In other respects, he had 
 to perform the general duties of a magistrate ; to organise 
 and keep in order a local police ; to superintend the formation 
 of a corps of Kulis ; to establish tribunals for the adminis- 
 tration of justice ; to render the roads secure to merchants and 
 travellers, especially the main lines of traffic ; and to give a 
 stimulus to commerce by the institution of fairs and reduc- 
 tion of transit duties. In the last-named efforts he had the 
 advantage of co-operating with Colonel Spiers, the political 
 agent for Meywar and Malwa, an able and energetic officer. 
 
 He had also to contend with a system of bribery and 
 corruption, on which we shall have so much to say by-and-by 
 under its locally familiar name of Khatpat, that a detailed 
 account of it may be deferred for the present. 
 
 Upon the whole, these two years and three-quarters in 
 the Mahi Kanta were for him a great contrast to Khandesh 
 existence. Though he and Douglas Graham had been 
 accustomed to spend the rainy months almost alone in their 
 ' palace ' at Dharangaon, they were both good readers, and 
 seem never to have lacked occupation ; while the open 
 seasons brought them Nimrod guests in plenty, and Bhils, 
 buffaloes, or tigers afforded ample scope for superfluous 
 energies. But here, the free wild life in the jangal, with 
 the congenial duties and associations of the Bhil corps, gave 
 place, after a time,^ to the dull jog-trot of an isolated poli- 
 tical agency. No sport attracted kindred spirits to the 
 locality. The days of a ' hundred mad pranks,' ^ and of prac- 
 tical jokes, all well spiced with danger, were gone. Old 
 
 ' Mr. Jukes has many hunting stories to tell of Captaiu Outram and him- 
 self, after the former's arrival iu the Mahi Kunta, in January 1836. They often 
 went out on the same elephant together, exclusive of expeditions in the saddle. 
 
 - Douglas Graham's expression.
 
 -1838 SWORD AND PEN. 149 
 
 Haidar's hauda and the Maratha spear had degenerated 
 into an office chair and an office quill. But James Outram 
 threw himself into his new duties with the zest and absorp- 
 tion characteristic of Anglo-Indian soldier-statesmen. He 
 had already learned to wield the pen of a ready writer ; 
 for without pretension to culture of style, he expressed 
 himself on paper with a fluency and a force which often 
 proved embarrassing to gentlemen of the Secretariat. Offi- 
 cial platitudes were wasted upon him ; ' how not to do it ' 
 he would not see ; to the bottom of the matter both he 
 and his Government, must go ; and he could never manage 
 to sit still under what his too ready sensitiveness construed 
 into a misrepresentation or an unjust rebuke, no matter by 
 whom administered. It was well, both for the public 
 service and for himself, that he served his ' political * ap- 
 prenticeship under men who, like Sir Eobert Grant and 
 Mr. Willoughby, not only cherished warm feelings of personal 
 regard for the young soldier, but could fully appreciate his 
 real qualifications. Otherwise his outspoken energy would 
 probably have soon dismissed him to his regiment a dis- 
 appointed man — marked as one whose tendencies, both of 
 sword and pen, were too essentially warlike for any but regi- 
 mental duties. Mr. (afterwards Sir John Pollard) Willoughby 
 used to speak of this as the most critical period of his 
 friend's public life. Hard and uphill official battles we shall 
 find him fighting in its after stages, but he had then esta- 
 blished for himself a political reputation and a general sym- 
 pathy which he lacked as a captain on special employ in 
 the Mahi Kanta. Throughout his Presidency he was known 
 as one of the most dashing soldiers and sportsmen in 
 Western India ; but his political spurs he had yet to win. 
 
 A despatch from the Court of Directors to the Governor in 
 Council, Bombay, bearing date March 12, 1840, reviews the 
 good work done by their officers in the district of which we
 
 I50 JAMES OUT RAM. 183S 
 
 have now been treating. Among its later paragraphs is an 
 expression of regret at reading the earnest defence of his 
 views, submitted to their consideration by Captain Outram ; 
 an admission that no error had been observed in that officer's 
 conduct since he had been made acquainted with the pohcy 
 propounded by the Honourable Court ; an assurance that the 
 pacification of the Mahi Kanta had never been supposed 
 capable of accomplishment without some exhibition and 
 occasional employment of force ; a high compliment paid to 
 Captain Outram and his assistant, Lieutenant Wallace, for 
 the removal from the popular mind of mistaken impressions 
 of Government objects ; and, finally, acceptance of Captain 
 Outram's own proposal to issue a proclamation declaring 
 Bharwattya an offence not to be passed over with impunity.^ 
 At the date of this despatch, however, Outram was far 
 away from the JNIahi Kanta ; and by the time that it had 
 reached its destination, his mind was full of cares' and 
 anxieties on behalf of a people situated beyond the limits of 
 India Proper. 
 
 ' Appendix C.
 
 151 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1838-1839. 
 
 Family affiiirs^Appointment to Sir John Keane's Staff —Arrival in Sind with 
 the Bombay Division of the Ai-my of the Indus — Missions to Cutch, 
 Haidarabad, and Shikarpur — Accident — Accompanies General Willshire 
 from Gandava, but rejoins Commander-in-Chief on arrival at Kandahar — 
 Opinions on Afghan War. 
 
 Although James Outram's career was essentially that of a 
 public servant, we may not altogether lose sight of his 
 domestic life, nor of those home associations which naturally 
 influenced his character. In writing to his mother from 
 Sadra in August 1838, he expresses a determination to 
 remain in the Mahi Kanta no later than the following- 
 December, and, unless war should break out, to visit England 
 in February 1840. He deplores the uncertainty and irregu- 
 larity of homeward and outward bound mails, and encloses 
 the triplicate of a bill, lest the original and duplicate, both 
 before despatched, should never reach their destination. 
 ' Some of our packets,' he says, ' have been plundered by the 
 Arabs, and some have returned from being unable to face the 
 monsoon.' Altogether, the picture is such as to reconcile 
 Anglo-Indians to any defects in home communications ap- 
 parent in 1880. 
 
 But the writer had unusual reasons for depression. His 
 wife had left India in the previous year from ill-health. She 
 had joined him at Ahmadabad in May 1836, shortly after 
 their early separation consequent on his sudden and forced 
 departure from Bombay. A son had been born at Harsol in 
 September of that year. Danger to life had ensued on the
 
 152 JAMES OUTRAM. 183S- 
 
 event, and IVIrs. Outram had been conveyed to the Eesidency 
 at Sadra, so soon as pronounced able to bear the fatigue of 
 moving. Hence she was ordered to the hills for the hot 
 weather of 1837. Not being free to accompany her, Outram 
 followed at a convenient opportunity, and they passed the 
 rains at Puna. But he had to wend his way back to Sadra 
 alone : the doctors would not hear of the lady's return 
 thither : change to England was imperative. 
 
 Sadra had now few attractions for the political agent. 
 The Eesidency hangla, or 'mansion,' as he designated it, 
 on which he had spent time and money, had suffered during 
 the latest rains; and its leaking rooms had brought on 
 serious damage. Eenovation of carpets and matting would 
 entail a tiled roof for protective purposes. All this expense 
 was annoying at any time ; for a quasi bachelor in straitened 
 circumstances it was most unsatisfactory. He had, moreover, 
 changed in ways and habits since his marriage. Physical 
 exertion was in a great measure abandoned. He detested 
 * constitutionals ' in any shape, and soon fell into the mistake 
 of avoiding exercise if he could possibly manage it. The 
 early morning, like every period of the day, was devoted to 
 desk work. At Harsol he would walk beside his wife's 
 tonjon in the evening ; but at Sadra he often passed the 
 walking hour in inspecting the workmen carrying out pro- 
 posed improvements in the house, an expensive amusement 
 to which he was everywhere prone. He had begun to grow 
 quite stout before leaving the Mahi Kanta. Shikar expedi- 
 tions did not engage his attention as before, with their dash 
 and excitement. At Harsol he sometimes went after hog. 
 At Sadra there was no sport to tempt him. It is supposed 
 that he killed his last tiger in the jangal near Kaira, when in 
 company with a friend during the hot weather of 1837 — the 
 beast had been reported a man-eater, and was giving trouble. 
 The pursuit of small game he never cared for : indeed he
 
 -i839 AN EXTRA A.D.C. 153 
 
 made a vow as a youngster never to fire anything but ball, 
 and kept it. Outram's intention to return to England in 
 February 1840 had, we have stated, been saddled with a 
 condition. The outbreak of war was the contingency which 
 might materially affect his plans. Now it so happened that, 
 throughout the early part of the year 1838, movements had 
 been going on in India which looked decidedly warlike : and 
 on October 1 was issued the manifesto directing the ' assembly 
 of a British force for service across the Indus.' There was 
 to be no advance on Herat as once contemplated, but there 
 was to be an occupation of Kandahar and other parts of 
 Afghanistan, in favour of Shah Shuja, the sovereign of our 
 choice. This, then, was a realisation of a state of things 
 which had been dimly portended. Outram's regiment was 
 ordered on service, and Outram naturally volunteered to join. 
 Lord Auckland had, it seems, heard of him, and had sug- 
 gested to the Bombay Grovernment, through the channel of 
 private secretaries, that it might be desirable to attach him 
 in some capacity to the army ; so that his offer was at once 
 accepted. One recommendation on his behalf was, that he 
 should command the Shah's contingent ; but he disclaimed 
 all hopes of so great honour or distinction. Eventually Sir 
 John Keane, commanding the Bombay column, appointed 
 him an Extra Aide-de-Camp on his staff. To judge from his 
 own account, he did not at this time aspire to any high 
 military post : his object was rather recreation than hard 
 work ; but he was evidently amused at the unexpected 
 manner in which they had provided for his employment. 
 ' Neither you nor I,' he WTites to his wife, ' ever could have 
 thought I should be an A.D.C. : but recollect, this is not to 
 flutter about in a ball-room, but to attend the General on 
 service.' Then, as if apprehensive that he had foreshadowed 
 a position of too much danger, he immediately changes his 
 note, and explains how pleasant will be the discharge of duties
 
 154 JAMES OUTRAM. 183S- 
 
 enabling him to see everything as an amateur ; adding that, 
 since the enemy never came near enough to the chief of the 
 forces to endanger his life, the aide-de-camp ran no risk 
 whatever ! 
 
 His correspondence with friends in India, during the 
 months of August, September, and October 1838, show how 
 keen was the interest with which he regarded the approach 
 of the then impending Afghan campaign. To Colonel 
 Sutherland he proposed to raise, on the Shah's account, a 
 small body of select horse in Grujrat, to be placed under the 
 command of Mir Sarfaraz Ali, a nobleman whose good service 
 to the British Grovernment during the Pindari war had 
 elicited the warm commendation of Sir John Malcolm. He 
 also suggested the enrolment of a larger number of men from 
 the same quarter, under English officers. The same subject 
 was resumed in September in a letter to Major Felix. ' One 
 month's notice,' he said, ' would suffice to complete a thousand 
 80wdrs, and they would march at the rate of ten coss a day 
 without halts — which would take them to the Indus in a 
 month, via Jaisalmir.' In October, he again wrote to the 
 same correspondent on the weakness of the cavalry in the 
 army destined for Afghanistan, and proposed an increase to 
 that branch of the Bombay expeditionary force, indicating 
 the regiments he would employ, and forecasting a brigade of 
 dashing troopers, to be attached to which, ' simply as volunteer, 
 or in any capacity,' would afford him immense gratification. 
 That he was right in pronouncing the proportion of cavalry to 
 be far too small, the experience of the campaign fully showed. 
 The notification of his own eventual appointment was ex- 
 pressed in flattering terms by Mr. Secretary Willoughby. 
 Government, in complying with his request to share in an 
 expedition for which his regiment had been detailed, could 
 not ' help feeling the great loss ' which temporary absence 
 from his important duties in the Mahi Kiinta would occasion;
 
 1839 FIRST DUTIES IN SIND. 155 
 
 but ' being impressed with the high quaUfications ' which he 
 possessed ' for rendering the most vahiable services ' to the 
 cause on behalf of which his zeal had prompted him to come 
 forward, the Honom'able the Governor in Council had ' not 
 thought it right to withhold acquiescence ' in his wishes. 
 
 Captain Lang was appointed to succeed Captain Outram 
 in the political agency of the ]Mahi Kanta ; and on November 
 21, 1838, the latter officer embarked at Bombay onboard the 
 ' Semiramis ' steamer, with Sir John Keane and suite. On the 
 27th the Hujamri mouth of the Indus was reached ; but the 
 want of camels and boats prevented fui'ther progress for a 
 considerable period. The difficulty was a real one : its im- 
 portance made it one of those opportunities which men like 
 Outram can instantly turn to account. Two days after 
 arrival in Sind, the Extra Aide-de-Camp was despatched on a 
 special mission to Cutch, to procure that assistance in land 
 and water carriage which the Amirs had failed, or been 
 unable, to supply. On rejoining head-quarters at Gorabari, 
 after an absence of eleven days, he was able to make a 
 satisfactory report of his work. He had proceeded by sea to 
 Mandavi, from w^hich port, after arranging for the despatch 
 of boats, forage, and sheep, he had made a camel and horse 
 journey to Bhuj, to confer with the assistant Eesident, and 
 visit the Eao, or reigning prince ; he had then returned to 
 Mandavi and sailed, past the mouth of the Hujamri, to 
 Karachi. This place was, at the time, no more than an 
 obscure fishing-village ; but it possessed one or two wealthy 
 native merchants, and Outram was enabled to do much 
 business there, and again on his way thence to camp, in 
 furtherance of the transports so urgently required. His 
 return involved an unsafe journey of about ninety-five miles. 
 ' I went,' he explains, ' without servants or baggage of any 
 kind, determining myself to go overland to camp, and hoping 
 to excite confidence by displaying it in thus going totally
 
 156 JAMES OUTRAM. 183S- 
 
 unattended — my object being ostensibly merely to look after 
 camels, but in reality also to feel the temper of the natives, 
 and to endeavour to ascertain the actual intentions of their 
 rulers.' ^ Leaving Karachi soon after midnight on December 
 9, he reached camp at 9 p.m. on the 10th, having spent 
 twenty-seven hours on camel-back. On the way he explored 
 a ruined city, besides scrutinising the country generally, and 
 effecting a good stroke of transport work. The people were 
 excited and suspicious — no wonder — but ' on the whole ' he 
 ' had no great incivihty to complain of, and experienced no 
 difficulties of any consequence.' It v/as not, however, until 
 December 1 9 that the camels from Cutch arrived ; they had 
 been delayed enroute by the hostile action of Shir Muhammad, 
 of Mirpur, one of the Lower Sind amirs or chiefs. On the 
 24th the force moved forward, and reached Thatta on 
 December 28. 
 
 To make our narrative intelligible at this stage — and 
 with futm'e episodes of Outram's career in view — it will be 
 well to attempt a brief sketch of our relations with the rulers 
 of that province in which were now encamped the troops 
 forming the Bombay column of the army of the Indus. 
 
 The Amirs of Sind were members of a Baluch family 
 called Talpur. According to the territorial divisions of their 
 governments, those belonging- to Khairpur,or Upper Sind, were 
 Kustam Khan and his brother, Mubarak ; those in Haidarabad, 
 or Central and Lower Sind, were Nmr Muhammad and 
 Muhammad Nasir Khan, with their cousins-german, Sobdar 
 and Muhammad ; while Shir Muhammad of Mirpur owned 
 the tracts west of the Indus. Of the three ruling branches, 
 
 ' Extracts from Captain Outram's Journal-letters to his wife were printed 
 for private circulation, and subsequently published under the title Bough 
 Hoics of the Campaign in Scindc and Afghanistan in 1838-9. "Wo shall have 
 further occasion to quote sparingly from these unpretending but graphic and 
 interealiug diaries.
 
 -1 839 OUR RELATIONS WITH SIND. 157 
 
 the Amirs of Haidarabad possessed the better known and 
 more important State, but the Amir of Mirpur was the 
 member, personally, most hostile to British influence. Our 
 knowledge of these chiefs originated in our knowledge of 
 their predecessors; but time had worked a change, and 
 passive relations of reciprocal benefit had been converted 
 into a one-sided activity on our part, which caused the new 
 generations of Talpurs to regard the Anglo-Sindi alliance as a 
 sort of inconvenient incubus. There is a formidable blue- 
 book, containing the 'Correspondence relative to Sinde,' from 
 1838 to 1843, which commences with a treaty of four articles 
 dated August 22, 1809. By this treaty the contracting 
 parties were jointly pledged to 'eternal friendship' and the 
 interchange of agents ; and the less powerful of the two 
 signatories was pledged to the more powerful not to allow 
 'the tribe of the French' to be established in Sind. Eleven 
 years later a second treaty was concluded much to the same 
 effect, but with no specification of European 'tribes.' In 
 1832 we renewed and somewhat amplified our written en- 
 gagements with Mir Murad Ali, the then sole responsible chief 
 of Haidarabad ; and made a separate treaty with the State 
 of Khairpur — vowing ' eternal friendship ' with it, closing for 
 ever ' the eye of covetousness ' to its good things, and yet 
 receiving from it, for our merchants, the use of the river 
 Indus and roads of Sind. Then followed a ' commercial 
 treaty' with Haidarabad in 1834; and a treaty of two 
 articles with Mirs Nur Muhammad and Muhammad Nasir 
 Khan, sons of Murad Ali, in 1838. This last instrument 
 was short but significant. It provided for the mediation of 
 the British Government in adjusting differences between the 
 Amirs of Sind, and the Maharaja Ranjit Singh ; and the 
 residence of an accredited British Minister at the court of 
 Haidarabad, with liberty to the Amir to send an agent to our 
 court in return. The nature of the mediation to be effected
 
 158 JAMES OUTRAM. 1838- 
 
 is apparent in a later treaty of more note and many more 
 articles, concluded between the British Government, Eanjit 
 Singh, and Shah Shnja ul Mnlk, of which the sixteenth 
 article is thus expressed : — 
 
 ' Shah Shuja ul Mulk agrees to relinquish, for himself, his 
 heirs and successors, all claims of supremacy, and arrears of 
 tribute, over the country now held by the Amirs of Sind 
 (which will continue to belong to the Amirs and their 
 successors in perpetuity), on condition of the payment to 
 him by the Amirs of such a sum as may be determined, 
 under the mediation of the British Grovernment ; 1 ,500,000 
 rupees of such payment being made over by him to 
 Maharaja Eanjit Singh. On these payments being com- 
 pleted . . . the customary interchange of letters and suitable 
 presents between the Maharaja and the Amirs of Sind shall 
 be maintained as heretofore.' 
 
 In July 1838 — or exactly one month after this treaty was 
 ' done ' at Labor — Colonel Pottinger, the resident in Sind, 
 was instructed that the minimum of the sum which the 
 Amirs would have to pay in conformity with the article 
 quoted, might certainly be estimated at twenty lacs of rupees 
 (200,000?.) ; that they must be made sensible of the advan- 
 tage of at once coming to terms ; and that in the event of 
 their declining to meet the wishes of the British Grovernment 
 and accept British mediation, they must be prepared for an 
 occupation of their frontier town of Shikarpur and adjacent 
 country, and other such measures as the Shah might event- 
 ually determine to adopt. 
 
 We need not here enter into the story of this tribute. 
 How it originated, and what Avere the circumstances of its 
 abandonment and revival, are matters which belong rather to 
 the history of the period than to a separate biography : so 
 also the right we had to mediate between Sikhs and Sindis 
 and Afghans, to the gain of one and prejudice of the other.
 
 -i839 MISSION TO HAIDARABAD. 159 
 
 when our own interests were at the root of the whole pro- 
 cedure. It is enough for our present purpose to know that 
 the Kesident exercised the discretion vested in him, to defer 
 making the ungracious communication to the Amirs ; and 
 that the chapter of accidents in which their enlightenment 
 on our ' friendly ' intentions is recorded, contains many evi- 
 dences of intrigue and ill-will in active operation against us. 
 
 Such being the state of affairs on the arrival of the 
 Bombay division at the mouths of the Indus, it is not sur- 
 prising that obstacles were thrown in the way of its progress 
 to join the Bengal forces moving towards Afghanistan : and 
 that the services of Sir John Keane's Extra Aide-de-Camp 
 were put in requisition for special duty at Thatta, as they 
 had been seven weeks before, when the Lieutenant-Greneral's 
 head-quarters were lower down the river. 
 
 On this occasion, however, the question was not one of 
 boats, camels, or commissariat, but of a new and detailed 
 treaty. Outram was associated with Lieutenant Eastwick, 
 the Assistant Eesident, in a mission to the court of Haidara- 
 bad, the particulars of which may be gathered from a 
 perusal of the published instructions addressed by the 
 Resident to the latter officer. In Colonel Pottinger's letter 
 to Mir Nur Muhammad the names of both delegates are 
 mentioned ; but it is not clear that any distinct duties were 
 assigned to Outram, nor indeed that the addition of a second 
 member to the mission meant more than that a great mili- 
 tary authority having appeared on the scene, his dignity 
 required a representative at any formal visit to be paid to 
 the local darbdr. The draft treaty was of twenty-three 
 articles, and besides the usual declarations of peace, and 
 amity, and ' perpetual enjoyment ' of present possessions, it 
 provided for a British military cantonment at Thatta ; the 
 part payment by the Amirs of our troops permanently
 
 i6o JAMES nUTRAM. 1838- 
 
 quartered in Sind (as these princes would ' derive such vast 
 advantages ' from their presence) ; the protection of Sind 
 from all foreign aggression, and the unconditional aid of the 
 Sind army if found necessary by the British Grovernment. 
 Lest the Amir should fail to see all the benefits contem- 
 plated in this purposed understanding, Nur Muhammad's 
 particular attention was called to the obvious intention that 
 the two Governments should ' really become one ; ' and it 
 was pointed out to him that the wealth about to ' flow into 
 Sinde from the British force stationed in it,' and which 
 would ' give employment to thousands of the people of the 
 country,' must ' cause a vast increase to the revenues from 
 the demand for grain, and every other article of consump- 
 tion,' and would ' bring merchants from every quarter to 
 settle in the country.' ^ The later opinions of both Lieu- 
 tenant Eastwick ^ and Captain Outram on the Sind ques- 
 tion, are suggestive that the sympathy of these officers with 
 the views of their Government could not, at this early 
 period, have been particularly keen ; or it may be that their 
 acquaintance with the merits of the case before them was as 
 yet imperfect. 
 
 The steamer conveying to the seat of native government 
 the representatives of British power, civil and military, was 
 twice aground on the first, and twice again on the second 
 day after leaving Thatta. Such occurrences represented too 
 closely the normal condition of the classical Indus to have 
 the character of ill omen. On the third day the opportunity 
 was afforded to the passengers to visit the village of Jerak, 
 since the head-quarters of a deputy collector ; and, on the 
 
 ' See Sbidc Cornspcyiidencc, 1838-1843 ; presented to both Houses of Par- 
 liament by command of Her Majesty, 1843. 
 
 2 For many years, as Captain W. J. Eastwick, a prominent member of the 
 Directorate of the East India Company, and of the Council of the Secretary of 
 State for India. This able and upright public servant became one of the most 
 active champions of the despoiled Amirs of Sind- -a hearty ally, in the cause 
 of justice, of his life-long friend James Outram.
 
 -x839 RETURN TO HEAD-QUARTERS. i6r 
 
 morning of the fourth, the anchor was cast on the river 
 bank at a point some three miles distant from Haidarabad. 
 During the voyage, Outram's keen eye, as we gather from 
 his diary, was searching out the military features of the 
 country. A deputation from the Amirs attended to welcome 
 the new arrivals ; but it was not until the afternoon of the 
 following day that the mission was received by the three 
 joint rulers, Nur Muhammad, Muhammad Nasir, and 
 Muhammad Khan. The fourth, Mir Sobdar Khan, owing 
 to indisposition of some sort, was absent. Outram had not 
 been idle in the interim, for he had ridden to the town, and 
 nearly round the walls of the fort, and, in spite of insulting 
 abuse received on passing the Baluch camps, had effected a 
 double reconnaissance of the several approaches to these 
 points. At the reception the chiefs were outwardly polite, 
 and displayed much cordiality, moribus suis, towards the 
 British officers ; and they readily discussed with them the 
 subject of the treaty. But the behaviour of the Baluch 
 soldiery and many general indications of hostility observed 
 outside the darbdr-room, were such as to necessitate a 
 demand for explanation ; and so unsatisfactorv was the 
 reply, that Eastwick and Outram had no alternative but to 
 re-embark without waiting for a second interview. An attack 
 upon their small detachment of sixty-nine men was averted 
 only by its remaining on the alert throughout the night. 
 The promised answer as to acceptance or rejection of terms 
 offered had been deferred; but a verbal message, to the 
 effect that the treaty would be sent back, was brought on 
 the fourth day by the native agent in our employ. The 
 envoys rejoined Sir John Keane's head-quarters at Jerak, to 
 which place the troops had advanced from Thatta. Their 
 report, and the intelligence received in other quarters, 
 indicating possible aggression on the part of the Sind 
 Baluchis, led to the request for a military demonstration of 
 VOL. I. M
 
 i62 JAMES OUTRAM. 1838- 
 
 our strength from the north, where the commander-in- 
 chief, Sir Henry Fane, had pitched his camp, and where 
 Major-General Sir Willoughby Cotton was preparing to cross 
 the Indus at the head of a Bengal division. The construc- 
 tion of a bridge of boats on either side of the island of 
 Bakhar, to facilitate the passage of an army from the left 
 bank of the river at Eohri, was not a matter of instant 
 accomplishment. And as it happened that the requisition 
 for aid in Central Sind came at a season when progress was 
 suspended on this account, compliance was willingly given. 
 Accordingly, the major-general had himself marched a 
 portion of the Bengal force as far as Kandiara, about a third 
 of the way to Haidarabad, when a despatch from Sir John 
 Keane caused him to counter-march his men, and return to 
 their starting-place. The prospect had brightened. A 
 change had come over the minds of the Amirs ; they had 
 accepted the treaty ; friendship had been renewed ; and 
 the Bombay division was in full movement up the river. 
 Whether this result was owing to the military demonstrations, 
 and occupation of Karachi by the naval and reserve forces, 
 or to Colonel Pottinger's diplomacy, or to all combined, we 
 need not stop to examine. 
 
 Although Outram does not appear to have taken any 
 prominent part in the brief diplomatic discussion at Haidar- 
 abad, Lieutenant Eastwick doubtless felt the advantage of 
 having at his elbow so worthy a coadjutor. On return to 
 Jerak, work was found for him of another kind. He was 
 sent out by the general with fifty Puna horsemen, to scour 
 the jangal and make a reconnaissance along the road about 
 to be traversed by the troops. When this task was achieved, 
 he took some six or seven hundred camp-followers to assist 
 in tracking the boats laden with stores, still working up the 
 stream from Thatta, and closed his day's labours by bringing 
 in all to within one mile of the camp landing-place, with
 
 -i839 THE BURNING FOREST. 163 
 
 the single exception of one long flat-bottomed craft, which, 
 notwithstanding the employment of 200 men on the work, 
 could not do more than half her prescribed journey. The 
 last duty gave him the opportunity of exploring a burning 
 ' shikargah,' or forest, in which the bodies of three officers 
 of the Queen's Eoyals had been discovered the previous day, 
 and of satisfying himself that the deceased must have lost 
 their way and perished in the flames, without being able to 
 get clear of the jangal. On the second day all the boats 
 were brought abreast of the encampment ; and the upward 
 march commenced on the day following. 
 
 The Bombay division of the army of the Indus broke 
 ground from Jerak on February 3, reaching Kotri in two 
 marches. The position of this station on the right bank 
 of the river, almost immediately opposite to Haidarabad, 
 rendered it a desirable halt. Advantage was taken of the 
 comparatively peaceful aspect of affairs to permit officers, 
 under certain restrictions, to visit the capital. Outram 
 attached himself to a party consisting of the chief engineer, 
 the commandant, and brigade-major of artillery, and other 
 scientific officers appointed to make close examination of 
 the city, its fort, and environs. It was with no small 
 satisfaction that he found the plan, sketched during his 
 diplomatic mission, certified as correct in every respect, 
 while the mode of attack which he had proposed to the 
 commander-in-chief was pronounced to be the most ju- 
 dicious that could be adopted. 
 
 Three days were spent at Sehwan, to give time for the 
 whole force to clear the Lakhi Pass ; ^ and during these 
 the commander-in-chief. Sir Henry Fane, arrived in the 
 
 ' From Kotri the force moved to Sehwan, by the Lakhi Pass, traversing 
 the rocky spur of that name overhanging the Indus. With the natural 
 obstacles presented at this stage of the march, the passage of artillery -was no 
 simple matter. Owing to the encroachments of the river and consequent 
 disuse of the track round the base of the hill, it had become necessary to make 
 
 M 2
 
 1 64 JAMES OUT RAM. 1838- 
 
 immediate neighbourhood, on his downward route to Bom- 
 bay, for embarkation to England. Outram was in personal 
 attendance on Sir John Keane when proceeding to meet his 
 senior general, and has recorded the cordial embrace of the 
 two veteran warriors; adding that he breakfasted in Sir 
 Henry's boat, and passed the day with him and his staff, 
 * each member of which had a separate boat comfortably 
 fitted up.' Sir Henry's health did not admit of his staying 
 in camp, but he was enabled to ride thither, and derive 
 satisfaction from inspection of the cavalry and artillery 
 horses before re-embarking in his tiny flotilla. The de- 
 parture of this distinguished and much respected officer left 
 Sir John Keane commander-in-chief of the army about to 
 enter Afghanistan. 
 
 Inclusive of its progress from the Hujamri mouth of the 
 Indus to Thatta, the Bombay division had marched some 224 
 miles in Sind, up to Sehwan. Shikarpur, where Mr. Mac- 
 Naghten, the envoy with Shah Shuja ul Mulk, had taken up 
 his temporary quarters, was yet at a distance of 132 miles. 
 With little exception, such as presented by the river-reaching 
 spur of the Lakhi hills, the country was sandy, low, and flat, 
 and the monotonous character of the scenery, though 
 pleasantly varied by extensive wheat-fields and other culti- 
 vated land, was insufficiently relieved by village and forest. 
 Hot weather, acting upon this monotony, would naturally 
 have a depressing effect upon new-comers ; but when 
 Sehwan was left on February 23, there were yet two or 
 three weeks to intervene before the actual setting-in of 
 Sind heat. On February 28, at a point where the upward 
 direction of troops and travellers would turn inland from the 
 
 a practical way over the higher ascent. By the skill and labour of the 
 engineers and their assistants, the difiReulty was overcome in an incredibly 
 short time by means of a ' zigzag path cut out of and built upon the almost 
 perpendicular face of the hill.'
 
 -i839 RIDE TO SIIIKARPUR. 165 
 
 bank of the river, Outram was ordered by Sir John Keane 
 to start immediately for Shikarpur, and hold personal com- 
 munication with the Envoy. These orders were received 
 at midday, and the recipient was at Larkhana, more than 
 thirty miles off, in the evening. Eesting there for the 
 night, he left at nine the next morning, with the two camels 
 on which he had accomplished the greater part of the 
 previous day's journey, and reached his destination at 
 10 P.M. — a long and weary forty miles, though the distance 
 would have been nothing to a well-mounted rider. He was 
 heartily welcomed by Mr. MacNaghten, whom he found 
 at table with his assistants, Major Todd and Captain 
 Macgregor. 
 
 The precise object of his mission is not stated by Outram 
 in the pages of his printed journal. That it related, 
 however, in some way to commissariat arrangements, may 
 be inferred from the fact that the available Bengal officers 
 vested with the responsibilities of that department were 
 summoned to the Envoy's tent on March 2, to furnish certain 
 information required by Sir John Keane ; and he was able 
 to report that the result of the meeting was ' much more 
 favourable in some respects than he had expected.' On the 
 same afternoon it had been arranged that the Bombay 
 delegate was to be presented to Shah Shuja. His Majesty 
 was so overcome by the heat that he sent to request a 
 transfer of the scene of reception from the formal audience 
 chamber to the place of evening promenade. Thither 
 accordingly went the British officials. Eemaining on horse- 
 back while the king, sitting in a native takht-ruivan^ or 
 litter, conversed with them, they were not detained for a 
 long interview; Outram noticed the custom, approved by 
 our authorities, to approach and leave the Shah with much 
 ceremony, as well as the scrupulous observance of prescribed 
 etiquette inculcated by the Envoy in our outward relations
 
 1 66 JAMES eUTRAM. 1838- 
 
 with the Afghan court. He adds that his Majesty re- 
 ceived him with much affability, and that he appeared to 
 be between fifty and sixty years of age, and of mild 
 manners. 
 
 But apart from the journal or his own writings, we gather 
 in another quarter that Outram was really commissioned to 
 obtain, if possible, through Mr. MacNaghten's agency, a 
 large number of camels to supply the wants of the com- 
 mander-in-chief, in whose camp the mortality among baggage 
 animals had been seriously felt. So grave, indeed, had been 
 the loss, that it was reported impracticable to move the 
 whole Bombay division to the Bolan without a further re- 
 inforcement. The arrangement proposed for attaining this 
 end was complicated, and its success depended on the dip- 
 lomatic adroitness of the procedure adopted. Let us see what 
 light has been already thrown on the situation. 
 
 ' The self-complacency of his Majesty, and the official 
 dignity of the Envoy,' writes the author of the ' Memoirs of 
 Colonel Outram's Services (1853),' quoting in part from 
 Kaye, ' had been so seriously offended by the contempt for 
 their unsoldierly levy which Sir Willoughby Cotton un- 
 disguisedly evinced, and Sir John Keane barely affected to 
 conceal, that Sir William INIacNaghten, assuming a high tone, 
 had insisted on a prominent place being given to the Shah 
 in the approaching operations. And the commander-in-chief 
 had cogent reasons for avoiding a rupture with the British 
 Plenipotentiary. He therefore resolved to go through the 
 form of offering a thousand of his own insufficient herd of 
 camels for the use of the contingent ; but he determined, 
 at the same time, tliat the reverse arrangeDient should he 
 carried out, if by skilful iinanageinent it could he effected.'' 
 Outram, we are further told, performed the duty confided 
 to him with a success beyond even the anticipations of his 
 chief, who received from the Envoy ' a supply of camels
 
 -iS39 OFFER OF POLITICAL EMPLOY. 167 
 
 more than double in number those he had offered for the use 
 of the Shah's contingent.' 
 
 It should be mentioned that on February 23, or the 
 day on which the Bombay division left Sehwan, the cavalry, 
 artillery, the 13th light infantry, and three native infantry 
 regiments of the Bengal column had marched from Shikarpur 
 towards the Bolan and Kandahar. The 4th infantry brigade 
 had been detained to escort the Afghan king, who proposed 
 moving at an early opportunity. Outram, having sent on 
 his riding camels half the distance to be got over, took leave 
 of Mr. MacNaghten after dinner on INIarch 3, and started at 
 midnight, by palankeen, to return to Sir John Keane's camp, 
 then pitched at Larkhana. If evidence were needed of the 
 favourable impression made upon the Envoy's mind by his 
 energetic visitor, none better could be adduced than the 
 written application for transfer of the latter's services to his 
 own special mission, which had reached the chief before the 
 A.D.C. himself. But the offer was thankfully and respectfully 
 declined on the honourable plea of unwillingness to leave the 
 army while there was prospect of active employment in its 
 ranks. That he was useful to the lieutenant-general, even 
 in his every-day capacity, has already been demonstrated. 
 Now again, on return to head-quarters, his tact and firmness 
 were remarkably evinced in bringing to order some refractory 
 camel-men from Cutch. These camp-followers struck work, 
 positively refusing to advance a step further ; and Outram 
 was despatched to quell the mutiny. AssembKng all, to the 
 number of two or three thousand, he selected twenty of the 
 most influential of their jamaddrs, and marked them off in 
 confinement. ' I then,' he writes in his journal, ' ordered the 
 remainder to take on their camels under the surveillance of 
 a body of horse ; but they refused. Having warned them, 
 without effect, that we could be trifled with no longer, and
 
 i68 JAMES OUT RAM. 1838- 
 
 of my determination to flog them all round unless they 
 complied, I was under the necessity of tying up one and 
 giving him a dozen lashes ; a second succeeded, and a third 
 — who got four dozen, he having been observed checking the 
 rest when they began to show symptoms of giving in. This 
 had the desired effect ; they promised obedience in future, 
 and took out the camels to graze. On their return in the 
 evening, they were again mustered, and told that they should 
 remain under surveillance, unless such of the Cutch jainaddrs 
 as had been faithful throughout should pledge themselves 
 for their good conduct. The required pledge having been 
 given, they were sent to their duty.' Those jamaddrs who 
 had been placed in confinement were not released at once, 
 as further security seemed requisite for their futiu-e behaviour ; 
 but on the day after the example had been made, the 
 mutineers were quite ' obedient.' 
 
 A detachment of the Bombay troops, consisting of H.M.'s 
 17th and 2nd regiments of foot, proceeded from Larkh^na 
 towards Gandava in the Kalat State, on March 11. The 
 commander-in-chief and staff, with horse artillery, the 1st 
 Bombay cavalry, and a wing of the 19th native infantry followed 
 on the I2th idem. After three short stages, each averaging 
 thirteen miles, and a long march across the desert of thirty 
 miles, Outram was despatched on a new mission to the Envoy, 
 then in camp with Shah Shuja. Eiding all night on a tired 
 camel and, for half the distance quite alone, through a 
 country of abandoned grain-fields and protective watch- 
 towers — frequented by Baluch plunderers, who evinced their 
 hostility by murdering every stranger — he reached Grandava 
 (forty-one miles) late in the morning. Thence, on the 
 following day, ]March 15, he continued his route to Bagh 
 (forty-five miles) upon a pony lent him by the commissariat 
 officer, escorted by two armed Baluchis entertained for the 
 journey. Here he fell in with JVIr. MacNaghten, and com-
 
 -1 839 ^ BROKEN BONE. 169 
 
 mimicated to him the objects of his coming, returning on the 
 1 9th to Grandava, and rejoining Sir John Keane at Panjok, 
 a few miles beyond. Owing to the information which he 
 brought from the royal camp, the chief directed him to 
 hasten back to Grandava, for the purpose of despatching 
 thence an express messenger to the Envoy, conveying the 
 intelligence that his Excellency had resolved upon pushing 
 on with a small escort to Dadar, there to meet the Shah, 
 and accompany his Majesty and the British officers with him 
 up the Bolan, then occupied by our soldiers. The latest 
 accounts from Sir Willoughby Cotton were to the effect that 
 the head of his column was within one march of the top of 
 the Pass, and that it was expected no opposition would be 
 offered to its progress before arrival at Kandahar. 
 
 Greneral Willshire was nominated to command the 
 ' Bombay division of the army of the Indus ; ' but it was 
 not to lose the presence of Outram, though attached to the 
 personal staff of its late commander, and doubtless preparing 
 to accompany him. On March 21, while riding out from 
 Gandava to meet Sir John Keane, an accident occurred 
 which disabled him for a time from all active work. His 
 horse, making a sudden turn when at speed, fell flat on his 
 side with his rider below him : and the bone of the pelvis, 
 above the hip-joint, was fractured from violent contact with 
 the hilt of his sword. It can well be understood how 
 vexatious to him was the contretemps; but there was 
 consolation in the reJBection that things might have been 
 worse. The medical officers were of opinion that the utmost 
 detention he could suffer would be for three weeks ; and 
 though he might not accompany his chief in advance, he 
 could be safely carried in a palankeen with the troops which 
 would shortly leave Gandava. 
 
 It was on March 31 that the main body of infantry in the 
 Bombay division, with Outram and the dragoons, managed
 
 I70 JAMES OUTRAM. 1838- 
 
 to get clear of Grandava. Of the first day's short march to 
 Gragar, the invalid writes, * I did not feel the slightest in- 
 convenience from the shaking in the palankeen ; and, in 
 fact, were it not necessary to remain quiet in order to allow 
 the fractured bone to unite, I believe I might now walk 
 about.' But although on April 29 he was able to ride 
 twenty-two miles to join his chief at breakfast ' in a delight- 
 ful garden a few hundred yards from the walls of Kandahar,' 
 he had only abandoned the palankeen and resumed his seat 
 on horseback on the 25th. 
 
 We need not linger over that month of April, with its sad 
 experiences of starvation for animals, and of death, by the ruth- 
 less hands of robber-tribesmen, for unwary men armed or un- 
 armed.' Outram, whether on horseback, or borne along from 
 day to day in an ungenial palankeen, noted carefully all the 
 features of the line of country now so familiar to us, and re- 
 corded the events of the march. Passing near or among the 
 bodies of murdered sipahis and others belonging to the force 
 in one narrow defile, at the outlet of the Bolan, he found ' the 
 stench arising from the countless putrefying camels dreadful.' 
 Nor did the horses escape the general suffering. On the 
 arrival of the Bombay division at Kandahar, it was ascertained 
 that about one hundred and fifty of those of the artillery and 
 auxiliary cavalry had dropped on the road from exhaustion. 
 The surviving animals had suffered much, but were pro- 
 nounced to be in a better state than the horses of the 
 Bengal army, three hundred and fifty of which had been 
 lost. From this and former experiences, the author of 
 ' Eough Notes ' takes occasion to remark on the superiority, 
 for work and endurance, of Arab and Persian horses over stud 
 and country breds ; and gives the palm, in both respects also, 
 over stud-bred horses to some recent imports from the Cape. 
 The reason of his hurried ride into Kandahar, broken bone 
 
 ' Appendix D.
 
 -i839 DOINGS AT KANDAHAR. 171 
 
 and all, was General Willshire's lack both of provisions and 
 of information about the road in front — postal communication 
 having been effectually cut off by the marauding tribes. On 
 his arrival, he found that only six days' supplies remained in 
 the commissariat stores. However, his consultation with ]Mr. 
 MacNaghten resulted in measures which, it was hoped, would 
 relieve the wants of the army till the approaching harvest. 
 Supplies were accordingly sent back, and the Bombay 
 division came up on May 4. 
 
 Kandahar now became the head-quarters of the army 
 of the Indus ; the Bengal and Bombay divisions, and the 
 Shah's troops being there united under the commander-in- 
 chief. The Shah had made his State entry a few days before 
 Outram's arrival ; but the latter was called upon to arrange 
 with ]Mr. MacNaghten the military programme for a later 
 ceremony of no less significance — the celebration of his 
 Majesty's restoration to the ' kingdom of his ancestors,' — a 
 strong expression, perhaps, when applied to a grandson of 
 the founder of any monarchy at all in Afghanistan. ' On his 
 ascending the vtiasnad^ we are informed that ' the whole 
 line presented arms, whilst a salvo was discharged from 101 
 pieces of artillery ; ' and then that ,' the army of the Indus 
 marched round in front of the throne, in order of review, 
 mustering some seven thousand men of all arms, and pre- 
 senting a most imposing spectacle.' In the evening Outram 
 attended the commander-in-chief to the residence of the 
 Envoy, who gave an entertainment in honour of the king's 
 accession, and made a speech for the occasion, as did also 
 Sir John Keane and Sir Alexander Burnes. It was a bad 
 omen, perhaps, that the few lamps which loyalty or ob- 
 sequiousness had lighted in the streets were totally ex- 
 tinguished when the British guests returned home. 
 
 It will be appropriate in this place to reproduce certain 
 opinions entertained and expressed by Outram on the part
 
 172 JAMES OUTRAM. 1838- 
 
 taken by the Indian Grovernment in the expedition to 
 restore Shah Shuja to the throne of Afghanistan. We do 
 not ask attention for them so much as pertinent to a 
 biography, as on account of their significance on all our 
 subsequent relations with that country. It was his lot in 
 more than one instance to differ in respect of policy from 
 the authority which he was bound to acknowledge. And 
 among other eminent men to whose views he could not 
 always subscribe were Lord Auckland and Sir William 
 MacNaghten. Both were aware of this divergence of 
 opinion, but neither was dissuaded thereby from employing 
 the intelligent Bombay officer on important military and 
 political duties. Later on, as the Kabul disasters are 
 approached, we shall have more to say on this subject. At 
 present we confine ourselves to letters addressed to friends 
 from Kandahar, at the period already reached in our pages, 
 adding one from Kabul which barely anticipates the narrative. 
 Outram writes thus to Lieutenant Eastwick, assistant 
 political agent, Upper Sind, on May 6, 1839: — 
 
 Every day's experience confirms me in the opinion that we 
 should have contented ourselves with securing the line of the Indus 
 alone, without shackling ourselves with the support of an unpopular 
 Empei'or of Afghanistan, whom, to maintain, will cost us at least 
 thirty lakhs annually, besides embroiling us hereafter with all the 
 rude states beyond, which it must perpetually do. W"e have now 
 stretched out our feelers too far to pull them back, however, and 
 must and will carry our objects for the present triumphantly ; but 
 I cannot blind myself to the embarrassment we are storing for the 
 future : for it is too plain that the Shah is not popular, notwith- 
 standing some little temporary enthusiasm displayed by the mob 
 on his entry into Candahar the other day, and the flocking to hia 
 standard of a few greedy and needy Afghans, who hope to benefit by 
 any change, and whom the poor Shah is obliged to entertain in his 
 service, although without the means of supporting them. . . .Neither 
 is the Shah's popularity apparent in the country we have passed 
 through, the inhabitants of which have heartily united in injuring
 
 -1 839 IMPORTANT EXTRACTS. 173 
 
 him and us to the utmost of their power : all classes — peasantry as 
 well as soldiery — tm-ning against us, robbing and muixlering whom- 
 soever they can get hold of belonging to us, and inveigling our 
 people to their villages for no other purpose than cold-blooded 
 murder. 
 
 To Major Felix he writes, ten days later: — 
 
 If — as I siLspect will be the case — Dost Mahomed prefers tem- 
 porary exile to submission, seeing that the Shah is only upheld by the 
 presence of a British army which must soon be withdrawn, he will 
 return with tenfold populaiity to raise the standard of the faithful 
 against a King forced upon bigoted Afghanistan by infidel bayonets. 
 Then will Shah Shooja be in his turn deserted by those who are now 
 seduced to his side by British gold, but who only can be held there 
 so long as the golden stream flows undiminishedly. The fact is not 
 to be concealed that Dost Mahomed, at the outset of this struggle, 
 had the preponderance of personal weight in this country, a well- 
 tried, able, and fortunate ruler, against the bad luck (' bad bakht '), 
 which goes a great way with natives, and had name of Shah Shooja : 
 and it is not to be supposed that the Dost's temporary expulsion will 
 otherwise than enlist the sympathy of his countrymen, who will 
 hail his return too as the triumph of the champion of the ' true 
 faith ' over the hireling slave of ' infidels ' — as they will then be 
 taught to consider Shah Shooja, if they do not already do so. . . . 
 I am of opinion we should be restricted to placing Shah Shooja in 
 possession of Cabool, leaving officers to discipline his contingent, and 
 a resident to guide him ; and that our army should then descend 
 to the Attock before winter, thence to operate on Scinde, or to 
 return to India, as may be required. 
 
 . . For our own sakes I think it better we should pass 
 peaceably through Afghanistan, and fulfil our mission without 
 hostilities, because once involved in wai'fai-e, we should have to 
 continue it under lamentable disadvantages in this country. A 
 blow once struck by us at the Afghans will oblige us to become 
 principals on every occasion hereafter, much to our cost and little 
 to our credit. . . . You wiU be surprised that /should display 
 so little desire for actual war ; but I hope you will give me credit 
 for some discretion, which is as necessary as bravery to a good 
 soldier, and do me the justice to believe that I would weigh well
 
 174 JAMES OUTRAM. 1838- 
 
 conseqnences before plunging into war, when hostilities can honour- 
 ably be avoided. I have well considei'ed every side of the question, 
 and am now satisfied that British bayonets need never be pushed 
 beyond the Hala mountains for the defence of India ; that British 
 armies of any strength could not be supplied or supported for a 
 length of time on this, the Afghan, side of these mountains; and 
 that the natural and impregnable boundary of our Empire is the 
 Indus. 
 
 On May 22 he thus expresses himself to Mr. Willough- 
 by:- 
 
 It is possible, from what we learn of opinions at home, that our 
 armies may be ordered to withdraw from Afghanistan, after seating 
 the Shah at Cabool, without waiting for or enforcing the submis- 
 sion of the rebel chiefs. If unopposed on this occasion, we can do 
 so without discredit, leaving the Shah in possession of his throne, 
 with the support of his own contingent and subjects ; but if opposed 
 by Dost Mahomed, we must go to extremity with him, which would 
 be uphill work if he leads us into protracted warfare, and knows 
 how to deal with us — i.e. cutting off our communications, destroy- 
 ing crops and water in our route, attacking baggage on the line of 
 march, harassing our camp by night alarms, cutting off foragers, 
 &c., <fec. Eager as I am for service, still so convinced am I that 
 little glory to our arms, and less benefit to the State, could be 
 gained in such a strviggle — where our enemy need never meet us 
 hand to hand, and has it so much in his power to destroy our very 
 limited resources — that I shall consider it fortunate if we are per- 
 mitted the credit of marching in warlike array from the sea, through 
 Afghanistan, to Attock, without any enemy daring to face iis ! 
 We should then leave behind us a high reputation for power, 
 wealth, and moderation, as, of course, we sumptuously pay as we 
 go (and most lavishly too), prevent any sort of oppression to the 
 people, and forego what they see in our power — the appropriation 
 of any portion of their territory. 
 
 The Kabul letter to which we have alluded is to Major 
 Felix again, and bears date August 20 : — 
 
 Unless to prevent a European enemy obtaining a temporary foot- 
 inw in Afghanistan, and breathing time therein, I am satisfied that
 
 -1 839 THE INDUS— OR BEYOND? 175 
 
 our armies need never enter this coiTntry, and that such a measure 
 should be avoided if possible ; that it would suffice to maintain our 
 ascendency tranquilly on the Indus until invasion is threatened, 
 when our detachments pushed forward to the main passes, within 
 reach of supplies and support, might defy any army in the world, 
 especially after traversing such a country as Afghanistan, — or, 
 were it feared that our enemy's object was to establish himself in 
 this countxy in the first instance, that a small force advanced to Ca- 
 bool — which (being received as friends) would always be practicable 
 to and within reach of our troops on the Indus — would effectually 
 frustrate his design. What I mean to say is, that British power on 
 the Indus must secure the preponderance of our influence here, 
 above that of any European power ; and that that alone would most 
 probably prove a sufficient bar to the advance of any hostile army 
 into Afghanistan ; but that it would then be in our power at any 
 time to establish troops at Cabool, if necessary, long before our 
 enemies could approach, without a hope being left to them of 
 maintaining themselves in that country, or the possibility of 
 debouching into the valley of the Indus.
 
 176 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1839. 
 
 Ghazni — Outram's employment at and prior to the Siege — Pursuit of Dost 
 Muhammad Khan — Eeturn from Bamian, and Mission from Kabul to 
 Ghilzai Country — Work in the disturbed districts — Return to Kwatta — Siege 
 of Kalat — Journey from Kalat to Sonmiani with despatches for Bombay. 
 
 OuTRAM left Kandahar with the advanced column and head- 
 quarters on June 27. His journal represents the march to 
 Grhazni to have been upon the whole uneventful : but 
 habit had enured him to road adventures, and he lays com- 
 paratively little stress upon transport difficulties, impudent 
 robberies, and ruthless murders, in which last the Grhilzais 
 were the heroes. Of these there was a kind of daily record. 
 He makes the distance traversed 240 miles and a fraction, 
 and, as there were twenty-two marching days and three halts, 
 the average daily progress was within eleven miles. About 
 two-thirds of the way lay near the right bank of the 
 Tarnak river, the source of which was reached on July 14. 
 Here Shah Shuja overtook the column. At the seventh stage 
 out of Kandahar two of Outram's horses were stolen from 
 their pickets by the Ghilzais. One of the two, a chestnut 
 Arab charger, which the owner considered 'without ex- 
 ception the finest in the whole army,' was a very serious 
 loss ; and a reward of 2,000 rupees (200?.) was offered, 
 through Sir Alexander Burnes, to any one who could effect 
 its ransom. Twelve miles south of Ghazni, at midnight of 
 July 20, General Willshire's brigade came up with the re- 
 mainder of the force ; and the whole army, arranged in three
 
 1839 BEFORE GHAZNI. 177 
 
 columns, moved the nex morning over the intermediate 
 spacious plain. No enemy, however, appeared until the 
 British troops were actually within a mile of the fort, when 
 preliminary operations commenced with the discharge of 
 guns and matchlocks from the walls and outskirts, the clear- 
 ance and occupation of a garden by our infantry, and the 
 assignment of a position to our artillery. Outram himself 
 had the honour of eliciting the first shot from the fort when 
 reconnoitring ; being, moreover, exposed to a heavy fire at 
 sixty yards' distance. 
 
 As the day advanced firing was continued generally by 
 the enemy ; the 35th and 48th regiments of native infantry, 
 occupying the garden, exchanged shots with the garrison of 
 an outwork; and there was promise of extended skirmishing, 
 but Sir John Keane wisely prohibited the further exposure 
 of his men in desultory warfare. Gruns and troops were 
 withdrawn out of range ; a systematic reconnaissance of the 
 fort and approaches was effected ; and the camp was shifted 
 across the Grhazni river, to a position commanding the Kabul 
 road on the north. On July 22 the commander-in-chief 
 reconnoitred the place in person, and approving Captain 
 Thomson's proposal to blow open the Kabul gate by bags of 
 powder, and follow up the act by a dash at the gateway, gave 
 all the necessary orders, and made all the necessary ar- 
 rangements for an assault early next morning. 
 
 How Ghazni was successfully stormed on July 23 need 
 not here be narrated. The capture of this strong fortress, 
 accomplished within three quarters of an hour from com- 
 mencement of the assault, is an event which occupies too 
 prominent a place in history, and has already been too well 
 and circumstantially chronicled, to warrant the obtrusion, at 
 this late hour, of any new account.^ That Outram's name 
 
 ' Perhaps the most recent and circumstantial version is that contained in 
 Durand's First Afghan War (Loagraaiis, 1879). 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 yAMES OUTRAM. 1839 
 
 does not appear in the despatches is one of those unexplained 
 occurrences, which if it were compulsory on the historian 
 or biographer to fathom, we venture to afhrm that few 
 histories or biographies would be written at all. Either 
 would the inquirer not arrive at the root of the matter, or, 
 arriving there, he would find weaknesses and littlenesses 
 which, if not unbecoming his office to exhume, would 
 sorely embarrass him to apportion fairly to the respective 
 possessors. In this case, the omission cannot be accounted 
 for as accidental ; nor can it be laid at the door of custom 
 or precedent. 
 
 On the eve of the capture of Ghazni, Captain Outram 
 performed an exploit which, as it has been already narrated 
 and eulogised by historians of the Afghan war, we will retail 
 as it has reached us in his own words : — 
 
 * About noon the hills to the southward of our camp were 
 crowned by masses of horse and foot, displaying several 
 standards ; their designs appearing to be directed against 
 the Shah's camp, which lay immediately under their position. 
 Two of his Majesty's guns, with all his cavalry, supported 
 by lancers, and by a regiment of Bengal cavalry, moved out 
 immediately to oppose this demonstration ; and the enemy, 
 who had already begun to descend into the plain, being 
 met by the Shah's Horse under Captain Mcolson, were, with 
 trivial loss on our side, compelled to re-ascend the heights, 
 leaving behind one of their standards in our possession, and 
 four or five of their number killed in the conflict. Having 
 galloped out to ascertain what was going on, I reached 
 the scene of action just before this occurrence, and finding 
 no European officer on the spot, I prevailed on a body of the 
 Shah's horse to follow me round the hills in the enemy's rear, 
 where I stationed them so as to cut off their retreat. The 
 enemy, being intimidated by this movemeut, and repulsed
 
 i839 CAPTURE OF A BANNER. 179 
 
 by Captain Nicolson's gallant charge, ascended the heights 
 beyond all reach of our Horse, whom I therefore left in 
 position, returning myself to the front. 
 
 ']\Ieeting, at this juncture, a small detachment of the 
 Shah's contingent, consisting of about one hundred and fifty 
 infantry and matchlock-men, under a European officer, I 
 suggested to him the propriety of an immediate attempt to 
 force the enemy from the heights, in the direction where I 
 had just stationed the cavalry. He expressed his readiness 
 to act under my orders, and, relinquishing to me the charge 
 of his detachment, which was composed of piquets from 
 different corps hastily assembled, we ascended the hill 
 together. The matchlock-men behaved with great gallantry, 
 advancing steadily under a galling fire, and availing them- 
 selves of every rock and stone as fast as the enemy were 
 dislodged. Thfey were followed by the sepoys in close order, 
 who occupied every favourable undulation of ground, and 
 were thus prepared to meet any sudden rush that might be 
 made on the part of the enemy. Step by step we thus at 
 last attained the loftiest peak, over the crest of which floated 
 the holy banner of green and white — the largest and most 
 conspicuous in the ranks of the whole host, the first unfm'l- 
 ing of which by the Moslem High Priest, who had preached 
 a crusade against the British, had called together a mob of 
 fanatics, who, judging from their reckless personal exposure, 
 must have been deceived into the belief that they were 
 safe under the charm of its sacred influence. Towards this 
 object we made our way, ascending a very precipitous 
 acclivity under a smart fire, from which we were sheltered 
 by the rocks, until on our arriving within fifty paces of the 
 enemy, a fortunate shot brought down the standard-bearer. 
 The whole of our party then rushing up with a general cheer, 
 the banner was seized, whilst the enemy, panic-stricken at 
 this proof of the fallacy of their belief, fled with precipita- 
 
 n2
 
 i8o JAMES OUTRAM\ 1839 
 
 tion to a second hill, whither I deemed it useless to follow 
 them, both because our men were already much exhausted 
 from thirst and fatigue, and because the range, instead of 
 terminating, as I had conjectured, at this point (in which 
 case the fugitives might easily have been driven into the 
 plain), proved to be a succession of steep hills, among which 
 it was not practicable for cavalry to act. 
 
 ' Having rested some time therefore, we finally retired, 
 bearing off our wounded — nine or ten in number — and leaving 
 the bodies of five of our opponents lying around the spot on 
 which the large standard had been planted. Ten or twelve 
 others, who had fallen in the contest towards that position, 
 were likewise strewed on the face of the hill, making a total 
 loss on the side of the enemy of thirty or forty killed and 
 wounded, in addition to about fifty made prisoners by the 
 cavalry: one of these latter, on being brought into the 
 King's presence, stabbed one of the principal officers of state 
 in the open duvhar — an offence for which the whole are said 
 to have atoned with their Hves. On our side the total loss 
 throughout this affair amounted to about twenty in killed 
 and wounded.' 
 
 Nor had Outram been an idle or inactive aide-de-camp, 
 in fulfilling the wonted requirements of Lis office in the field. 
 On the day of arrival before Ghanzi, he more than once con- 
 veyed his chief's orders to the troops engaged with or 
 threatened by the enemy, after fire had been opened on both 
 sides. He himself Las admitted that, during the actual 
 assault, the personal staff of the commander-in-chief had 
 very little employn^e.ut ; but he was twice despatched, in 
 that exciting interval, to ascertain the progress of operations, 
 and was the first to announce to his Excellency the entrance 
 of the troops into the town by the Kabul gate. He, more- 
 over, under Sir John Keane's instructions, placed guns at a
 
 i839 PURSUIT OF DOST MUHAMMAD. i8r 
 
 point to command the western face of the fortress, with the 
 view to check the escape of the garrison ; and afterwards rode 
 round the eastern walls to make arrangements to intercept 
 the fugitives in that direction. However, as before stated, his 
 name did not appear in the despatches reporting the fall of 
 Ghazni, and he missed his well-earned honours or promotion. 
 On July 30 the army of the Indus resumed its march 
 towards Kabul, and halted at Haidar Khel ^ on August 3. 
 Here it was joined by Shah Shuja ul Mulk, who, with the 
 Bombay infantry, had been left to follow from Kandahar. 
 Here also Outram received his orders for undertaking a new 
 and important duty — the capture, if possible, of the Amir 
 Dost IMuhammad Khan. This remarkable man, against 
 whom we were now unfortunately arrayed in open hostility, 
 was clearly unwilling to risk a general engagement with the 
 invading troops ; and the loss of Ghazni had not tended to 
 lower his estimate of our power. Information had just been 
 received that he had fled towards Bamian, a valley on the 
 high road to Turkistan, and about a hundred miles to the 
 north-west of Kabul ; and it was determined to send two 
 thousand of the Shah's Afghans in pursuit of him. One Hajji 
 Khan, Kakar, otherwise the 'Nasiru-d-daulah,' or Defender 
 of the State, a person of low origin, who had raised himself 
 from the condition of a seller of melons to that of a State 
 minister, and who had passed from the service of Dost 
 Muhammad Khan to that of the Kandahar chiefs, and had 
 now transferred his allegiance to Shah Shuja, was placed at 
 the head of this body. The detachment was to be further 
 strengthened by one hundred of our own cavalry, regular 
 and irregular, and the following officers, volunteers : — Captain 
 Wheeler, Bengal cavalry. Captain Backhouse, Bengal artillery, 
 
 ' ' Hyderzye ' in the ' Eough Notes ' ; but ' Haidar Khel ' seems to be the 
 place intended ; it is placed by MacGregor, quoting Hongh, Campbell, and 
 Bellew, at thirty-three miles from Ghazni and fifty-fonr from Kabul
 
 i82 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839 
 
 and Captain Troup, Shah's contingent, Majors of brigade ; 
 Captain Christie, commanding regiment of Shah's cavalry ; 
 Captain (now Greneral Sir Greorge) Lawrence,^ Bengal cavalry ; 
 Lieutenant Ejv^es, Adjutant 4th local horse ; Captain Keith 
 Erskine, Poona auxiliary horse ; Lieutenant Broadfoot, Shah's 
 Grurkha battalion ; Lieutenant Hogg, Bombay staff ; and 
 Doctor Worral, local horse. Outram was to exercise com- 
 mand of the whole. 
 
 It was a rough bit of work — as the tale of recent experi- 
 ence in Afghanistan will suggest to the reader — and nobly 
 done, though the main object of the expedition failed. Hajji 
 Khan was guide and adviser as well as commandant of the 
 Shah's detachment, and this Afghan played the double game 
 of which his countrymen are so fond, and which they think so 
 suited to their purpose in dealing with Englishmen. On the 
 day of setting out, the two thousand horsemen were awaited 
 till dark. Not half the number came ; and of those who did 
 come, not half were considered efTective. The greater part 
 were a mere rabble, mounted upon ydhus and starved ponies. 
 At the outset there was an ominous division of counsels. To 
 the mind of Outram the direction to be taken was obvious: a 
 short and rapidly-made cut across the hills offered the sole 
 chance of intercepting the fugitive. Hajji Khan proposed a 
 start along the high road ^ and, though compelled to abandon 
 his argument, he practically gained his end by the consump- 
 tion of time and patience. At Goda, after the first night's 
 march of 32 miles, over ranges of hills and amid tortuous 
 river-channels, not more than one hundred Afghans came up 
 with the British officers to the encamping ground : and when, 
 
 ' This gallant officer has given a graphic account of the whole expedition 
 in his interesting volume of Eemi7iiscences. 
 
 ^ His proposal was to proceed along the high road between Ghiizni and 
 Kabul up to Maidan, whence they would turn westward to Bamian, by the 
 high I'oad between Kabul and Bamian. Outram preferred reaching the latter 
 road at a point about three marches beyond Maidan.
 
 iS39 THE PURSUIT CONTINUED. 183 
 
 after another day and night of similar or more hazardous 
 riding, the latter had contrived, by clearing a lofty and pre- 
 cipitous pass of the Paghman mountains, to reach the small 
 village of Kadir-i-Safid, barely fifty of their worthless auxili- 
 aries were present. The information received at this place 
 that the Dost was at Yourt, only one march beyond, was a 
 stronger inducement to Outram than the almost utter want 
 of supplies, to push on at all hazards. But Hajji Khan urged 
 a halt on the plea that the force at their disposal was in- 
 sufficient to cope with the enemy. Outram insisted on 
 mo\ang, and managed in the course of the afternoon to get 
 together some 750 Afghans of sorts whom he induced to 
 accompany his own particular party. Through accident or 
 design, the guides went astray, and in the darkness of the 
 night the way was lost 'amid interminable ravines, where 
 no trace of a footpath existed ; ' so that Yourt was not reached 
 until the next morning, when Dost jNIuhammad was reported 
 to be at Kharzar, sixteen miles distant, on the high road 
 leading from Kabul to Bamian. No inducement could get 
 the Afghans to advance another stage until the morning of 
 the following day, August 7 ; and in the interim, their 
 leader attempted, by every available means, and including 
 even threats, to dissuade Outram from proceeding any fur- 
 ther, strongly representing the scarcity of provisions for his 
 men, and the numerical superiority of those whom he sought 
 to encounter. He was unable, however, to carry his point ; 
 for he pleaded to one who went onward in spite of every 
 obstacle. When the pursuers arrived at Kharzar, they 
 ascertained that the Amir had gone to Kalu, whither, leaving 
 behind their Afghan adviser, they pressed on the same 
 afternoon, over the Hajji Gruk (or Khak), a pass 12,000 feet 
 above the ocean, whence they saw the snow 1,500 feet below 
 them. At Kalu they were again doomed to disappointment. 
 Dost Muhammad had left some hours previously, and it was
 
 i84 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839 
 
 supposed that he had already surmounted the Kalu Pass, the 
 highest of the Hindu Kush. Here Outram and his comrades 
 were compelled to remain the night encamped at the foot of 
 Kuh-i-Baba, ' The Father INIountain,' monarch of that mighty 
 range, and 16,000 feet high : they had been nine hours in 
 the saddle, and horses and men were knocked up. The next 
 day they were overtaken by Captains Taylor and Trevor, with 
 30 troopers and about 300 Afghans, which reinforcement, 
 though it seems to have inspired Hajji Khan with courage to 
 rejoin his head-quarters, did not a whit diminish his ardour 
 in endeavouring to persuade the British commandant to 
 delay the pursuit. He tried by entreaty, menace, and with- 
 holding guides, to keep back this dauntless soldier even 
 when mounting his horse, and in the act of departure : but in 
 vain ; before nightfall Outram had crossed the steep Shutar- 
 gardan (camel neck), a pass some thousands of feet higher 
 that the Hajji Gok, and after dark he halted 'at a deserted 
 village at the foot of the Ghat .... on the banks of a 
 stream which flows into the Oxus.' Briefly, after six days' 
 hard riding and roughing he reached Bamian to miss again 
 the object of his search, and to certify that, with such a guide 
 and in such a country, it would be madness to continue the 
 chase. On August 11, the day before leaving Bamian, he 
 addressed a letter to the Envoy, from which the following 
 passages are extracted : — 
 
 ' On my arrival at this place on the 9th instant, I had 
 the honour to address you with information that the Ameer 
 Dost Mahommed Khan had escaped beyond the frontier ; 
 expressing at the same time my intention to await the result 
 of a letter that had been addressed to his adherents by 
 Nusseer-ood-Dowlah, myself, and others, or the receipt of 
 further orders from yourself. 
 
 ' The accompanying extracts from my journal will explain
 
 1 839 REPORT FROM BAM IAN. 185 
 
 to you the circumstances under which I have been compelled 
 to resolve on returning from Bamian to-morrow, at mid-day, 
 unless supplies, reinforcements, or orders to the contrary 
 shall be received by that time ; when, having completed 
 three days at this place, a sufficient period will have elapsed 
 to admit of an answer arriving from the adherents of Dost 
 Mahommed Khan, to the letter addressed to them on the 8th 
 instant, if it ever was really despatched by Hadji Khan 
 Kakur, which I have now reason to doubt. 
 
 ' It will be seen . . . that the fugitive might have 
 been overtaken at Hurzar on the morning of the 6th instant, 
 had not our guides, who were under charge of Nusseer-ood- 
 Dowlah's people, deserted us during the night; that the 
 Khan then insisted on delaying at Yourt, only half-way to 
 Hurzar, instead of pushing on as urged by me to do ; and 
 that, although he promised to make up for the delay in the 
 afternoon, he ultimately refused to go on, thus retarding 
 our advance till next morning, the 7th instant, when we 
 expected to overtake Dost Mahommed Khan at Kulloo — to 
 which place, in that hope, I was compelled to proceed with the 
 British detachment alone, unsupported by Nusseer-ood-Dowlah 
 or any of the Afghan troops, who remained behind at Hurzar 
 notwithstanding my personal solicitations to that chief. 
 
 ' It will be further seen that he next day again endeavoured 
 to prevent our following the fugitive ; that he deceived me 
 by repeated false assurances of Dost Mahommed Khan's 
 escape being cut off ; and, finally, that he formally announced 
 to me his inability to face Dost Mahommed Khan with his 
 o'wn Afghans, not a man of whom, he declared, would fight 
 against the Ameer ; even hinting his belief that they were 
 more likely to turn against ourselves.' 
 
 So they retraced their steps to the commander-in-chiefs 
 camp, now stationed, not where they had quitted it, but at
 
 1 86 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839 
 
 Kabul, before the walls of which town Shah Shuja had 
 appeared with the British army on August 6. But the 
 letter to the Envoy did not contain the statement of what 
 was done, or contemplated to be done, on the eve of entering 
 Bamian, where the Dost was supposed to be with 200 staunch 
 adherents. We must refer to the diary for particulars of the 
 ' council of war ' held on this occasion : — • 
 
 ' It was resolved that on the Ameer turning to oppose 
 us, of which, on our overtaking him to-morrow, as we expect 
 to do, there can be no doubt, the thirteen British officers 
 who are present with this force, shall charge in the centre of 
 the little band, every one directing his individual efforts 
 against the person of Dost Muhammad Khan, whose fall 
 must thus be rendered next to certain. It being evident 
 that all the Afghans on both sides will turn against us, unless 
 we are immediately successful, this plan of attack appears to 
 afford the only chance of escape to those who may survive ; 
 and it is an object of paramount importance to effect the 
 destruction of the Ameer, rather than to permit his escape. 
 Although crowded as usual into one small rowtie (marquee), 
 with little to eat, nothing whatever to drink, and no bed on 
 which to lie, saving our sheep-skin cloaks, our little party, 
 always cheerful and merry, has never been more happy than 
 on this night, under the exciting expectation of so glorious a 
 struggle in the morning. All prospect of danger on such 
 occasions as these is met by the soldier with the gratifying 
 conviction that should he fall, he will have earned an enviable 
 place in the recollection of those loved, though distant, friends, 
 in whose memory he most desires to live. ' 
 
 The sober spirit in which the return of the gallant band 
 from Bamian was effected, may have offered a marked 
 contrast to the buoyant hopefulness which had characterised 
 its original outset : but though disappointed and, it may be,
 
 i839 ARRIVAL AT KABUL. 187 
 
 irritated at the deceit practised upon them, its members 
 had no cause to be crestfallen. It was not alone with rocks 
 and ravines, or want of food, shelter, and forage that they 
 had to contend ; but with traitors and enemies in the guise 
 of friends. Let any one acquainted "with Afghanistan and 
 other mountainous and roadless tracts on a like scale, study 
 the detailed map of the country between Haidar Khel and 
 Bamian ; and, after taking account of the physical difficulties 
 there presented, accept as a truth that these were as nothing 
 compared to the obstacles raised up, and risks occasioned 
 within the same limits, by man's duplicity ; and he will have 
 some idea of the whole situation. 
 
 Outram arrived at Kabul on August 17.' Four days 
 later, he was placed at the temporary disposal of the British 
 Envoy, *for the purpose of conducting an expedition into 
 certain disturbed districts lying between Kabul and Kandahar, 
 in order to tranquillise the disaffected GThilzai tribes, none of 
 whom had yet submitted to the king,' His duties were 
 subsequently defined under four heads : the arrest of Mihtar 
 Musa Khan, Abdu-r-Eahman Khan, Grul Muhammad Khan, 
 and the ' Mama,' four refractory Grhilzai chiefs ; the establish- 
 ment in power of three new Grhilzai governors ; the punish- 
 ment of the inhabitants of a certain village of Maruf, who 
 had wantonly destroyed a caravan en route to India from 
 Kandahar ; and the reduction of the forts of Hajji Khan, the 
 Nasiru-d-daulah, should his adherents decline to surrender 
 them. The last-named nobleman had been arrested by the 
 king's order, for treason and conniving at Dost Muhammad's 
 escape — a charge eventually brought home to him on 
 evidence. 
 
 This little expedition would take its leader far on the 
 way to his own Presidency, and his political functions would 
 
 ' Ho makes the distance from Bamian only 97 miles ; but General Kaye 
 reckons it at 112.
 
 i88 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839 
 
 cease on its accomplishment. But there was a prospect of 
 active employment for him in the field, previous to return to 
 India ; and he would be thrown into contact with authorities 
 likely to avail themselves of his services in a pinrely military 
 capacity. It was suggested that he should visit Ghazni, and 
 thence proceed by the road branching off near Mukur, east of 
 Kandahar, to Kwatta. Major-Greneral Willshire, who would 
 probably return to India by the same route, was to be 
 instructed to assist him with men, if requisite, within certain 
 limitations. Meanwhile the force to be instantly placed at 
 his disposal, was composed of the Ghurka infantry regiment, 
 with a proportion of cavalry and artillery from Shah Shuja's 
 contingent ; he was promised also any detail that could be 
 spared from the Camel Battery. Further south, at Kalat-i- 
 Grhilzai, the Shah's infantry regiment from Kandahar, with 
 a few cavalry, and Captain Anderson's troop of horse artillery, 
 were to await his orders. His departure was hastened by 
 a supplementary commission to punish the murderers of 
 Colonel Herring, an officer of the 37th Bengal native 
 infantry, who had been waylaid by a body of armed men 
 near Haidar Khel, and cut to pieces before assistance could 
 be rendered. 
 
 Hitherto, history has rendered but scant justice to the 
 manner in which this not unimportant mission was fulfilled. 
 Its general objects were tolerably clear ; but the modus 
 operandi was rightly left to the leader's own discretion, on 
 which Mr. INIacNaghten had every reliance. Independently 
 of political responsibility, there was work to be done which 
 would test his qualifications for military command, and in 
 this respect his instructions were a carte blanche. The En- 
 voy had quickly taken measure of his man, and selected him 
 from appreciation of his worth and honour. Shah Shuja re- 
 ceived his new commissioner in open darbdr, on September 6, 
 introducing him to the Afghan chiefs who were to accompany
 
 
 Plate 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 TANFOROS GEOG ES7AB'
 
 i839 SUBJUGATION OF GHILZAIS. 189 
 
 him — and whom he cautioned as to their future behaviour — 
 and afterwards conversing with him in his private apartment. 
 The following day Outram made his first march out, agreeably 
 to notice ; but on that occasion the whole escort was com- 
 prised in 300 of the Shah's cavalry, and 100 of Skinner's 
 horse ; and his Afghans did not really join him in force until 
 a full week afterwards. 
 
 The semi-official as well as official correspondence of 
 the day explains how disturbed were men's minds at the 
 capital. The Dost was stirring up mischief in Khulm, and 
 it was considered imperative to expel him from that locality. 
 Nor was this all to cause uneasiness on the part of those 
 dressed in the brief authority of the Bala Hissar. ' I do not 
 remember any period of my life,' writes Mr. MacNaghten 
 unreservedly to Captain Outram, 'at which I was more 
 bothered and oppressed in my business than the present. 
 Both his INIajesty and myself have had the utmost difficulty 
 in driving these heavy Afghans out to join you.' 
 
 Our business is, however, not with Kabul. The city has 
 been reached, but we have little to do with it in these pages. 
 We must also take leave of the commander-in-chiefs camp, 
 about to be shifted from Kabul to Peshawar and India. It 
 is the story of Sir John Keane's ex-aide-de-camp we have to 
 relate, and he is moving towards Sind again, and the regions 
 of the Lower Indus. 
 
 The first serious opposition which the detachment ex- 
 perienced in the Ghilzai country was on September 22. It 
 had then been recently strengthened by a wing of the 16th 
 Bengal native infantry, under Major MacLaren, from Ohazni. 
 Before this, however, Mir Alam Khan, one of the new 
 governors accompanying it, had secured six of the gang 
 concerned in Colonel Herring's murder, and Bakhshi Khan, 
 an eminent actor in the same tragedy, had fallen into the 
 hands of Outram's native assistants ; the difficult Kharwar
 
 I90 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839 
 
 Pass had been surmounted; the Kharwar district crossed; 
 and the Zurmal ^ valley scoured ; forts and property had been 
 captured and made over to responsible persons on the Shah's 
 behalf; and nine prisoners had been sent in to the care of 
 the Ghazni garrison. Outram thus narrates the affair in his 
 diary : — 
 
 ' Made a night march, in order to surprise the Kanjak 
 banditti, whose haunt I had ascertained to be in the Indran 
 mountains, eighteen miles to the eastward. Arrived as the 
 day broke at a deep dell occupied by the gang, and while 
 the infantry advanced from the front, I despatched the horse 
 in two bodies to cut off retreat from flanks and rear. The 
 ground being very broken and difficult, however, most of the 
 enemy had found time to ascend a precipitous hill, along 
 the ridge of which they must have escaped, had I not 
 fortunately been mounted on an exceedingly active horse, and 
 thus been enabled to gallop ahead and deter them from 
 advancing until the cavalry came up. Finding themselves 
 completely surrounded, they defended themselves most 
 stoutly, and maintained their position until their ammunition 
 was nearly all expended, when on a general rush being made 
 from every quarter at once, they were induced to throw 
 down their arms, after sixteen of the more desperate of their 
 body had been killed, and several others wounded. Even the 
 women assisted in the fray, by handing ammunition to their 
 husbands, and throwing stones at our troops. The loss on 
 our side amounts to three sepoys and one horse killed, and 
 two lieutenants, one 7'issaldar, one dufadar, and several men 
 and horses wounded. In the evening we returned with 112 
 prisoners, comprising some women and children who, with 
 the men killed in the attack, form the whole of the Kanjak 
 
 ' A region reported as too turbulent to bo entered by any Afghan king 
 •without a large army at his back.
 
 Plate 2, 
 
 VGlfSM Mftes 
 
 Stanford's c£Og. estabt
 
 1839 ESCAPE OF A GARRISON. 191 
 
 gang. Not a soul contrived to escape, and the whole of their 
 arms and property, together with 112 camels, have fallen 
 into our hands — nearly all the latter bearing the Company's 
 mark, showing that they were stolen from the British army 
 during its advance.' 
 
 On September 23, he selected forty-six of the most 
 desperate of the prisoners for transmission to Kabul, and 
 continued his journey to the southward. On the 28th, at 
 Mushkhail, JMihtar Musa Khan, one of the chiefs he was 
 specially commissioned to arrest, and ' leader of the fanatic 
 army ' which had ' threatened the British camp the day 
 before the fall of Ghazni, came in and surrendered.' On 
 October 3, at Ushlan, he was joined by the Puna auxiliary 
 horse under Captain Keith Erskine, from General Willshire's 
 camp, then only three miles to the westward ; and on the 
 next night, at Mansur, he came up with three nine-pounder 
 guns sent for his use from Ghazni. Thus reinforced, he 
 pushed on, marching forty-two miles in twenty-four hours, 
 to Kala-i-Murgha, the fort of Abdu-r-Eahman Klian, the 
 principal Ghilzai chief, whose father, in the days of Shah 
 Zaman, had besieged Kabul with 50,000 men, and who had 
 himself kept our army so much on the alert during the march 
 from Kandahar to Ghazni. Outram succeeded in surprising 
 him in his castle, a well-constructed defence with a ' high 
 citadel and wet ditch.' But a wish to rest his troops, and 
 follow up the capture of the place with a dash at the two 
 remaining chiefs in his list (to be brought within reach by a 
 forced march), induced him to defer the attack till next day 
 — a delay which proved fatal. In spite of 500 cavalry 
 surrounding the fort, and two companies of native infantry 
 placed under cover at less than 200 yards from the gate, the 
 garrison, which had been purposely reduced to some eighty 
 select horsemen, sallied forth during the night and, scattering,
 
 192 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839 
 
 rode sharply past the pickets, escaping to a man,' — owing to 
 neglect of orders by one of the officers on the watch. After 
 destroying the stronghold, and making the best arrangements 
 in his power for eventual seizure of the fugitives, Outram 
 joined Greneral Wiilshire's camp between Ghazni and the 
 country of the Utak Grhilzais, east of Kandahar. For this 
 ride of twenty miles he was escorted by only two Grhilzais — a 
 proof of the singularly wholesome effect of his recent opera- 
 tions. He had not, however, marched with his Bombay 
 comrades for many days, before a second brush occurred with 
 the Khans opposed to the Shah. Some of the more notorious 
 happened to be in his immediate vicinity. An expedition 
 against the Barakzai tribes, who had plundered and ill-treated 
 the India-bound caravan mentioned in his instructions, was 
 strictly within his tether — and the presence of a British 
 column, and the locality they had reached, offered an excellent 
 opportunity to organise one. Accordingly, a detachment, 
 comprising cavalry, guns, sappers, and native infantry, under 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Stalker, moved out in the direction of 
 the villages of Maruf ; and the political officer thus describes 
 his own share of the work then accomplished : — 
 
 ' I galloped on with the cavalry and surrounded them 
 before a soul had time to escape. Abu Khan and Jabar 
 Khan, the chiefs of the tribe, together with all their followers, 
 were secured ; and they informed against others concerned, 
 whom I also apprehended by proceeding immediately to their 
 villages with a few horsemen. Having placed the prisoners 
 in charge of the infantry, I crossed the valley to the 
 fort of Maruf, which, in consequence of the approach of the 
 Bombay column, had been evacuated some days before. To 
 
 ' Outram states, in his ' Rougli Xotes,' that three of the wives of Abdn-r- 
 Raliman, and his sister, who was one of the wives of Dost Muhammad Khan, 
 rode out of the fort with tlio rest, protected by the darkness, which rendci'ed 
 pursuit of uo avail.
 
 1 839 FROM THE GHILZAI COUNTRY. 193 
 
 my astonishment, it proved to be the strongest fortress 
 that we had yet seen in the country, being constituted with 
 double gates, a ditch, fausse-braye, and towers of solid 
 masonry, which might have held out successfully against 
 all the materiel with which the Bombay division is pro- 
 vided.' 
 
 In connection with this concluding passage of Outram's 
 brief but brilliant career in Afghanistan, the following 
 extracts, written on September 23 from the heart of the 
 Ghilzai country, are full of interest and have a present sig- 
 nificance. The first was addressed to Mr. MacNaghten : — 
 
 . . . . ' Having placed Shah Shooja on his throne, we 
 have done our duty by him ; but we thus have imposed a 
 further and sacred duty on ourselvesy that of seeing that the 
 government we have so mainly contributed to erect is just 
 and beneficial to the people ; and we know that oppres- 
 sion and extortion must be the inevitable and immediate 
 consequence of letting loose the Shah's greedy courtiers upon 
 his provinces, so prolific a field for bullying and peculation, 
 especially while yet unassessed .... for even Dost 
 Mahomed's exactions cannot be taken as a fair assess- 
 ment — latterly, it would appear, having only been limited 
 by the extent of his power to extort; while those of his 
 immediate predecessors may, on the contrary, perhaps, 
 have been too light, owing to their feeble sway. 
 
 * We should best preserve the people from over-exactions 
 and the Shah from imposition — at the same time performing 
 our duty to both parties and to ourselves, which in justice, 
 honour, and policy, we are surely bound to exert ourselves to 
 the utmost to do — by directly supervising and narrowly 
 scrutinising the first settlement of the Shah's revenues. We 
 should render our interference, as it is an obligation to him, 
 
 VOL. I, O
 
 194 ' JAMES OUTRAM. 1839 
 
 also a benefit to his people instead of the contrary — a result 
 which the new government might soon bring about if not 
 so controlled, owing to the insatiable demands of those 
 courtiers who fancy they cannot be too highly rewarded 
 for their share in the Shah's restoration (the curse of every 
 restoration), or, that they are essential to his stability 
 .... he would be too apt to make over to them the 
 management of districts, without previously ascertaining their 
 real value, or instituting any measures whereby to protect 
 the people from the extortions of such persons, whose only 
 object would be to extort the utrtiost, without care for the 
 interests either of king or people. 
 
 ' By thus acting the part of mediator between the people 
 and the new government, we should soon convince the former 
 of our superior justice and generosity to anything they had 
 hitherto been accustomed to ; for we, with our independent 
 incomes, can afford to be just and generous, even were we not 
 so, as by nature and education we ought to be, but which the 
 native officials cannot be, they having everything to derive 
 from those they are placed over. 80 far, our interference 
 would tend to render us popular in this country, instead of 
 the very contrary, which we shall too soon become by con- 
 tinuing only to appear, as at present, in the light alone of 
 supporters to the Shah ; and as our future connection with 
 the Afghans must now, of necessity, become most intimate, 
 we cannot too soon secure it on a beneficial footing to all 
 classes — a result, the direct reverse of which the system of 
 non-interference, so far from promoting, must, on the 
 contrary, inevitably insure.' 
 
 The second was to Captain ]\IacG-regor, secretary to the 
 Envoy : — 
 
 ' I fear the Envoy may think me intrusive in thus 
 volunteering my suggestions ; but I think not, for he must
 
 Plate 3. 
 
 3TAIVF0RD3 GEOB ESTaB''
 
 1 839 'A ROVING COMMISSION. 195 
 
 appreciate my motives — being sent here to do my best for 
 the benefit of all parties— even should he not agree in opinion 
 as to the propriety, or policy, of assimaing to ourselves so 
 intimate an interference on behalf of these people. Time 
 will show whether I am right ; and I do not hesitate to 
 prognosticate that these districts, if left to the direct and 
 uncontrolled management of the Shah's native agents, will 
 never prosper, and will ever prove a hot-bed of sedition : 
 whereas, if properly managed, as only they would be through 
 our intervention, they may become the most prosperous and 
 contented in the Shah's dominions. 
 
 ' I shall ever look back to my passing visit to this 
 quarter with much satisfaction, if I can think I have been in 
 the slightest degree the cause of so great a blessing to these 
 poor people as an impartial, but energetic, government, and 
 fair taxation, without which these districts will cost the 
 king more than he derives from them, and will ever prove a 
 thorn in his side. In saying this, I now take leave for ever 
 of Loghur, Kurwar, Gurdaez, Zoormut, and Kuttywass' — 
 five of the Grhikai districts, to establish the Shah's authority 
 over which he had been deputed. 
 
 Marching with, and occasionally detached from, the 
 returning force, Outram continued in discharge of the duty 
 with which Mr. MacNaghten had entrusted him up to the 
 time of his arrival in Kwatta. Especially had he to give his 
 attention to the strongholds of his old associate Hajji Khan, 
 Kakar, which lay within moderate distance of the main track 
 he was following. In some cases, the occupants were openly 
 hostile to the British troops, and to meet these a more 
 thorough procedure than dismantling w^as expedient ; but 
 the insignificance of the building for defensive purposes 
 might save it from destruction. One fort he completely 
 demolished, ' blomng up every bastion, gateway, and out- 
 
 o 2
 
 196 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839 
 
 work,' to the apparent satisfaction of the inhabitants of the 
 valley below it, on whom the garrison had exercised a 
 system of aggression made all the more formidable from the 
 possession of the higher stream which supplied water to their 
 villages. On October 31, he marched with the column to 
 Kwatta ; and here, as already shown, his political functions 
 would have no field for exercise ; they ceased, in fact, on his 
 entering the Shal valley. He would have to find new em- 
 ■ ployment, or take leave of his friends in camp. 
 
 But James Outram was not one to be spared from the 
 scene of emergencies, when they arose within his sphere of 
 work. Circumstances had made it more or less imperative, 
 on the part of our high politicals, to call Mihrab Khan of 
 Kalat to account for an obstructiveness which had become 
 dangerous to the interests they sought to protect. It was 
 therefore decided that Oeneral Willshire should march 
 against him in his head-quarters. Kalat is situated about a 
 hundred miles south and a little west of Kwatta ; and thither 
 the attacking force moved leisurely on November 4, 
 through the large and well watered valley of Mastung. A 
 week from that date they were at a distance of two easy 
 marches from their goal. Outram had accompanied as an 
 amateur up to this point. He was now nominated to attend 
 the general in the capacity of aide-de-camp during the 
 expected action, and to serve with the engineers during the 
 siege. Mihrab Khan had threatened to bring out his whole 
 force to expel or annihilate the Farangi intruders, but, wisely 
 perhaps if unfortunately, contented himself with preparing 
 for defence within walls. 
 
 In dealing with facts, we are not called upon to discuss 
 the political merits of the quarrel with Kalat, or criticise the 
 treatment of Mihrab Khan by the Indian Government. Our 
 business is at present with the siege. General Willshire's 
 force consisted of H.M.'s 2nd and 17th regiments of foot, and
 
 1 839 RECONNOITRING. 197 
 
 the 31st Bengal native infantry; the three together not 
 numbering one thousand rank and file ; two guns of the 
 Bombay horse artillery, and four of the Shah's; some 
 sappers and miners, and 150 irregular horse ; 'the whole in 
 the highest possible order.' The remainder of the Bombay 
 column had continued their homeward route by the Bolan 
 Pass. On November 12, the general advanced fifteen miles 
 to the station immediately before the capital ; and Outram 
 was sent out with Lieutenant John Eamsay, assistant quarter- 
 master-general, and an escort of local horse, to reconnoitre. 
 If the reconnaissance did not elicit the fighting capacities of 
 our enemies, it cannot be said to have done better for our 
 allies. A few mounted scouts were observed to gallop away 
 the moment the party appeared in sight : while, on the other 
 hand, attack was threatened by some fifty horsemen who 
 descended into the plain from an eminence off the road. 
 Beating retreat, however, when they found a resolute front 
 opposed to them, these only halted when their adversaries 
 halted ; advancing again when the others retired, and now and 
 then relieving the monotony of the movement by an ineffec- 
 tual shot. ' This system,' wrote Outram, ' was continued until 
 we had entered a small pass leading through the hills by 
 which Khelat is surrounded, when the enemy once more 
 formed, and suffered us to advance within fifty yards of them, 
 as if here determined to oppose our further progress. They 
 then fired a volley, wheeled, and galloped off — fortunately for 
 us, without Avaiting to see the result of their bravado, which 
 had sent every man of our escort, saving the jemadar, to the 
 right-about! Had our opponents followed up their advan- 
 tage. Lieutenant Eamsay and myself would have been left 
 to stand our ground as we best might ; but it so turned out 
 that the enemy continued their flight to Khelat, upon per- 
 ceiving which our party recovered courage, and followed them 
 a short distance.
 
 198 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839 
 
 On the following morning the British troops arrived 
 before Kalat ; the town and fortress coming in view so soon as 
 they had surmounted a small range of hills, after a seven 
 miles' march, varied with desultory skirmishing. To Outram 
 ' it was truly an imposing sight. Some small hills in front 
 were crowned with masses of soldiers, and the towering 
 citadel which frowned above them in their rear was com- 
 pletely clustered over with human beings — ladies of the 
 harem chiefly — who had assembled to witness the discomfiture 
 of the Feringees, and the prowess of their lords, all of whom, 
 with the Khan at their head, had previously marched out 
 to the heights, where they awaited us in battle array ! ' 
 We use freely his own words to describe the sequel of that 
 stirring day : — 
 
 ' No sooner had the head of the British column showed 
 itself, than the enemy's guns, of which there were five in 
 position on the heights, opened upon it ; but, being ill 
 directed, they were unattended with effect. In order to 
 assemble every efficient man of his small army, General 
 Willshire here halted the troops until the baggage had closed 
 up, assigning the charge of it and of the sick to the local 
 horse. It was very evident that the enemy, who greatly 
 outstripped us in point of numbers, were fully bent upon 
 mischief ; and, our total strength amounting to less than one 
 thousand bayonets, we had nothing to spare in the contest 
 that awaited us. During this delay two companies were 
 sent to clear some gardens on our left ; and a body of horse 
 threatening us from that direction, a few shrapnel shells 
 were thrown amongst them, which caused them to withdraw to 
 the fort. The cool and determined demeanour of our veteran 
 general inspired every one present with confidence of success ; 
 nor shall I ever forget the obvious feeling of delight with which 
 his deep-toned word of command, " Loosen cartridges ! " was
 
 1 839 SIEGE OF KALAT. 199 
 
 received by the soldiers — evincing as it did that an immediate 
 attack was intended, and that serious opposition might be 
 expected.' 
 
 According to the plan of assault communicated, four com- 
 panies of each regiment, in three columns of attack, were to 
 carry the redoubts on the heights under cover of the artillery ; 
 two companies were to advance through gardens on the left ; 
 and the remaining ten companies would form the reserve. 
 All being in readiness, the columns aforesaid ' moved steadily 
 forward, preceded by the artillery, which unlimbered at the 
 foot of the hills, and opened a cannonade of shells and 
 shrapnel with such admirable precision, that the masses of 
 the enemy, crowning the heights, were compelled to abandon 
 their position long before the infantry had gained the 
 summit. Observing the enemy endeavouring to draw off 
 their guns, the general despatched me with orders to the 
 column of the Queen's Eoyals, which was the nearest to the 
 gate, to pursue the fugitives, and, if possible, to enter the 
 fort with them — but at any rate to prevent their taking in 
 the ordnance. I overtook the head of the column .... and 
 galloped on to the redoubt at the very moment that the 
 enemy were vacating it ; when, perceiving them to be engaged 
 in an attempt to carry off one of the pieces of artillery, I 
 called on Captain Eaitt of the Queen's Eoyals to push down 
 quickly with his grenadiers, and if unable to enter the gate 
 with the enemy, at all events to capture the gun. I accom- 
 panied this party, which rushed down the hill, but arrived 
 too late to enter the fort with the enemy, who, however, 
 abandoned the gun outside, and hastily closed the gate after 
 them. 
 
 ' Leaving the grenadiers to take post under cover of a 
 ruined building . . . within sixty yards of the gate, so as to 
 be in readiness to enter by it, in case the general might
 
 200 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839 
 
 decide upon following up this advantage by blowing open the 
 gate before the garrison should find time to block it up, as 
 they doubtless would do were the attack to be delayed, I 
 rode back to report progress. The whole of our troops were 
 already on the heights, and the guns were also being dragged 
 up. Four of the latter were directed to play upon the towers 
 commanding the gateway . . . whilst the other two were 
 ordered down . . . for the purpose of battering the gate 
 itself. The general at the same time despatched me . . . 
 with instructions to bring up the light companies under 
 Major Pennycuick to . . . where a mud wall, about four feet 
 in height, afforded shelter within thirty yards of the wall on 
 the opposite side of the gate to that near which the grenadiers 
 of the Queen's Eoyals were posted. Having brought them 
 at double quick time across the plain to within two hundred 
 yards of the walls, and then directed them to scatter and 
 rush under cover, I returned to the general,' warning the 
 grenadiers on the way, ' that the gate would be immediately 
 blown open, when they were to rush in simultaneously with 
 the light companies from the opposite side.' 
 
 Most of the day's casualties occurred whilst Outram was 
 executing the two duties last named. On both occasions he 
 was the only mounted officer present ; but although both the 
 nature of his occupation, and the singularity of his uniform, 
 ditfering as it did from all others, must have attracted a con- 
 siderable share of the enemy's observation, he escaped with 
 his usual good fortune. To resume : — 
 
 ' The two guns now opened upon the gate, and being 
 admirably directed (by Lieutenant Henry Creed, of the 
 Bombay artillery) a few rounds were sufficient to throw down 
 one half of it. The general's signals for the advance of the 
 storming parties not being immediately observed, I galloped 
 down, and accompanied the grenadiers to the gate, after
 
 j839 siege of KALAT. 201 
 
 seeing them in secure occupation of which, I returned to the 
 general, whom I met close to the fort, bringing up the main 
 body of the troops. He immediately despatched me with 
 Captain Darley's Company of H.INI.'s 17th foot, with instruc- 
 tions to take the 31st regiment Bengal native infantry along 
 with me, and with these to storm the heights and secure the 
 gate on the opposite side of the fort. After passing quickly 
 round the western, face, from which we were exposed to a 
 considerable fire, I placed the company of the 17th under 
 cover of a spur of the hill, and thence proceeded back to seek 
 for the 31st regiment, which I found scouring the suburbs. 
 Having united the two detachments, we stormed the heights 
 . . . where we experienced some trifling opposition from match- 
 lock-men occupying the rocks above ; these being soon dis- 
 persed we rushed down to the gate . . . driving in a party 
 of the enemy with such precipitation that they had not time 
 to secure the gate, possession of which was thus obtained, and 
 the escape of the garrison entirely cut off. 
 
 ' We were here joined by a party under Major Deshon, 
 which had been sent round by the eastern face of the fort, 
 when I directed the officers to leave a detachment in charge 
 of the gate, and with the remaining portion to make their 
 way up to the citadel, which still maintained a fire upon our 
 troops, whilst I accompanied Lieutenant Creed for the pur- 
 pose of selecting a position from whence to bombard it with 
 the Shah's guns. Placed the guns in position . . . and 
 opened a fire on the citadel, which was continued with 
 destructive effect, until our soldiers had obtained possession. 
 Rejoining the general in the meantime to report progress, 
 I found him at the gate first carried, giving orders for 
 attaching bags of gunpowder to the gates of the citadel, which 
 had hitherto successfully resisted all attempts to enter it from 
 this side. Reported that the party from the opposite quarter 
 had already got well up and, with the aid of Lieutenant
 
 202 JAMES OUT RAM. 1839 
 
 Creed's guns, would shortly surmount every obstacle. Here- 
 upon troops were again sent up to co-operate, and a few 
 minutes more sufficed to display the British standards 
 waving over the highest of the towers of Kalat. All hostili- 
 ties immediately ceased, and the soldiers displayed much 
 greater forbearance than they usually do on such occasions. 
 Quarter was never refused by them, when craved by cries of 
 " Aman," " Aman," and before nightfall nearly 2,000 priso- 
 ners had been removed from the fort unharmed. 
 
 ' About four hundred of the garrison are supposed to 
 have fallen in this affair, and amongst them are . . . Mehrab 
 Khan, WuUee Mahommed Khan, and other principal Beloche 
 chieftains — every person of note having been either slain or 
 captured. Some anxiety was expressed by the general on 
 the occasion of my rejoining him at the first gate, in conse- 
 quence of the rumoured escape of Mehrab Khan ; but I 
 assured him that, as the fighting portions of the garrison 
 had been driven back whilst in the act of attempting to 
 decamp by the opposite gate, I entertained no doubt that 
 the Khan was still within the fort, since he could not, in 
 honour, have previously deserted his followers. This after- 
 wards proved to be the case. Foiled on that occasion in his 
 attempt to escape, the chief had returned to the citadel with 
 Wullee Mahommed Khan, of Wudd, and others of his most 
 trusty followers, where they had all died sword in hand ; the 
 Khan himself being slain by a shot through the neck, from 
 whose hand it is not known. Considering the small number 
 of our troops, not one half of whom were actually engaged, 
 the loss on our side is severe. Thirty-two were killed, and 
 one hundred and seven wounded ; amongst the former is 
 Lieutenant Gravatt of the Queen's Koyals, and there are nine 
 officers amongst the latter.' 
 
 The next day Avorking parties were employed in remov-
 
 Rate 4
 
 1 839 PASSAGES FROM DESPATCH. 203 
 
 ing and burying the dead, as well as in collecting prize 
 property. 
 
 ' Scattered as the dead bodies are over every part of the 
 town, among houses, the numerous dark chambers of which 
 are not easily explored, it has not yet been practicable to 
 ascertain the number of the slain. The amount of booty is 
 supposed to be very considerable, but we unfortunately do 
 not possess the means of carrying it away, nor is there any 
 market here in which to dispose of it. The arms especially 
 are of very superior manufacture, and the sword of the fallen 
 chief Mehrab Khan in particular, which is of the most costly 
 workmanship, is estimated to be of great value. The mem- 
 bers of our little army have "with one accord resolved upon 
 presenting this enviable trophy to their gallant leader 
 General Willshire, in token of their admiration of his heroic 
 bearing yesterday.' 
 
 In the despatch, under date November 14, 1839, 
 reporting to Lord Auckland the fall of Kalat, Captain 
 Outram's good service, in conducting two companies of 
 infantry to take up a material position during the siege, is 
 especially noticed : and the following paragraph is more 
 precise still : — ' From my aides-de-camp, Captain Robinson 
 and Lieutenant Halkett, as well as Captain Outram, who 
 volunteered his services on my personal staff, I received the 
 utmost assistance, and to the latter officer I feel greatly in- 
 debted for the zeal and ability with which he has per- 
 formed various duties that I have required of him upon 
 other occasions as well as the present.' Then was added: — 
 * I have deputed Captain Outram to take a duplicate of the 
 despatch to the Honourable the Governor of Bombay by the 
 direct route from hence to Sonmiani Bandar, the practica- 
 bility or otherwise of which for the passage of troops I con- 
 sider it an object of importance to ascertain.'
 
 204 JAMES OUT RAM. 1839 
 
 The fufilment of the hazardous duty here indicated, one 
 which had been conceived by Outram himself, supplies an 
 interesting chapter of romance in a singularly active career. 
 There are two roads from Kalat to Sonmiani, the more easterly 
 of which, by Wadd, separating from the other at Sohrab, and 
 re-uniting at Baila, had been reported on by Colonel Pottinger, 
 who traversed it in the early part of 1810, moving upwards 
 from the sea-coast. On that occasion both Pottinger and 
 Christie had assumed the character of agents to an influential 
 native contractor for supplying horses to the Grovernments of 
 Madras and Bombay ; but, although the actual status of the 
 English officers was a puzzle to most inquirers, and their 
 European origin was patent to many, the native dress which 
 they wore kept them from that suspicious and continuous 
 scrutiny with which the Farangi traveller is distressed in his 
 wanderings through the less visited regions of the East. 
 They were three full weeks in getting from Sonmiani to the 
 capital of Mahmud Khan, then chief of Kalat : that is to say, 
 they performed the journey in fifteen marches, and halted 
 seven days, reckoning the distance at a fraction above 345 
 miles. 
 
 Outram chose the western route, by Nal ; made out his 
 journey in less than eight days, and reckoned the distance 355 ' 
 miles — a figure somewhat higher than that of his predecessor. 
 His movements were necessarily secret and rapid, too much so 
 for accurate survey or observation : for he was travelling at a 
 time of great local excitement, through an enemy's country and 
 amid a rough and rude people. Starting at midnight, disguised 
 as an Afghan, with one private servant only, he left camp under 
 the guardianship of two Saiyids of Shal, who had accepted 
 the responsibility of escorting him, and whose two armed 
 attendants made up the whole party. There were thus six 
 persons in all — mounted on four ponies and two camels, 
 
 ' The Itinerary attached to his Diary has become a valuable reference.
 
 Plate 5. 
 
 STAtVFORD'S GEOG. £STAB7
 
 1 839 ADVENTUROUS JOURNEY. 205 
 
 carrying provision for themselves, and as much as practicable 
 for the animals. On the first day, they were nineteen hours 
 in the saddle, ran the gauntlet through a host of inquirers 
 and fomilies flying from Kalat, and met with many adventures. 
 For some time they had to travel in company with the family 
 of the prime minister, out of whose wardrobe Outram's 
 disguise had been provided. Fortunately, it proved of too 
 mean a character to provoke identification. When resting 
 or refreshing, the Saiyids skilfully managed, as a rule, to 
 keep their charge in the background, and to answer all 
 questions put, as if in every case addressed to themselves. 
 But Outram had to play more than a silent or sleeping part. 
 The comparative fairness of his complexion was alone likely 
 to arouse suspicion, and, this once aroused, any over-anxiety 
 to escape notice would add fuel to the fire. He had been 
 introduced as a ' Pir ' or saintly man, and had to support the 
 character according to his ability. These ' Pirs ' are in great 
 local request in Sind and Baluchistan. What wonder, then, 
 that in one case it fell to his lot, sorely against his conscience, 
 to utter a charm over a tuft of hair which the owner of a sick 
 camel brought for that particular purpose ! On the second 
 day, they were little molested, owing to the deserted state of 
 the track through which they rode ; and they slept with 
 safety and comfort among uninhabited ruins. On the third 
 day they were in the immediate neighbourhood of Nal, too 
 large a place to enter into en masse^ but too important to be 
 passed without prociuring there a supply of grain for the 
 horses. Here Outram and his personal attendant lay con- 
 cealed while his escort did the marketing ; but one Saiyid 
 delayed his return so long that the Enghshman, anticipating 
 mischief, was on the point of declaring himself to the chief 
 of the village. As to the other Saiyid, he was discovered in 
 a small fort, ' assisting at the coronach for the dead chief, the 
 tidings of whose fall at Kalat had been received that very 
 afternoon.'
 
 2o6 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839 
 
 At night they resumed the hazardous inarch, and did not 
 draw bridle until dawn ; their great object being to outstrip 
 the exciting intelligence of the capture of Kalat. After 
 having traversed thirty miles of country without espying a 
 trace of human habitation, they availed themselves of the bank 
 of a river to lie down and sleep until 7 a.m. of the fourth 
 day. The genial mildness of temperature here experienced 
 was a pleasant contrast to the bitter and perishing cold they 
 had lately endured. About that hour they awoke to find 
 that their guide had decamped. But such an occurrence 
 was not extraordinary ; and the mishap was soon remedied 
 by the enlistment into their service of a stray shepherd. 
 Eight hours in the saddle, over a good but wholly deserted 
 road, brought them across a lofty range of mountains to the 
 bed of the Urnach river, where water and a little green grass 
 for the horses, and a little tamarisk for the camels — the first 
 green foliage seen since leaving Kabul, with the exception of 
 a few junipers on the Kakar hills — supplied a wholesome 
 addition to the scanty allowance of grain on which the poor 
 beasts had up to this time subsisted. After a repose 
 sufficient for travellers eager to reach a most dangerous 
 journey's end, they again started at midnight, and, moving 
 silently through cornfields and straggling hamlets, threaded 
 the pass over a range of mountains seemingly higher than 
 that of the previous day, by a road utterly impracticable 
 for guns, and incapable of being made so, unless at 
 immense cost of time and labour. This day, the fifth, 
 was a hard one : they dismounted after ha\dng been eleven 
 hours in the saddle, and passed the day in a ravine scantily 
 supplied with water, and green pasture for the cattle. In 
 the evening, they continued the journey for seven hours 
 over another range of mountains : not having seen the 
 trace of any inhabitant during the whole eighteen hours 
 ride. But the monotony of the brief halt was broken by the
 
 1 839 SON MI AN I AND KARACHI. 207 
 
 apparition of ' a ferocious-looking Baluchi . . . armed with 
 a long matchlock,' to Outram, as he was reading a copy of 
 the Bombay ' Times ' procured from one of the garrison at 
 Kal^t. How the unexpected visitor came there — on a high 
 bank overlooking the object of his attraction — was a mys- 
 tery : no sooner, however, did he hear a call to the Saiyid 
 and attendants, and see them rise in response, than he 
 made off. We need not continue the journey in detail. 
 Passing the large town of Baila, the capital of the Las 
 Baila district — before break of day, so as to avoid obser- 
 vation — the travellers reached Sonmiani in safety at ten 
 in the forenoon of November 23, having made a last 
 march of fourteen consecutive hours. During the entire 
 jom-ney Outram was obliged to content himself with subsist- 
 ence on dates and water, to carry out his assumed character of 
 sanctity. 
 
 At Sonmiani, he made himself known to the Hindu agent 
 of Sett Nao Mall, a merchant of Karachi, whose long attach- 
 ment to British interests has been rewarded in recent years 
 by the third class Order of the Star of India. This man 
 treated the new comers with great hospitality, and at once 
 provided a boat for the conveyance of his English guest to 
 Karachi. The latter took with him on board his Afghan ydbu, 
 of which he relates that, although not more than thirteen 
 hands in height, it had carried himself and saddle-bags, 
 ' weighing altogether upwards of sixteen stone, the whole dis- 
 tance from Kalat ... in seven days and a half (an average 
 of nearly forty-seven miles per day), ' during which time he 
 had passed one hundred and eleven hours on his back.' 
 
 On arrival at Karachi, he astonished his brother-in-law, 
 G-eneral Farquharson, by coming unexpectedly upon him in 
 the dress of a native, sword and small shield inclusive. The 
 general thought him looking very well, and little changed, 
 except, indeed, that the hair was thinning on the top of his
 
 2o8 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839 
 
 head. His visitor's appearance he afterwards described as 
 follows : — -A small pagri (native turban) composed of a twist 
 about as thick as one's finger sparsely bound about his head, 
 the hair cropping through the interstices ; white native 
 tunic and trousers ; native slippers ; all very dirty and mean- 
 looking. There was no saddle on the pony — merely a cloth 
 over his back. 
 
 From Karachi he embarked, on the evening of Novem- 
 ber 24, for Bombay. Not many days after arrival there, 
 he learnt that at midnight, on the date of his departure from 
 Sonmiani, the son of Wali Muhammad Khan, chief of Wadd, 
 killed at the siege of Kalat, had reached that port from the 
 interior in pursuit of him, expressing much disappointment 
 and irritation at missing his intended prey. Outram attri- 
 buted his escape, in a great measure, to the forced march of 
 fifty miles he had made from Nal, whereby he had ' out- 
 stripped the flying tidings of the overthrow of Kalat.' Under 
 Providence, his wisdom and energy had certainly outwitted 
 his pursuers.
 
 209 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1839-1842. 
 
 Honours and Kewards — Political Agent in Lower Sind — Political Agent in 
 Sind and Baluchistan — Mir Nur Muliamraad ; his sickness and death — Mr. 
 Ross Bell — Journey to Kwatta — Investiture of the Khan, and Treaty with 
 Kalat — Work at Dadar — Departure of Lord Auckland, and Arrival of 
 Lord Ellenborough. 
 
 For his services at Kalat, Captain Outram was promoted to 
 Major on November 13, 1839 ; but the omission of his name 
 from Sir John Keane's despatches was one of those undoubted 
 grievances which, under precedent and prescriptive custom, 
 he might, had he seen iit, have fairly agitated. That he did 
 not do so is an instance of that self-denial which was ever a 
 marked feature in his character. To a man constituted as 
 he was — possessing a keen sense of justice and great facility 
 of appreciating the inner as well as outer life around him — 
 the consciousness of self-sustained injury at the hands of 
 authority, however jealously suppressed or hidden, could not 
 fail to be severely felt. And if it be true Christian teach- 
 ing, that what we plead in our case should be admitted by 
 us in the case of others,' the converse will not assuredly be 
 disallowed, that as we judge of others so may we judge of 
 ourselves. It is not Outram's own ambition, nor is it the 
 assumption of his friends, but a well-known fact, that, had 
 common justice been done to his claims, he would have been 
 gazetted a Major for Grhazni, and, consequently, a Lieutenant- 
 Colonel for Kalat. The Court of Directors in London seemed 
 to think he had obtained the two steps, and Lord Auckland 
 
 ' F. W. Eobertson. 
 VOL. I. P
 
 2IO JAMES OUTRAM. 1839- 
 
 congratulated him on the supposed well-earned promotion.^ 
 As it happened, he lost three years of rank in the higher 
 grade, and after honours. 
 
 He also received the thanks of both the Bombay and 
 supreme Grovernments for the ' very interesting and valuable 
 documents ' relating to the Kalat-Sonmiani route, which, in 
 the spirit of Gfeneral Willshire's instructions, he had placed 
 before them. The perusal of these had afforded the 
 Grovernor-Greneral ' much satisfaction.' Prior to this, more- 
 over, the envoy and minister with Shah Shuja had con- 
 veyed his Majesty's bestowal of the second class order of the 
 Durrani Empire, in ' acknowledgment of the zeal, gallantry, 
 and judgment' which he had displayed in several instances 
 during the past year, whilst employed on the King's imme- 
 diate behalf. Three of the instances in which his ' merit 
 and exertions ' were ' particularly conspicuous,' are specially 
 cited : — 
 
 First, on the occasion of his gallantly placing himself 'at 
 the head of his Majesty's troops engaged in dispersing a 
 large body of rebels, who had taken up a threatening position 
 immediately above his Majesty's encampment on the day 
 previous to the storm of Ghazni.' 
 
 Secondly, on the occasion of his ' commanding the party 
 
 sent in pursuit of Dost Mahomed Khan,' when his ' zealous 
 
 exertions would in all probability have been crowned with 
 
 success, but for the treachery ' of his Afghan associates. 
 
 Thirdly, for ' the series of able and successful operations ' 
 
 ' Paragraph 6 of a Despatch from the Secret Committee of the Honourable 
 Court of Directors, dated February 29, 1840, expresses concurrence in the 
 praises of the Indian Government ' bestowed on Captain Outram, and in the 
 propriety of paying the expense of his journey from Kelat, and of conferring 
 upon him the brevet rank of Lieutenant-Colnnel.^ No exphination was ever 
 offered why this particular promotion — officially announced to ' Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Outram ' by the Government of Bombay — did not have effect ; and no 
 remonstrance on the subject was ever submitted by the officer concerned, who 
 considered that ' honours sought are not to be esteemed.'
 
 -1842 SIND-WARD AGAIN. 211 
 
 conducted under his superintendence, ' which ended in the 
 subjection or dispersion of certain rebel Ghilzai and other 
 tribes, and which have had the effect of tranquiiUsing the 
 whole line of country between Kabul and Kandahar, where 
 plunder and anarchy had before prevailed.' • 
 
 Outram's stay at the Presidency was not a long one. 
 Even before his arrival there, Lord Auckland had addressed 
 to him a flattering and kindly letter offering him the appoint- 
 ment of political agent in Lower Sind in succession to 
 Colonel Pottinger, about to give up his charge of Sind and 
 Cutch from the first day of the New Year. After consulta- 
 tion with friends, he quickly made up his mind on the sub- 
 ject; and on Christmas Day, 1839, he -wrote a brief letter to 
 the Governor-General from Bombay, expressing his grateful 
 acceptance of the post, and determination to fulfil the duties 
 which it involved to the best of his ability. He at the same 
 time despatched a few lines to JNIr. Colvin, his lordship's 
 private secretary, entering into certain details in connection 
 with his proposed office. The pecuniary gain would not be 
 great, in exchanging the Mahi Kanta for Sind : because the 
 expenses in the latter province would be heavier : but he cared 
 little or nothing for this. Only he doubted lest the abolition 
 of the title of ' Eesident,' held by his predecessor, might, by 
 an apparent diminution of dignity, impair his usefulness in 
 the eyes of the natives. It was a question whether the 
 designation should not on public grounds be retained ; but 
 Lord Auckland preferred for the nonce adhering to his first 
 proposition, and, on the separation of Lower Sind from 
 Cutch, reconstructing the former as a political agency. 
 
 In a home letter written on the last day of the year, we 
 have better evidence of his real feehngs on the subject of the 
 new appointment. From it we learn that his experience of 
 
 ' See also Appendix E. 
 p 2
 
 212 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839- 
 
 the countries he had lately traversed had taught him ' to 
 look upon Gruzerat as a paradise in comparison ; ' and the 
 nature of the Sind climate caused him some apprehension on 
 his wife's account. But he consoled himself with the reflec- 
 tion that, while Haidarabad would be his permanent head- 
 quarters, Karachi, which offered the advantages of sea-air, 
 was available for a change at any time ; and he recom- 
 mended that Mrs. Outram's outward voyage be so timed that 
 she should rejoin him at the close of the very hot weather. 
 When writing thus he contemplated sailing from Bombay 
 within a week for Cutch, proceeding from the place of dis- 
 embarkation to Bhuj, where he would receive charge of his 
 office from Colonel Pottinger, and then continue his journey 
 across the large waste flat called the ' Rann,' to Haidarabad. 
 Let us pause for a moment longer over a page or two of pri- 
 vate correspondence. 
 
 Mr. Bax — whom we need not re-introduce to the reader 
 — no sooner heard of his friend's nomination to Lower 
 Sind, than he wrote from Harsol to congratulate him on the 
 Grovernor-Greneral's approbation of his services. ' How many 
 people,' he remarks, ' have emerged into fame and notoriety 
 who have not accomplished a hundredth part of what you 
 have accomplished ! . . . You will get to the top of the 
 ladder, as you deserve.' Then — in evident allusion to expres- 
 sions of gratitude towards himself on the part of his corre- 
 spondent, whom he charges with overvaluing the little he had 
 ever done in promoting his successful career — he warmly 
 adds, ' Your own right hand — your own sound heart and 
 right sense — your own energy and enterprise — have accom- 
 plished everything — and I knew a dozen years ago they 
 would raise you to fame whenever opportunity offered.' 
 
 The next letter — his own — we give in its entirety. It is 
 addressed to Mr. MacNaghten, eight days before departure 
 from Bombay : —
 
 -t842 letter to the ENVOY. 213 
 
 ' I beg to thank you for your two kind letters dated 
 November 4 and 30, in both of which you express the 
 expectation of further warfar*^ in the north-west. My 
 object in now writing is to remind you that in that case 
 my humble services are always at your command, and I trust 
 you will not scruple to command them to the utmost for 
 any temporary military and political service you may think 
 me fit. Most gladly shall I obey the summons, for, in addi- 
 tion to zeal for the public service and anxiety to distinguish 
 myself, which formerly led me to Afghanistan, I have now 
 the further impulse of personal' gratitude to the Grovernor- 
 Greneral, to you, and to the Shah. Pray remember also that 
 I require no pecuniary advantage, and would accept of none ; 
 for the moiety of my |^ salary in Scinde, which I should still 
 receive while absent on duty, is most handsome and far 
 above my deserts. I look upon it not only to more than 
 compensate for any services I may have to perform in that 
 country, but also as the purchase in advance of all that I 
 could ever do hereafter in the public service. My wife will 
 arrive in Bombay about May, but I would not wait on that 
 account. As a soldier's wife, she knows, and will admit, my 
 first duty to be to the public, to which all private and per- 
 sonal considerations should be sacrificed. She has two sisters 
 in Bombay to receive her, with whom she will be more 
 satisfactorily situated — so much nearer the scene of opera- 
 tions than if in England. Please order me how, when, and 
 where to go, and what to do; you will find me punctual to 
 tryste, and ready to perform whatever is expected of me in 
 any quarter. At the same time pray write for the Grovernor- 
 General's sanction to my temporary absence from Scinde, the 
 duties of which could, I hope, be fulfilled for the present by 
 my assistants, as no great steps for the improvement of our 
 relations in that quarter can be entered upon until every- 
 thing has been effectually settled in the north-west. In the
 
 214 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839- 
 
 meantime things can be maintained as they are, by them as 
 well as by me.' 
 
 Outram embarked at Bassein on January 13, 1840, arrived 
 at Mandavi on the 22nd, and was with Colonel Pottinger at 
 Bhuj on the 25th of the same month. This officer's infirm 
 state of health prevented his continuous attention to busi- 
 ness ; so that it was not until February 24 that the political 
 agent reached head-quarters at Haidarabad. He had, how- 
 ever, been subjected to a five days' delay at Lakpat, whence 
 the first march includes the passage of a creek, and more 
 than forty miles of dreary flat on the Sind side. His recep- 
 tion was all that could be desired. Arrived at a certain 
 point, the representatives of the Amirs insisted on supplying 
 him with every requisite for self and suite, without payment, 
 and at each stage ; and at the second march from the 
 capital he was met by a member of the reigning family, 
 and other noblemen of distinction. On approaching the 
 residency, after dark, he was overtaken by the sons of Mir 
 Nasir Khan, and Mir Sobdar Khan, respectively, deputed to 
 congratulate him on his coming ; they further insisted 
 on accompanying him to his quarters. The next morning 
 according to local custom, fifteen trays of sweetmeats and 
 immense quantities of provisions were sent by each of the 
 four Amirs : the former were accepted, but the latter 
 respectfully declined. 
 
 In all these preliminaries of an intercourse which after- 
 wands ripened into a fixed deference and personal regard on 
 the part of the Talpur chiefs for their British adviser, and 
 into more than common sympathy on Outram's part for the 
 misfortunes of those to whom he became the representative 
 of an absorbing power, there was nothing exceptional or 
 contrary to everyday experience. The sugar of compliments 
 and smooth speeches has no truer or deeper meaning than 
 that of the trays loaded with material confectionery ; but
 
 -1842 FIRST PROPOSALS FOR SIND. 215 
 
 the force of personal character works otherwise, and tells 
 even upon the selfish, sluggish Oriental, when it finds 
 opportunity. And as weeks rolled on, the political agent, 
 from a mere diplomatic presence, grew, as it were, into a 
 benevolent personality. It is quite true that, in writing to 
 Mr. Secretary Willoughby from Kandahar in May 1839, he 
 had adverted to the ' treachery and underhand opposition 
 . . . experienced from the Amirs,' as justifying our subver- 
 sion of the native Government. But whatever ideas he may 
 then or at any other time have entertained, or expressed, on 
 the political exigency of making Sind a British province, he 
 had not long received charge of the Haidarabad residency, 
 before his kindly nature evinced itself in a more congenial 
 contemplation. The day after his arrival, he addressed to 
 the Grovernor-Greneral the formal report of his instalment 
 in office. Four-and- twenty hours later, he solicited Lord 
 Auckland's instructions on a proposal suggested by a report of 
 his assistant. Lieutenant Whitelock, to teach English to the 
 sons of Mir Nur Muhammad. He was of opinion that ' the 
 greatest benefit would be derived from the intimate inter- 
 course that might be established between the sons of the Amir 
 and the gentlemen of the Agency, who would be reasonably 
 expected to superintend their education.* 
 
 And so it will be found if we trace his subsequent acts, 
 always remembering the motives which we may safely attri- 
 bute to the doer. The wish was rather to conciliate and 
 win the heart by philanthropic measures, to preach the 
 theory and illustrate the practice of mutual benevolence, 
 than to enforce argument, and carry out the political objects 
 of his Grovernment by intimidation and braggadocio. 
 Where necessity caused him to deviate from the line of 
 his natural inclinations, he acted but in loyal obedience to 
 
 • Correspondence relative to Sindc, 1838-43, presented to Loth Houses of 
 Parliament by command of Her Majesty, 1843. No, 232, pp. 231-5,
 
 2i6 JAMES OUTRAM, 1839- 
 
 the orders of lawful superiors, a refusal to acknowledge which 
 would have been tantamount to mutiny ; while to decline the 
 responsibilities thrust upon him would have been desertion 
 from his post. To have vacated his appointment at such a 
 time, moreover, would have been a mistaken kindness to 
 the Amirs; for no successor that could have been chosen 
 to support a policy shortly to culminate in territorial annex- 
 ation, would have been so gentle and sympathetic to the 
 fallen as James Outram. 
 
 We do not dwell in any detail upon his official work in 
 Lower Sind. It was, upon the whole, more locally import - 
 ant than generally interesting. The two main features, in 
 18*10, were the reduction of taxes on inland produce brought 
 to the British camp at Karachi, to which may be added the 
 relief of the Indus traffic from vexatious tolls ; and the 
 negotiations with Mir Sher JNIuhammad of Mirpur, whereby 
 this restless chief was brought into quasi-amicable relations 
 with ourselves. In 1841 he had to deal with the very intri- 
 cate question of the transfer of Shikarpur to his Government, 
 and no wonder that he was unsuccessful. The Amirs were to 
 be made consenting parties to an arrangement which would 
 deprive them of an important possession on the right bank 
 of the river, and which was to be ceded to us in lieu of the 
 subsidy guaranteed to our Grovernment by treaty. Such a 
 task was neither gracious nor easy of accomplishment. The 
 proposed proceeding was distasteful to the Talpur chiefs, 
 especially Nasir Khan, who looked upon the cession of lands 
 as dishonourable,' and was particularly tenacious of the fan- 
 cied honour of nominal sovereignty ^ involved in this instance. 
 Eventually the negotiation fell through, in favour of alter- 
 native measures, soon after followed by wholesale confiscation. 
 Outram's treaty with Mir Sher Muhammad was, on the 
 
 ' Dry Leaves from Young Egypt. By an ex-Political. (James Madden, 1851. 
 '^ Sindc Correspondence before noted, No. 308, foot-note.
 
 -1842 HENRY POTTINGER. 217 
 
 other hand, a signal success, and called forth the high ap- 
 proval of the Grovernor-General of India in Council. 
 
 In diplomatic ability to cope with Orientals, few officers 
 could be found superior to Colonel Pottinger, whose experi- 
 ence and sound judgment rendered him a more than com- 
 monly safe representative of his country in Cutch and Sind. 
 His successor publicly acknowledged the value of the late 
 Eesident's advice, given to him during his short stay 
 at Bhuj, and stated that it would ever be his wish and 
 pride to follow, as closely as he could, this gentleman's 
 example and policy in his personal intercourse with the 
 Amirs, and the general conduct of his duties. But the 
 geniality and warmth of heart brought into play for the 
 occasion were his own ; and though these might not fall into 
 the classification of strictly diplomatic qualifications, they 
 performed the offices of diplomacy with, at times, admirable 
 effect. If a sneer at the well-meant exertions of his fellows 
 be ever justifiable in a patriotic statesman, it is wholly and 
 especially misapplied when raised at honest men who, dis- 
 carding the mask and cloak, strive to achieve political objects 
 by honest means. Success in such endeavours may be, often 
 is, and oftener still might be, the result of untiring and 
 uncompromising straightforwardness. The charm of Out- 
 ram's character was never more strikingly exemplified than 
 on the occasion of the sickness and death of Mir Nur 
 Muhammad of Haidarabad. 
 
 The story is told in that opposite of all romance, a Par- 
 liamentary blue-book. It is in the words of the political 
 agent himself, and is vivid in its simplicity. Before making 
 our extracts, we would recall to the reader the figures of the 
 Talpur Amirs of Sind, drawn or described by Crowe, Burnes, 
 Pottinger, Eastwick, and others. They were men for the 
 most part portly in person, but of dignified exterior ; of semi- 
 Persian, semi-Jewish physiognomies ; courteous in manner,
 
 2l8 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839- 
 
 and of frank and open address ; dressed, much as their attend- 
 ants, in angrikhds, or tunics of white muslin, neatly prepared 
 and plaited, so as to resemble dimity, with kamarhand.s, 
 or sashes of silk and gold, wide Turkish trousers of coloured 
 silk, and the national head-gear, of cylindrical form, resem- 
 bling an inverted European hat, covered with the gay brocade 
 known as himkhwdb. Nur Muhammad, we are told, pre- 
 sented a great contrast to his brother Nasir. He was, in 
 fact, rather an exceptional Talpur Baluch, and is described by 
 Edward Eastwick as possessing ' a thin, cunning countenance, 
 and quick, twinkling eyes, expressive of suspicion and dis- 
 trust ; ' whereas the other was a man ' of enormous bulk,' with 
 an eminently handsome face, and winning ways which might 
 have been those of a highly-polished English nobleman.' We 
 have now to speak of the former chief, the senior representa- 
 tive of the reigning family. 
 
 Outram had not seen Nur Muhammad for some days 
 from motives of delicacy. The Amir's state of health was 
 such that recovery seemed hopeless ; and negotiations were 
 in progress to which it was neither kind nor prudent to draw 
 his attention. He would, probably, it was thought, seek for 
 promises which could not be accorded ; and frequent visits 
 might give a semblance of wished-for interference in family 
 affairs which was to be avoided. One day, however, the invalid 
 expressed a desire to see his English monitor, who would, at 
 the same time, introduce a physician, a fellow-countryman, to 
 prescribe for his malady : — 
 
 "We were met at the fort gate [wrote the political agent] by Meer 
 Shahdad, Meer Noor Mahomed's eldest son, who conducted us to 
 the dwelling where the Ameer's married wife resides, to which his 
 Highness had been lately removed to die, on all hope of lecovery 
 being given over. Meer Nusseer Khan, and the other sons of 
 their Highnesses, received us when we dismounted, and the former 
 led me to the sick Ameer's bedside, who, on seeing me, attempted
 
 -1842 THE SICK AMIR. 219 
 
 to rise, which I hastened to prevent ; but his Highness, hailing me 
 as his brother, put his arms round me, and held me in his embrace 
 a few minutes, until I laid him quietly down. So feeble and 
 emaciated had tlie Ameer become that this exertion quite ex- 
 hausted him, and it was minutes afterwards before he could speak, 
 when, beckoning his brother Meer Nusseer Khan, and youngest son 
 Meer Hoossein AH, to the bedside, he then took a hand of each, and 
 placed them in mine, saying, ' You are their father and brother, 
 you will pi'otect them ; ' to which I replied in general but warm 
 terms of personal friendship, adding that I trusted his Highness 
 himself would long live to guide and support them ; but this the 
 Ameer had evidently given up all hope of, and appeared to regret 
 that he had given Doctor Owen the trouble of coming so fai', 
 though very grateful for the prompt manner in which his wishes 
 had been attended to. Meer Shahdad, the eldest son of Meer Noor 
 Mahomed, was present when the circumstance above mentioned 
 took place, but appeared neither surprised nor chagrined at the pre- 
 ference displayed by his father, and continued to join in the con- 
 versation as if nothing had occurred. 
 
 Doctor Owen, having satisfied himself as to the nature of the 
 complaint, galloped home to prepare some preliminary medicine. 
 I remained for some time afterwards, at his earnest request, with the 
 Ameer, who became quite a changed person, rising from the depth of 
 despondency — in the conviction that he could not live beyond a 
 few hours, or days at the utmost — to cheerful hope, on my impart- 
 ing the Doctor's opinion that his case was not hopeless, if his 
 Highness would implicitly follow medical advice in all things. He 
 declared his determination to accept the condition, but begged of 
 me to return with Doctor Owen in the evening to see that the 
 gentleman was fully informed of his case from first to last. 
 
 In the evening I returned accordingly, accompanied by Mr. 
 Whitelock and Doctor Owen. We were met a few hundred yards 
 from the palace by Meers Shahdad and Hoossein Ali, and 
 conducted to the Ameer, whom we found very cheerful and 
 happy, from the impression that the medicine which Doctor 
 Owen had sent in the morning had already benefited him. 
 He conversed cheerfully with Mr. Whitelock and myself, especially 
 expressing intei'est in our success in China . . . and trust 
 that all enemies of the British would ever be discomfited . . . 
 with much apparent sincerity.
 
 220 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839- 
 
 In the course of the interview, Meer Hoossein Ali, the Ameer's 
 younger son, came from the inner apartments and whispered in 
 his father's ear, who smiled, and infoimed me that the Khanum 
 (the mother of his sons) sent to say she hailed me as her brother 
 with much gratification, to which I made a suitable acknowledg- 
 ment. On inquiry afterwards, I learnt that this is considered an 
 extraordinary proof of friendship, such as never heretofore displayed 
 except to the nearest relations. 
 
 Ten days later, Major Outram reported the demise of the 
 sick Amir on the previous morning. Doctor Owen had been 
 unremitting in his attendance on his patient, and his pre- 
 scriptions had been the means of alleviating the sufferings 
 of the dying chief, although it had been out of his power to 
 check the progress of disease. The report continues : — 
 
 The remains of his Highness were carried to the grave at 10 a.m., 
 and buried within the mausoleum of his father, the late Moorad 
 Ali, attended by a large concourse of chieftainsand followers, besides 
 the immediate relations of the deceased, and sons of Meer Sobdar 
 Khan, and by Lietttenant Whitelock and myself in mourning 
 costume — a mark of respect to the memory of Meer Noor Mahomed 
 Khan which my public duty, as well as personal friendship for 
 the departed chief, induced me to pay. The attention appeared 
 to be deeply appreciated by all, and especially by the brother and 
 sons of the deceased, who embraced me affectionately before the 
 assembled multitude, and placed vis with themselves and Meer 
 Sobdar's sons during the mournful cei'emony. . . . 
 
 I have every reason to lament the loss of Meer Noor Mahomed 
 Khan, and do so most sincerely, both on public and private 
 grounds. Whatever that chief's secret feelings towards the British 
 may have been, certainly his acts latterly were all most friendly, 
 and I cannot but place faith in almost the last words the dying 
 chief uttered, solemnly protesting the sincerity of his friendship for 
 the British Government, not only because, being then peifectly 
 aware that he had but few hours to live, and seeking notliing, he 
 could have had no motive for deception, but also, because I had my- 
 self always found his Highness most ready to forward our interests, 
 and least ready to welcome reports prejudicial to us, which, during
 
 -1842 TRUTH AND FRIENDSHIP. 221 
 
 late exciting times, were so industriously propagated, and greedily 
 devoured by those more inimical to us. In fact I am satisfied that 
 Meer Noor Mahomed Khan at last perceived that it was wiser to 
 cultivate our friendship than hopelessly to intrigue against our 
 power ; and he had sense enough on more than one occasion, when 
 the signs of the times encouraged others to hope for our discomfiture, 
 to pi'ognosticate that temporary reverses, or the machinations of the 
 factions, would but cause the firmer riveting of our power ; and 
 I have lately ascertained that, on the occasion of Meer Nusseer 
 Khan's deputing agents to Mecca, Meer Noor Mahomed positively 
 forbade making use of the opportunity to communicate with the 
 Shah of Persia, and strongly expressed his sense of the folly of con- 
 tinuing their former underhand practices, and determination not to 
 countenance them in future. 
 
 Of the late Ameer's personal feelings towards myself, I had 
 latterly received many afiecting proofs, especially during the last 
 three days of his existence — when I daily visited his Highness, on 
 finding that my doing so gave him real gratification. On the 4th 
 instant, the morning before his death, the Ameer, evidently feeling 
 that we could not meet again, embraced me most fervently, and 
 spoke distinctly to the following pui-port, in the presence of Doctor 
 Owen and the other Ameers : — ' You are to me as my brother 
 Nusseer Khan, and the grief of this sickness is equally felt by you 
 and Nusseer Khan ; fi-om the days of Adam no one has known so 
 great truth and friendship as I have found in you.' I replied, 
 ' Your Highness has proved your friendship to my Government 
 and myself by your daily acts. You have considered me a brother, 
 and as a brother I feel for your Highness, and night and day I 
 grieve for your sickness.' To which he added, ' My friendship for 
 the British is known to God. My conscience is clear before God.' 
 The Ameer still retained me in his feeble embrace for a few 
 moments, and, after taking some raedicine from my hand, again 
 embraced me as if with the conviction that we could not meet 
 
 On the Amir's death, the question of succession and 
 inheritance arose, and immediate decision was m'geut, in 
 
 > Correspmdence relative to Sinde, 1838-1843, presented to bot.h Housus 
 01 Parliament by commaud of Her Majesty, 1843, pp. 2G8-69.
 
 222 
 
 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839-^ 
 
 anticipation of coming difficulties. Well it was that its dis- 
 posal was not left to the will of native partisans. Outram 
 undertook it, as he undertook everything, in an earnest and 
 honest spirit, and entered upon the task with single-minded- 
 ness and thorough conscientiousness. His long and elaborate 
 reports on the subject are lasting certificates of the labour 
 so ungrudgingly bestowed, in fulfilling a trust which was 
 almost as much personal as official. In acknowledging the 
 uses of his individual influence exercised in the matter, 
 Grovernment directly approved of the part he had taken in 
 bringing about a settlement. But his time was occupied in 
 affairs of a more distasteful nature than even family disagree- 
 ments among Sindi-Baluch chiefs in whose welfare he was in- 
 terested. The frauds and general peculations of one Jetha 
 Nand, a Munshi in the employment of the British Grovern- 
 ment, gave him untold trouble, and tried his patience sorely. 
 This person — besides unlawfully enriching himself at the cost 
 of his employers to the value of nearly 40,000L by business 
 transactions, the accounts of which were falsely rendered — 
 had bribed the servants of the clarhdr with such judicious 
 roguery as to deter the Amirs themselves from giving 
 evidence against him. To English ideas of justice, the im- 
 prisonment and dismissal which followed the detection of his 
 misdeeds were but mild awards in satisfaction of a long 
 course of complicated villainy. Among Orientals the shame of 
 such offence is rather in discovery than commission. Neither 
 in perjury nor in forgery is there the same intensity of crime 
 recognised in the East as in the West ; but we shall hereafter 
 have more to say on the Indian idiosyncrasy in this respect. 
 
 On August 18, 1841, Outram had taken his leave of the 
 Haidarabad court ; and we find him then addressing in- 
 structions, on board the river steamer Comet, bound for 
 Sakhar, to his assistant, Captain Leckie, regulating the con- 
 duct of our future relations with the Amirs in those parts.
 
 -1842 LORD AUCKLAND. 223 
 
 His official despatch concluded with a request that certain 
 presents might be given to certain native secretaries attached 
 to the darhar, as a trifling mark of ' gratification with the 
 very friendly tone ' pervading every international discussion 
 in which he had had a share during the eighteen months of 
 his residence in Sind. In the previous October, the Secretary 
 to the Grovernment of India had written to the political 
 agent at Haidarabad, informing him that possible failure in 
 health might compel Mr. Eoss Bell, the political agent in 
 Upper Sind, to relinquish his duties, and that in such case it 
 was Lord Auckland's wish that Major Outram should assume 
 them, in addition to his existing charge of Lower Sind, with 
 the full authority committed to that officer. Now, the con- 
 tingency spoken of had arrived. 
 
 Men in high places had formed their own opinion on 
 Outram. They had judged him for themselves apart from 
 the wretched intervention of interested advisers, too ready to 
 submit a false estimate of character of those whom they per- 
 sonally dread or dislike ; and consequently their appreciation 
 was a true one. Lord Auckland's letters to him in Sind are 
 full of confidence and friendliness. On one occasion, he had 
 thought it necessary to explain to the Grovernor-Greneral the 
 particulars of an untimely honour paid to him at Haidarabad. 
 His Lordship good-naturedly replied : — 'You need not have 
 made any apology for the salute which was prematurely fired 
 by the Ameer of Sinde upon the rumour of your promotion. I 
 must feel that goodwill exhibited . . . whilst it is an evidence 
 of kind personal feeling towards you, is an exhibition also of 
 goodwill towards the Grovernment which you represent, and I 
 readily therefore admit of such a compliment being paid you.' 
 At a later period, when he had taken up the higher post for 
 which the Governor- Greneral had specially selected him. Lord 
 Auckland refers to a certain policy which his nominee had 
 adopted, slightly at variance with home instructions. ' It is
 
 224 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839- 
 
 generous and bold,' are the expressions used; 'I am always 
 disposed to turn to the judgment of those in whom I place 
 such confidence as I place in you. ' But the fulness and free- 
 dom from reserve with which these semi-official papers were 
 written, afford the truest and strongest evidences of the 
 Grovernor-General's sentiments towards his political agent. In 
 like manner, at Bombay, successive governors were proud to 
 acknowledge him as one of the officers of their own Pre- 
 sidency. The signs of distinction which Sir John Malcolm 
 had observed in the dawn of his career were not delusive. 
 Some twenty years afterwards. Sir James Carnac, the out- 
 going governor, addresses Outram, when still political agent in 
 Lower Sind, in the following strain : — ' I cannot bid adieu 
 to this country without bidding you, if you will allow me to 
 use the expression, an affectionate farewell. I shall always 
 hail the day when we became personally acquainted, as one of 
 the bright spots of my career in life. I entertain for you 
 most sincere sentiments of regard and respect, and you will 
 ever find me, I trust, when thinking or speaking of you and 
 your valuable services, influenced strongly by those im- 
 pressions. I foresee, please a kind Providence, a career before 
 you which will give full scope for the display of all those 
 eminent qualities with which you are endowed.' 
 
 The appointment to Upper Sind, honourable and flatter- 
 ing as it was, had its drawbacks and inconveniences, in that 
 it was subversive of domestic arrangements. Mrs. Outram 
 had again arrived in India before the first half of 1840 had 
 quite passed away ; and it had been agreed that the hard- 
 worked political agent in Lower Sind should obtain leave to 
 visit the Presidency, meeting and returning thence with his 
 wife to Haidarabad, where his principal amusement in leisure 
 moments had latterly been the superintendence of the build- 
 ing of a ' Kesidency.' But a delay of months had scarcely 
 been anticipated ; and although the lady had reached Bombay
 
 -1842 LOGIC OF DIPLOMACY. 225 
 
 at the beginning of June, it was not until January 24 in a new- 
 year that Outram was enabled to fulfil his intention. And 
 then — such were the continuous exigencies of his employment 
 — their short sojourn together in Sind was but the prelude to 
 another lengthened separation. In May 1841, Mrs. Outram's 
 delicate health rendered a change necessary to Karachi, where 
 her brother-in law, Brigadier Farquharson, was in command ; 
 and when her husband was summoned to the still more un- 
 healthy region of Upper Sind, where no proper accommoda- 
 tion for ladies then existed, it was judged advisable for her 
 to return to Europe once again, he, meanwhile, proposing to 
 follow her thither, on well-earned and long-anticipated fur- 
 lough, at the earliest possible opportunity. 
 
 Colonel Pottinger had not been left alone in the conduct 
 of Sind diplomacy. It had been found necessary to depute 
 a second agent to Khairpur ; so Sir Alexander Burnes, always 
 en route somewhere, was stopped on a mission to Kalat, and 
 directed to revisit the old Eais of Upper Sind. He was to 
 explain to him the part he would have to play in the approach- 
 ing spectacle of the army of the Indus, and the few require- 
 ments he would have to meet — among them the cession to 
 his English allies of the fortress of Bakhar. It was true that 
 he had taken this island-stronghold, in his younger days, by 
 the aid of his own good sword ; but what of that ? it was only 
 required as a loan by very intimate friends. These friends 
 could not, by the terms of the treaty before concluded, covet 
 anything similar on either bank of the river ; and this posses- 
 sion was happily isolated in mid-stream. And so one army 
 came from the north-east ; and another army from the south- 
 west ; and Sind was thrown into terror and confusion. The 
 Amirs of Haidarabad struggled, and were silenced ; the Amir 
 of Khairpur groaned, and gave in. A further treaty with Mir 
 Rustam was tlie result of these proceedings. On .January 
 10, 1839, the ratification of the Grovernor-General thereto 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839- 
 
 f airly annulled the independence of the Khairpur State. 
 * Friendship, alliance, and unity of interests ' ushered in a set 
 of articles whose general tendency was to prove, as it appeared, 
 the existence of the two former an anomaly, and the latter 
 impossible. Shortly afterwards, Burnes found another, though 
 not a fresh, field for employment, and plunged, for the second 
 time, into the vortex of Afghan poHtics. A new star was now 
 observed in the Sind horizon. 
 
 Towards the middle of 1839, Mr. Eoss Bell, of the Bengal 
 Civil Service, was appointed political agent at Shikarpur.^ 
 The policy which he had been sent to carry out with the 
 Amir of Khairpur and his brother, would occupy, if set forth 
 in detail, several pages in the exposition ; but the substance 
 of it may be expressed in very few words. It was to befriend 
 those who did what we required them to do, and to punish 
 those who thwarted and opposed our objects. His official 
 labours were not confined to Sind. He had important duties, 
 besides, beyond the Sind-Kalat frontier, which required his pre- 
 sence and the exercise of all his energies. The burden of re- 
 sponsibility was heavy, and the strain upon the mind excessive. 
 The action required was for the most part impulsive, and too 
 immediate to brook the delay of a reference to Calcutta ; and 
 consultation with others on the spot, whatever the issue, would 
 be ignored at head-quarters, where all confidence and control 
 were given to, and intended for acceptance by, a single in- 
 dividual. The situation in Kalat in 1840-41 was especially 
 critical. Mihrab Khan had paid the penalty of resistance to 
 our armies and failure to advance our interests, with his 
 life, and we had put up in his place young Shah Nawaz — a 
 descendant of Mahabbat Khan, the chief deposed by Ahmad 
 Shah — arbitrarily annexing part of the country to Afghanistan. 
 But our proceedings had not satisfied the people ; and a re- 
 volution shortly broke out in favour of Nasir Khan, son and 
 ' Appendix E.
 
 -1 8^ 2 LOST GROUND. 227 
 
 heir of the deceased Mihrab. Our nominee was compelled 
 to abdicate ; and the British representative at Kalat was im- 
 prisoned and afterwards murdered. We found ourselves 
 engaged in a serious and untimely conflict; to retire from 
 which, with the least possible loss of honour and prestige, would 
 necessitate a reversal of Government policy. The dilemma 
 had been caused by our awkward interference in the affairs of a 
 neighbouring State in a spirit of selfish interest ; and though 
 late in the day for moral reflections, there was no more politic 
 remedy than to practise justice. Wisely, but tardily, we paid 
 attention to the popular cry ; and JNir. Eoss Bell, at the time 
 of his last illness, was busily engaged in conciliating the 
 ruler whom we ought never to have refused to recognise. In- 
 dependently, moreover, of the Kalat succession, the prestige 
 of our native soldiery had been shaken by more than one 
 military disaster in the hill country of the Baluchis. 
 
 In Upper Sind we were involved in the most ungracious 
 task of extracting payment, from doubtful and not over-solvent 
 debtors, of an obsolete money claim on behalf of our parti- 
 cular king of Afghanistan ; and the arguments of INIir Ali 
 Murad, in the matter of his inheritance under Sohrab's will, 
 had gained an attentive hearing from the British agent. 
 This same Ali Murad, his half-brother, Mir Kustam Khan 
 (old enough to be his grandfather), and Nasir, eldest son of 
 another brother, Mubarak, were the leading native chiefs 
 awaiting Major Outram's arrival at Sakhar, in August, 1841. 
 
 The political agents in Upper and Lower Sind were not 
 personal acquaintances ; but their correspondence is that of 
 men trusting, to say the least, in each other's ability, zeal, 
 and good faith. Among the many private and semi-official 
 letters which passed between them, one from Mr. Eoss Bell at 
 Kwatta, dated June, 1841, informed Outram that, in the event 
 of ill-health, the writer had been instructed to make over 
 his office to him ; that he had become a constant invalid, 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839- 
 
 whose only chance of permanent restoration was, according 
 to the medical officer, to proceed home or to sea by the 
 earliest date possible ; and that he proposed to leave Kwatta 
 at the end of September, en route to the coast by the Bolan 
 and Sakhar. On July 21, Lord Auckland ^vrote to Outram 
 in anticipation of his assimiing charge of Mr. Bell's agency, 
 calling his attention to the urgency of impressing on the 
 native mind that such appointment would in no way imply 
 a change in the Grovernment views with regard to Baluch- 
 istan ; the main object being ' the pacification and the pros- 
 perity of the countries ' within his range. On August 11, 
 Outram had heard a rumour of Mr. Eoss Bell's death, 
 and thus wrote to the assistant political agent. Lieutenant 
 Wallace : — 
 
 ' Should jNIr. Bell have fallen a sacrifice to that abomin- 
 able climate, I shall post up immediately, and I hope you 
 will be able to stay till then. ... In the event of the head 
 of the office being now vacant, I shall at once write officially 
 to Captain Brown and yourself to inform you that I have 
 assumed it on the strength of my confidential instructions 
 of September, and in the meantime request you to act 
 conjointly.' 
 
 But a week before the date of this last letter, Mr. Ross 
 Bell had died, and Xieutenant Wallace had assumed charge 
 of the agency on his own responsibility, reporting the act 
 and his reasons to Lord Auckland's private secretary, Mr. 
 Colvin. Outram had received confirmatory tidings of the early 
 report of the casualty on August 12, within a week from 
 which date we have seen him writing farewell instructions 
 on board the river steamer. A detention of three or four 
 days at Haidarabad was unavoidable, to enable him to com- 
 plete his pending business with the Amirs ; but as this was a 
 State necessity he could submit to it with comparative com-
 
 -1842 CLIMATE OF DADAR. 229 
 
 posure. He must have chafed, however, over the slow 
 passage of the vessel up the stream to Sakhar, which place 
 he reached (in company with Lieutenant French, who had 
 eft Sakhar to join him) on the evening of August 24. Two 
 whole days spent upon a sandbank had prolonged the weari- 
 ness of that Indus journey. From Sakhar to Kwatta is a 
 distance of some 250 miles, of which three-fifths are over a 
 dreary desert. He appears to have left the former station 
 on the morning of the 25th, but he was in all probability 
 detained nearly two days at Shikarpur to allow for posting 
 bearers, or such other dah arrangements as were necessary. 
 We know that he reached Kwatta on September 2, for his 
 report to that effect caused the Grovernor-General to express 
 satisfaction at the promptitude with which he had joined 
 the head-quarters of his office. It is also on record that he 
 halted two days at Dadar to let the dak be laid up the 
 Bolan Pass, the same bearers that brought him thus far on 
 his way having to go on. He must therefore have accom- 
 plished his arduous journey, at a fearfully hot season, in the 
 short space of five days of actual travelling.^ Whether the 
 time be reckoned from Sakhar or Shikarpur (a shorter 
 distance by 24 miles), the feat is a remarkable one when the 
 climate, country, and means of conveyance are taken into 
 account." 
 
 ' Memoir of Services, page 92. 
 
 - The following extracts from Colonel Dennie's letters, publislied in that 
 officer's Personal Narrative of the Campaign in Afghanistan, will give some 
 idea of the sufferings of a solitary European traveller, wending his way from 
 Sakhar to KM'atta — sufferings experienced by Outram, not only in Axigust 
 1841, but again in June 1842; to say nothing of return journeys. If by 
 rapidity of movement he was less exposed to the evils noticed by Colonel 
 Dennie, it should be remembered that he took this route in the height of the 
 hot season: — 'We ascended from Dadur to that place (Quetta) through the 
 Bolan Pass, an elevation of between 5,000 and 6,000 feet, having previously 
 traversed at its foot a long dreadful desert plain, from Sliikarpoorto Dadur, of 
 about loO miles. ... As for the heat, God be praised you can form no con- 
 ception of it ! I have escaped, and can only tell you that I shxiddor to look back
 
 230 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839- 
 
 The work before Outram was of a difficult and compli- 
 cated kind. His letter to Lord Auckland of August 13, from 
 Haidarabad, had broken ground in his new sphere, and well 
 deserved the term ' excellent ' applied to it by the Grovernor- 
 Gfeneral. It indicated a wonderful aptitude on the part of 
 the writer to comprehend the large question with which 
 he had to deal, and it boldly grappled with detail. In it, 
 among many other subjects discussed, he advocated the 
 union of Upper and Lower Sind and Baluchistan, including 
 the districts of Shal and Kachi, under one control, rather 
 than the formation of two distinct agencies, likely to be 
 conflicting ; he proposed stations for European soldiers in 
 case necessity should arise for the permanent occupation of 
 Baluchistan ; and he showed cause for sending down de- 
 tachments of corps from Kalat to Sonmiani, in place of 
 marching up from the latter port with reinforcements, as 
 had been authoritatively contemplated. A few days later 
 he supplemented this despatch by one addressed to JNIr. 
 Colvin, from the Indus steamer, in which he drew out a 
 scheme of establishments. His proposal was to give fourteen 
 assistants to the political agent, and to divide them into 
 three classes : three first class for Upper Sind, Lower Sind, 
 and Baluchistan ; five second class for the same localities, 
 with Sonmiani and Shal ; and four third class for all these 
 except Sonmiani. The cost would be about 500L per annum 
 less than that already sanctioned, irrespectively of the 
 
 at what I aud those with me underwent. . . . Colonel Tliompson, who com- 
 manded one of the regiments of my brigade, and who followed me a few days 
 in the rear, died instantly in his tent; and Lieutenant Brady, H.M. 17th Foot, 
 fell dead in the same manner, their bodies turning as black as charcoal. 
 Between fifty and sixty persons of another convoy were suffocated by the 
 breath of this same deadly simoom, which sweeps across the desert at intervals 
 during the hot season, dealing destniction to all within its influence. ... To 
 give you a correct notion of the temperature, the thermometer stood, in the 
 tent of a young officer, my aide-de-camp— a smaller one than mine, and termed 
 a hill tent -at 125 degrees ! '
 
 -i842 COLONEL STACY. 231 
 
 political agent's own salary, on which there would be a 
 further reduction ; but the appointment of a first and third 
 class assistant for the management and revenue collections 
 of Shikarpiur, would show a counterbalancing expenditure 
 apart from political charges.^ 
 
 After the re-occupation of Kalat, in November 1 840, by the 
 troops under Major-Greneral Nott — a measure resulting from 
 the revolutionary action taken by its inhabitants — Colonel 
 Stacy, of the Bengal army, had been directed to assume 
 charge of our relations with the Brahui State. This deHcate 
 and difficult duty involved the reconciliation of the young 
 Khan and his adherents with the destroyers of his house. 
 Undertaken in pursuance of a voluntary offer, it appears to 
 have been performed with single-mindedness and ability. 
 The Colonel's own narrative has the ring of conscientiousness 
 and honesty, and is at the same time interesting and in- 
 structive. We see in it a fit sequel to the romance of the 
 previous twelvemonth, during which the fatherless boy had 
 been, more or less, a fugitive, debarred from his lawful 
 inheritance. For ten months Nasir Khan coquetted with 
 those who, in spite of protestations and profession, could 
 hardly be regarded as disinterested well-wishers, but whose 
 responsible representative eventually won him over by perse- 
 verance in a new and honourable policy. On the eve, how- 
 ever, of full attainment of the object desired, when the 
 young Khan had consented, and was actually on his way to 
 visit the camp of the British political agent, the news of 
 Mr. Eoss Bell's death caused inevitable delay in bringing 
 matters to a satisfactory conclusion. It became essential 
 to await the coming of a successor invested with similar 
 powers. Meanwhile, Colonel Stacy was requested by Lieu- 
 tenant Wallace, the acting agent, to repeat the assurance 
 of continued kind feelings on the part of his Government 
 
 ' Appendix E.
 
 232 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839- 
 
 towards Kalat ; and to say that in Major Outram the ruler 
 would find a warm advocate and friend. A month passed, 
 at the close of which the newly appointed agent arrived at 
 Kwatta. Nasir Khan had been kept amused and much in 
 the same temper as before, through the unremitting exer- 
 tions of Colonel Stacy and his countrymen. On September 
 4, he set out from Mastung, attended by his English adviser, 
 to meet Major Outram. Captains Browne and Knyvett 
 went out to welcome him a march from Kwatta. We quote 
 Colonel Stacy's own account of the meeting : — 
 
 We rested the day of our arrival ; and, according to the custom 
 of the country, mutual inquiries passed between Major Outram and 
 the Khan. After seeing him comfortably established in a tent 
 pitched for him, I went to Major Outram, and was most kindly 
 congratulated on the success of my exertions, and the zeal with 
 which I had pursued the object of my duties. The next morning 
 was fixed for darhdr. 
 
 At 8 A.M., I accompanied the young Khan to the darhdr, and 
 introduced him to Major Outram. The brigadier commanding 
 the troops, Major-General England, Captain Bean, and eight or 
 nine officers were present. As might be expected, the youth was 
 rather embarrassed at first, but on Major Outram 's assuring him 
 of the kindly feehngs of Government towards him, he expressed 
 his desire to become an ally of the Company, the value of whose 
 friendship he said he was fully aware of. He added that he had 
 often heard of theu' justice and liberality, and he had come to enrol 
 himself amongst the number of their servants {khizinatgar-i-Tcam- 
 jxmi), io live under the shade of theu* flag, and that he was willing 
 to agree to whatever terms the Company might presciibe. Though 
 abashed at first, he gained more confidence as the novelty of the 
 scene woi-e oif. In about half an hour the presents were introduced, 
 and the Khan shortly after took his leave. A salute of twenty- 
 one guns from the civil lines, which was repeated in camp, 
 announced the happy event of the Khan's acknowledging the para- 
 mount power of the British Governineut and his alHauce with it. 
 
 The next important day to be marked, in the political 
 annals of the place and period, was that on which occurred
 
 -1842 TREATY AND INSTALLATION. 233 
 
 the Khan's installation under British auspices. But the 
 importance of this procedure was greatly enhanced by the 
 circumstance that, two or three hours prior to its occurrence, 
 there had been formally concluded a treaty of friendship 
 between the Indian Government and the State of Kalat. The 
 earlier business was transacted at a darbdr held in the 
 forenoon by the British political agent ; to which Nasir 
 Khan came, accompanied by the whole of his sarddrs and 
 principal people, with one or two exceptions owing to sick- 
 ness. On this occasion the treaty was publicly produced, 
 as agreed upon, and read out by the minister, the words 
 being repeated by the young chief himself, who, at the close, 
 said, ' I agree ' {kabul), and, taking his signet from his 
 bosom, put on the ink, and applied the seal. The later 
 ceremony was carried out in the afternoon at a darhdr held 
 by the Khan, whither Outram proceeded, in company with 
 the brigadier-general, and attended by all the gentlemen of 
 the agency and escort. Indian custom at JNIuhammadan 
 courts seems to have regulated the details of investiture. 
 When the formalities were over, we learn that ' every 
 British officer heartily shook hands with the Prince, fol- 
 lowed by every individual in the room, while a royal salute 
 was fired from the Khan's own guns in very good style. 
 The young chief was visibly affected — almost to tears — by 
 the good feeling displayed towards him by the English 
 gentlemen ; and general and sincere were the thanks, loudly 
 expressed by the principal natives, to Colonel Stacy for his 
 friendly exertions to bring about so happy a consummation.'' 
 Outram and the other officers then accompanied the Khan 
 on horseback to an open space without the walls, where the 
 Brahuis exhibited their horsemanship. At night they re- 
 turned to the jNIiri, or palace, to see the national dance, ' in 
 which all ranks and classes heartily joined.' 
 
 ' Major Outram to Mr. J. E. Colvin, October. 7, 1841.
 
 234 JAMES OUTRAM. 1859- 
 
 The treaty with Nasir Khan was one of nine articles, of 
 which the first four were almost identical with a draft which 
 had been prepared by Sir William MacNaghten, and sent to 
 Colonel Stacy before Outram's appearance on the scene. It 
 so happened that Lord Auckland's specific instructions for 
 guidance in the matter did not reach the pohtical agent 
 until the second day after the Khan's formal acceptance had 
 been signified. The fortunate hour for the investiture had 
 been fixed by the Mullas, and, when so fixed and approved, 
 it was thought that ample time had been allowed for the 
 receipt, of the expected despatches from India. Execution 
 of the treaty would precede installation, because the last 
 and more popular ceremony would thus be admitted as 
 a consequence of the first, in due regard to British pres- 
 tige. But the modifications of the Governor-General were 
 not such as to cause any serious difficulty ; and, eventually, 
 ratification was accorded to eight articles to the following 
 effect : — 
 
 1st. Acknowledgment of vassalage to Kabul. 
 
 2nd. Eestoration to Kalat of the two first of the three 
 districts of Kachi, Mastung, and Shal, which had been re- 
 sumed on the death of Mihrab Khan. 
 
 3rd. Power to station British or Shah's troops in Kalat 
 when necessary. 
 
 4th. British counsels to be paramount. 
 
 5th. Protection to be afforded to merchants, and no undue 
 exactions made. 
 
 6th. No negotiations to be carried on with foreign 
 powers without consent of British and Shah's Govern- 
 ments. 
 
 7th. Assistance to be rendered by British Government, if 
 judged necessary, in the event of external aggression or 
 dispute.
 
 -1842 DUTIES IN BALUCHISTAN. 235 
 
 8th. Provision secured for the maintenance of Shah Nawilz 
 Khan, the former chief named by British Government.' ^ 
 
 It is not too much to say that if, in our recent war with 
 Afghanistan, the pre\dous occupation of Kwatta has faciU- 
 tated the advance of our troops from the southward, we owe 
 something of the advantage so gained to the annulled Anglo- 
 Brahui treaty of October 6, 1841. • 
 
 Outram remained at Kalat until October 1 4, when he set 
 out on his return to Dadar, which station he reached in a 
 fortnight, travelHng to and through the Bolan Pass. His 
 letters at this period, oflBcial, semi-official, and private, show 
 how actively he was employed in keeping order and open 
 communications, both jeopardised by the action of hostile 
 tribes and the numerous robbers infesting the neighbourhood 
 of the Passes. The brief experience of the country gained 
 two years before had not been without its value ; and he 
 knew his surroundings well enough to apprehend the true 
 distinctions which marked the strange, wild characters 
 brought up daily to his tent, whether calling themselves 
 Afghan, Brahui, or simply Baluch. At Dadar he fixed 
 for a time his head-quarters, and would, doubtless, 
 have carried into effect many proposals for the pacification 
 and well-being of the Khan and his subjects, which he sub- 
 mitted to the Governor-General, had not disastrous tid- 
 ings from Afghanistan drawn his attention to more pressing- 
 matters. 
 
 He was a little sensitive on the subject of certain guns. 
 which the Marri Baluchis had captured from our soldiers ; 
 and he had written semi-officially to INIr. Colvin, point- 
 ing out, with characteristic detail, his reasons for seeking the 
 
 ' This treaty became a dead letter -vrithin a year of its ratification, as the 
 vassalage contemplated was to Shah Shiija and his heirs, and not to the 
 Barakzais. It was formally annulled hy a new Treaty in May 1S51, the third 
 article, however, being retained in a modified form.
 
 236 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839- 
 
 peaceful recovery of these uncomfortable trophies, reserving to 
 his own unfettered diplomacy the actual process he would 
 adopt to bring about their ready restoration by the Marri 
 chief. On November 14 — the day after writing this letter — 
 he communicated to the secretary that he had received from 
 Major Eawlinson, at Kandahar, information of a nature 
 likely to arrest the homeward progress of the Bengal troops, 
 whose arrival at Dadar, from Afghanistan, he had been con- 
 templating. Four days later, he reported, ' with much regret,' 
 for Lord Auckland's information, a still more serious state 
 of things, as represented in a letter from the Envoy with 
 Shah Shuja to Major Eawlinson ; and on November 20 he 
 wrote as follows to Mr. Willoughby, then looking forward to 
 the coming of Sir W. MacNaghten, the Governor elect of 
 Bombay : — 
 
 ' There are deplorable accounts from Cabool ! I sent you 
 the day before yesterday copy of a note from Sir W. Mac- 
 Naghten, dated November 1, showing that he was still there ; 
 so there is no possibility of his getting away before spring, I 
 should say. Neither can the brigade from Candahar go 
 beyond Grhuznee, on account of the snow. But it is impossible 
 the rebels can keep the field during winter . . . neither 
 can they hold the city under the guns of the Balla Hissar. 
 . . . Under the present aspect of affairs, however, we must 
 keep all the troops we have in the country, and it may be 
 necessary hereafter to push more troops to Candahar, 
 which may be sent by the Sonmeeanee route in February. 
 Moreover, Captain Hammersley reports from Quetta that 
 he considers the desertion of his Kaukers from the Eangers 
 the prelude to a general Ranker insurrection connected with 
 the Cabool disturbances, and it is possible I may have to act 
 against them from hence. But this I do not apprehend to 
 be likely ; nor do I think a general rising of that tribe will
 
 -1842 SUBMISSION OF KAKARS. 237 
 
 take place. ... It is proper to be prepared, however.' To 
 JSIr. Colvin, on the same date, he writes : — 
 
 ' I have every confidence that the Murree chief is coming 
 to me, and, if he does, the peaceable submission of all the 
 Hill tribes of Northern Cutchee is certain. It is possible 
 that the machinations of the traitor (suspected) Naib of 
 Shawl may have extended to them ; but it is not likely, for 
 there can scarcely have been time to communicate with them, 
 and I really am not in the least degree apprehensive on the 
 subject.' 
 
 Later again — but still in the same month of November 
 — his letters express a fear lest communication with Kan- 
 dahar should be rendered insecure by the enforced evacuation 
 of Kala Abdullah, near the entrance, or at about eight miles 
 east of the Khojak Pass. Annoyance on this score is, how- 
 ever, somewhat mitigated by the arrival in his camp of the 
 ' high priest ' of the Kakars and others of the tribe, to tender 
 the submission of their chief, Ghafur Khan, who had been, up 
 to that time, opposed to all conciliatory advances on our 
 part. December was naturally a month of great anxiety. 
 The following extract is from a letter to Mr. Willoughby, 
 written on the 4th : — 
 
 ' So critical a state of things, as represented throughout 
 the whole line of communications with Cabool and in the 
 capital itself, at the last accounts dated November 9, renders 
 it incumbent on me to devise every means of preparing sup- 
 port for Candahar, from whence principally we must look for 
 the retrieval of our affairs should we be driven to extremity 
 at Cabool ; for our line of posts is more complete, and the 
 obstacles are neither so numerous nor so serious by the Bolan 
 and Sonmeanee routes as they appear to be by the Khybur. I 
 consider we are secure in the Bolan Pass, with the command
 
 238 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839- 
 
 above and below, and the Brahoe tribes on the left of the Pass 
 in our interests — even should the Kakurs turn against us, 
 which I do not apprehend. ... I do not think the inhabit- 
 ants of the Pisheen valley are likely to become malcontent, 
 and if they do, there are no commanding situations from 
 Quetta to the Kojuk where they could attempt to arrest our 
 troops, except the Koochlack Pass, which is commanded from 
 Quetta ; and our position at Killa Abdoolla could be strength- 
 ened in case of necessity, to afford a flanking party to take up a 
 commanding position at the crest of the Kojuk on all occasions 
 of troops and convoys passing over. From thence to Canda- 
 har, no very commanding positions occur easily tenable by an 
 enemy in the face of our troops. At Kelat-i-Ghilzie and 
 Grhuznee we are impregnable, provided provisions have been 
 laid in in plenty, which I presume must be the case, as those 
 places were to be held under any circumstances. Our com- 
 munications with Cabool can therefore, I consider, be best re- 
 opened by that route.' 
 
 On the 7th, a hopeful disposition had apparently restricted 
 his main attention to the work immediately before him. ' We 
 are still,' he writes to JNir. Colvin, ' without direct accounts 
 from Cabool ; but the tranquillity at Candahar is a strong 
 proof that the insurrection is quelled. . . . The Khan com- 
 menced his progress through Cutchee this morning, accom- 
 panied by Colonel Stacy, who is instructed to encourage the 
 young chief to personal inquiry into the affairs of the country,' 
 also to induce his pupil ' to invite all aggrieved parties freely 
 to state their grievances.' The Kakar negotiations had pro- 
 gressed favourably, and Ghafur Khan was to be taken to one 
 of the assistant politicals, in order that the settlement with 
 him might be formally concluded. But so far from the insur- 
 rection being quelled at Kabul, the disasters to our army in 
 that city were, when Outram was writing, fast approaching to 
 the bitter end.
 
 -1842 PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES. 239 
 
 On the 11th, owing to the receipt of bad news again, he 
 thought it prudent to warn the head-quarter wing of H.M. 
 41st foot at Karachi, to be ready to embark for Sakhar, in 
 the event of having to push on the other wing fromDadar up- 
 ward. He also directed the 2nd native grenadiers, under 
 orders to return to Bombay when relieved, to stand fast for 
 the time in Upper Sind. On the 1 5th he heard of the flight of 
 the Durrani Naib of Shal, a disaffected Afghan, closely related 
 to one of the more prominent opponents of the Shah ; and 
 requested Brigadier-Greneral England to send up the wing of 
 a sipahi corps, so as to complete a force at Kwatta consisting 
 of two strong regiments of native infantry (minus three 
 companies at Kala Abdullah), two nine-pounders of European 
 (Bombay) artillery, and two nine-pounders of the Bolan 
 rangers, with a company of Bengal artillerymen. He would 
 then be ' under no anxiety whatever, were the rebels to come 
 in their utmost strength against that post : ' a contingency 
 which might reasonably be contemplated with the object of 
 stopping communications with Kandahar. In the young Khan 
 he placed full confidence : he was satisfied of his disinclination 
 to join any combination against the British. He closed a long 
 letter to Mr. Colvin, discussing these subjects, with the state- 
 ment that he was about to send up his report on the assistants 
 and establishments of his agency, which he had reduced 
 nearly a lakh (10,000L) annually, without detriment to effici- 
 ency, and independent of reductions in the cost of the 
 Indus flotilla. On December 18, he officiall}" reported to the 
 Governor-Greneral the reforms already effected in these re- 
 spects, and those about to be effected, addressing to Mr. Colvin 
 a semi-official communication on the same question the day 
 following. He also -wrote to JMr. Colvin on the latter date to 
 point out that, should rebellion break out at Kandahar (but 
 only in that case), it would be advisable to withdraw the 
 detachment of troops at the intermediate post of Kala 
 Abdullah ; and he added : —
 
 240 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839- 
 
 ' Should the counter-Suddozye league prove true, I shall 
 have no fear of any serious agitation extending to this quarter 
 and to the Ameers ; but I have little doubt the early ap- 
 pearance of reinforcements from Gruzerat and at Sonmeeanee 
 will keep down the disaffected under any circumstances. 
 Colonel Stacy has effected a satisfactory ■ treaty with the 
 Murrees . . . and nothing but the most untoward events 
 in Afghanistan, and the spread of insurrection to our very 
 borders, will cause any risk of serious agitation within my 
 charge, and I am not apprehensive that it will extend so far, 
 or that I shall be unable to quell it if it do take place. 
 Although I have no fears for our Quetta post, I agree with 
 Major Rawlinson in the policy of moving wp as many troops 
 as the accommodation at Quetta can possibly shelter.' Five 
 companies were to march thither on the day following, and 
 this addition to the force was, he believed, the utmost that 
 could be accommodated. It was afterwards arranged with 
 Brigadier-Greneral England that a company of the 41st 
 regiment of foot, completed to one hundred men, should at 
 once move through the pass with the head-quarter wing of 
 the 25th native infantry. Outram explains his chief aim to 
 have been, the moral effect produced by the passage of troops 
 up the Bolan, at a time when, according to Major Rawlinson, 
 there was a growing impression that we were about to eva- 
 cuate the country. 
 
 He wrote to Mr. Maddox, Secretary to the Government 
 of India, on December 22 : — 
 
 ' No excitement has been caused in this country by the 
 exaggerated rumours of disasters to us in Afghanistan which 
 pour in from Candahar. There is little sympathy between 
 the Afghans and Brahoes ; and nothing but a general rise 
 against us on the score of religion would tend to infect 
 the tribes of Beloochistan. ... I consider that it must be 
 impossible for 'the rebels to overcome our trooY>R if in the
 
 -1842 SAD NEWS FROM KABUL. 241 
 
 Balla Hissar, and with three months' provisions — as reported 
 in the last accounts we have received from Jellalabad.' And 
 to ]Mr. Colvin on the 23rd : — 
 
 'Lest his Lordship should be under anxiety regarding 
 Quetta, I enclose the copy of a letter just received from 
 Lieutenant Hammersley which, although evidently written 
 for no other eye than my own, shows so exactly the feeling 
 of the garrison, that I need not apologise for sending it, as 
 ,affording the best security that our troops at that post cannot 
 be beaten. I never had any anxiety on that subject ; but the 
 dangerous move of evacuating Killa Abdoola was, I confess, 
 a soiu-ce of some anxiety.' Then, in allusion to the return of 
 the detachment from that fort : — ' I was much delighted to 
 learn of its safe arrival at Quetta, only five stragglers having 
 fallen, slain by the Afghan horse in our own pay, who turned 
 upon us when they found us in retreat.' 
 
 The traitors referred to belonged to a body of cavalry 
 known as Bosanquet's ; but what were these events to the 
 more widespread calamity which had overtaken our country- 
 men and their native associates at Kabul ? On the date last 
 named, while ( Jutram, in his usual untiring spirit and readi- 
 ness to cope with detail, was discussing on paper, with Mr. 
 Colvin, as also Colonel Stacy and Lieutenant French, the 
 questions arising in his more immediate entourage^ Sir 
 William MacNaghten was shot by Muhammed Akbar Khan — 
 the last of a series of individual murders soon to be followed 
 by wholesale slaughter and all but annihilation. This intelli- 
 gence did not reach Dadar for some four weeks ; but in those 
 days there was little in the general condition of Afghanistan, 
 or the political situation in that country, to render the 
 Anglo- Afghan alliance a fit subject of congratulation to 
 British officers in North- Western India, especially at Christ- 
 mas and the New Year. How cheerily, however, our ' warden 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839- 
 
 of the marches, wrote to despondent friends even at this 
 gloomy Christmas-tide, and notwithstanding his thorough 
 grasp of the real perils of the situation — a grasp of which his 
 many letters of this period give detailed proof — the following 
 note to Mr. Willoughby, dated December 27, is a specimen : — 
 
 ' Depend upon it you need have no fear of my napping 
 in fancied security, from the fair professions of these people. 
 Of course I know that, however individuals might feel well- 
 disposed, they could not resist a sudden and general impulse 
 of religious enthusiasm. But I have little fear of any out- 
 break being attempted, having so many screws secured in 
 every direction that each chief would wait for his neighbour 
 to begin first, and they cannot combine without my know- 
 ledge. Keep a good heart, my dear friend — " nil desper- 
 andum " — all will yet go well — we shall rise like the phoenix 
 resplendent from our ashes.' 
 
 On January 20, 1842, when retribution was all that 
 remained to complete the tragedy, Outram wrote to Colonel 
 Stacy : — ' This is a lamentable fiTiate to poor MacNaghten's 
 career; but just what he ought to have expected from treat- 
 ing with the rebels at all. I am glad that after-negotiations 
 appear to have been broken off under another attack on the 
 cantonment, which I trust must have been followed by the 
 garrison cutting its way into the Bala Hissar. ... I think it 
 may be as well to tell the Khan the whole truth at once, 
 ascribing all our losses to treachery . . . and giving hope 
 that we still hold the Bala Hissar, which it is possible the 
 cantonment garrison may have made their way to. However, 
 exercise your own discretion as to at once informing the 
 Khan and chiefs, or delaying till arrival here, which would 
 perhaps be better. Tell what great preparations are making 
 for re-invading the country, and that in three months all 
 Afghanistan will again be subdued.'
 
 -1842 HARD-WORKED POLITICALS. 243 
 
 Little by little, the whole truth became known,' and 
 Outram's abundant energies were taxed to the utmost to sup- 
 port the faihng prestige of his country. 
 
 Throughout the trying occasion how keen was his morti- 
 fication, how ardent his desire of honourable retrieval, how 
 competent his appreciation, can only be thoroughly known 
 to his fellow-workers, apparent as they may be from the 
 numerous letters of which the record has been preserved. 
 Nor should the labours of his coadjutors be lost sight of in 
 this retrospect. It has been already well said, in reference 
 to the occasion, that ' to provide for the sustenance and safety 
 of the weak and scattered military posts within their juris- 
 diction ; to inspire confidence in quarters wherein panic 
 threatened to consmnmate the very evils it apprehended ; to 
 aid in the retrieval of our tarnished honour by pro\ading our 
 generals with the means of prosecuting a war of retribution ; 
 and to do so through the agency of those whom we had 
 wronged, and who were incited to rise against us — such were 
 the duties which Major Outram and his able staff were called 
 on to perform.' ^ 
 
 We now approach the period when a great change was made 
 in the personnel of the Indian Grovernment. Independently 
 of special and exceptional circumstances, the season had just 
 arrived for new appointments in high places at Simla and 
 Calcutta, and prescribed habit would take its course. On 
 February 28, 1842, Lord Auckland was relieved from his 
 arduous and responsible duties ; and British India passed 
 under the rule of his successor. Lord Ellenborough. Two days 
 before, the departing Grovernor-General addressed a long 
 and highly interesting letter to Major Outram, from which 
 we feel at liberty to make the more pertinent extracts : — 
 
 ' You will feel, as we all of us feel, that our first solici- 
 
 ' Appendix E. ^ Memoir of Services. 
 
 It 2
 
 244 JAMES OUTRAM. 1839- 
 
 tude must be for the troops in advance ; but you will never 
 lose sight of the great consideration that the basis of safety 
 and of power throughout the districts under your influence 
 is at Sakkar and Shikarpore. And I should generally prefer 
 a moderate force very securely placed at Shikarpore, to a 
 large cantonment at that place, and I would have your 
 magazines and the main body of your strength in the more 
 healthy and accessible position of Sakkar. 
 
 ' It has given me pleasure to learn that you think it 
 possible that the Khan of Kelat may at no distant period be 
 safely entrusted with the defence of Shal, of Dadur, and 
 Seebee — and it might perhaps be good policy that he be 
 made to feel at once our disposition to give to him and 
 his tribes this accession of power and of territory as soon 
 as our difficulties in Afghanistan shall be brought to a 
 close. 
 
 ' It is possible that a very large force may in the end be 
 collected by you for the summer in Shal and Mastung, and 
 you might safely hold the language which may please you 
 best, to all around you; and as the cold weather may 
 approach, you might settle on your own terms all the 
 countries which lie between Shal and Kurachee, always 
 following out, however, that excellent plan of conciliation 
 on which you have acted towards Belochistan. I would 
 endeavour to save at least thus much of our late accessions 
 of power from the disasters which have been brought upon 
 them. This is probably the last letter that I shall have to 
 write to you, and I would take my leave of you with an 
 assurance to you, that you have from day to day, since your 
 late appointment, added to that high estimate with which I 
 have long regarded your character, and which led me to place 
 confidence in you. It is mortifying and galling to me to feel 
 that plans which you had nearly brought to successful 
 maturity, for great improvement, for the consolidation of
 
 -1842 WORDS OF THE WISE. 245 
 
 security and influence, for the happiness of the popula- 
 tion of immense tracts, and for your own and oiu: honour, 
 should be endangered by events of which our military 
 history has happily no parallel. You will, I know, do well 
 in the storm, and I trust that, as far as the interests con- 
 fided to you are concerned, you will enable us to weather it.' 
 
 And he did well, as the world has testified ; and the 
 storm ivas weathered, as history has certified. But ' the race 
 is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet 
 bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, 
 nor yet favour to men of skill.' Were there not thousands 
 of instances of merit unacknowledged, to be drawn from the 
 annals of everyday life ; did not lame and halt ones reach the 
 goal, when the nimble-footed fail ; was not strength subdued 
 by cunning, the bread of the wise given to charlatans, and 
 wealth marred by ignoble uses ; and were not the ignorant 
 and unworthy set in honourable seats — how could we inter- 
 pret this passage of an undying record left by the wisest 
 of kings to after-generations ? Surely the wisdom of these 
 golden words is in their truth.
 
 246 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1842. 
 
 Ketrospect of Outram's -work in Sind and Ealuchistan, from February to 
 November 1842 — Keturn from Dadar to Sakhar — Disaster at Haikal- 
 zai — Letter to Mr. Maddock, on available military resources — Eeturn to 
 Kwatta — Subordination to Major-General Nott — Transfer of the Shal 
 and Sibi districts to Kalat — Displeasure of Governor-General — Keturn of 
 General England's force to Sind — Arrival at Sakhar of Major-General 
 Sir Charles Napier — Outram remanded to regimental duty. 
 
 Lord Auckland's departure might have been personally a 
 source of greater distress to Outram, who had so long enjoyed 
 that nobleman's confidence, had it not occurred at a time 
 when the honour of his country was at stake, and when so 
 much responsibility in the maintenance of that honour 
 devolved upon himself. Had it been possible to instigate his 
 zeal and energy yet further in the cause, the arrival in India 
 of a new Governor-General would have proved a likely means 
 of imparting the required stimulus. But he was in reality at 
 boiling-point ; and his efforts were now directed to putting 
 pressure upon others — in many cases upon men invested with 
 public functions like himself, though higher in the ofiicial 
 scale, and some of them cast in a different mould. He had 
 written, only a few days before Lord Ellenborough had set 
 foot on Indian soil, to Major Rawlinson in Kandahar, ex- 
 pressing delight at being made the channel of communica- 
 tion to General Nott, in forwarding the direct orders of 
 superior authority to hold fast in that city.^ ' The Govern- 
 
 ' Among the many official reports left by Sir James Outram is the copy of 
 a correspondence between General Nott and Major Eawlinson, bearing date 
 February 1, 1842, consequent on the receipt of orders to evacuate Kandahar. 
 We quote two remarkable passages, each worthy of preservation. The latter 
 officer writes : — ' I am led to believe that we should avail ourselves of the dis- 
 cretion wliieli is left to us by Government, and shape our proceedings rather
 
 1842 INSPIRITING COUNSELS. 247 
 
 ment of ludia,' he told JNIr. Willoiighby, ' had at last 
 recovered from its panic, and displayed the determination 
 and vigour necessary for this crisis.' In a previous letter to 
 Lieutenant Hammersley, he had expressed his hope that 
 Kandahar would hold out as Sale had resolved to do at 
 Jalalabad, at any rate until the views of the new Governor- 
 General became known ; adding : — ' I cannot believe that a 
 retrograde movement will be allowed by Lord Ellenborough 
 .... until we have rescued or avenged our captiured 
 countrymen at Cabool. I doubt not General Pollock will 
 immediately force the Khaibar Pass to Jallalabad, and, having 
 discretionary power, will then push on to Cabool where by 
 that time dissensions among the Afghans will favom* him.' 
 
 Another note of this date flashes out a summary of tactics 
 most suitable for Afghan warfare. Bold though the principle 
 may seem at first sight, its soundness has been proved over 
 and over again by the actions of our gallant frontier officers 
 in numberless small campaigns, no less than by the sadly 
 chequered events of past and present Afghan wars. Illustra- 
 tions of the danger of neglecting it are, unfortunately, not 
 wanting. Outram thus emphasises it himself : — '■Attack the 
 enemy on every occasion^ and disabuse the opinion now 
 obtaining that the Afghans are a match for us in the field.' 
 So think, and so act, our gallant frontier officers now. 
 
 To Colonel Palmer, commanding at Ghazni, he addressed 
 a remarkable letter, almost on the eve of Lord Ellenborough'H 
 
 with the view to prospective than immediate retirement, aiming to create 
 such an impression of our power in the minds of the inhabitants of this part of 
 Afghanistan, while we remain in the country, as shall efface the memory of the 
 disasters at Cabul, and lead the people to respect our national character, if not 
 to remember with gratitude the many benefits we have conferred on them.' 
 
 In the reply, the view of the situation is thus stated : — ' I think our in- 
 structions from Government will be widely different from those dated December 
 3, 1841, and until we receive further orders I will not consent to retire from this 
 country. I could offer many reasonsfor this determination, butat present itis not 
 necessary.' Some one has underlined in pencil the words here rendered in italics, 
 and written in the margin of Outram's copy : — ' This is very good; wo may bo sure 
 ho is in his position at Candahar.'
 
 248 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842 
 
 disembarkation, giving strong reasons why the orders to 
 evacuate his post, issued upon compulsion from Kabul, 
 should not be obeyed. He strove to reassiu-e him by the 
 prospect of speedy rehef which the despatch of a brigade up 
 the passes from India would enable General Nott to afford 
 him from Kandahar. ' We can have no fears for your force 
 in the meantime . . . .' he wrote : — 
 
 Nothing could toucti you in the citadel, even though the enemy 
 may be in possession of the town ; for of course you would leave 
 no artillery in the town, and your musketry from the citadel alone 
 must render the town a dangerous occupation for the enemy. We 
 hear they attempt to mine you, but fear not that you will fail 
 to counteract such efforts by sallies, and the occasional favour of 
 shells and other combustibles, for nowhere could they find shelter 
 to commence their operations under so commanding a fire ; if a 
 lodgment is effected, we know it would be destroyed by counter- 
 mines or outward sally ; — doubtless you would have frequent 
 opportunities of destroying any stores of powder the enemy might 
 collect for the purpose of loading a mine, by the rifle practice of 
 your officers with Norton's shells (egg-ball, with tin tube let in at 
 the small end, filled with powder, and closed at the outward end 
 by a percussion cap) — by mining they may draw off the water 
 from your wells, but still we fear not for you, the river running 
 dii'cctly under and within range of your musketry. In fact, we 
 are qiiite satisfied that you would cheerfully meet and undergo 
 every difficulty rather than surrender on any terms, which, as in the 
 dreadful Cabool instance, would be destruction. It is feared that 
 the Cabool artillery given over to the enemy, may be brought against 
 you when the roads will admit of theii- transport, but we have 
 every hope that in the meantime the rebel chiefs will be too much 
 occupied by dissensions among themselves to think of you ; or, in 
 the expectation of owx advance from Peshawur, they may keep the 
 ai-tillery at the capital, or send it to oppose our troops ; but even 
 should it be brought against you, you have some good artillery to 
 oppose, by the aid of which we doubt not you would successfully 
 resist all efforts of the enemy, in the confidence of ultimate relief. 
 Genei'al Sale has no fears for Jallalabad, where he has strengthened 
 the woiks and laid in j)rovisions. All is quiet at Quetta, and in
 
 1842 SIR GEORGE RUSSELL-CLERK. 249 
 
 Scinde and Belochistan at present ; Lord Ellenborough, the new 
 Governor-General, is expected at Calcutta about this time; the 
 birth of a Pi'ince of Wales, and an extensive brevet in consequence 
 is the only news of interest by the last mail. Our affaii'S are pros- 
 pering in China, and the Burmese, Nepaulese, &c., betray no 
 intentions. 
 
 The history of the first Anglo- Afghan campaign is too 
 well known to require any separate or expository sketch in 
 these pages. We do not, therefore, think it necessary to 
 explain all allusions to passing events, in our extracts from 
 the papers before us. Yet it is well to state that, in review- 
 ing the work of one man at that critical period, we are not 
 confining the retrospect to Outram's own correspondence ^ — 
 full and varied as it is. Eeference also is made, where desir- 
 able for truth and clearness, to independent narratives. 
 
 It must be premised that the position of Major Outram in 
 Sind, and of 3Ir. -better known in later years at the Council 
 Board as Sir — George Russell-Clerk, on the north-west fron- 
 tier, was that of men who had good reason to fear that an 
 ignominious withdrawal of our forces from Afghanistan was 
 contemplated, without an effort either to release our captives 
 or to restore our most dangerously shattered prestige. They 
 both foresaw the disastrous results of such a solution of our 
 embarrassments — a solution fatal to the future peace and 
 prosperity of India. They both saw how easy it would be for 
 Pollock and Nott to open the way for retreat by aggressive 
 action and the consequent release of our prisoners and 
 reassertion of our power. And they both risked their all in 
 persistent endeavour to induce the Governor-General to see 
 things in the same light and act accordingly. It is not 
 
 ' Of the twelve correspondents, whose names appear on the title-page of 
 the selections from Outram's letters written in 1841-42, and printed for private 
 circulation, but two are now living — Sir Henry Eawlinsou, and Sir George Clerk. 
 Sir Henry Lawrence, General Nott, Colonel Sutherland, Sir James Carnac, 
 Sir Eichmond Shakespeare, the political assistants Hammersloy and Erowne, 
 and the secretaries Maddock, Durand, and Willoughby — have all passed away.
 
 250 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842 
 
 our province to follow the fortunes of the chivalrous Bengal 
 civilian, but it will be seen how his like-minded comrade fared 
 in the struggle. It would but weary the reader to multiply 
 quotations from Outram's many letters bearing on the one 
 aim. Directly and indirectly, officially and demi-officially, by 
 appeal and by allusion, he continuedto press the matter during 
 these drearily busy months ; others, besides the Generals 
 Pollock and Nott, strove towards the same end, and at last 
 prevailed — after a fashion. Henry Lawrence, himself commis- 
 sioner of Peshawar during the crisis, and a correspondent of 
 Outram's — though personally, then and for many years after, 
 a stranger to him — has had naturally something to say on 
 the subject ; and thus wrote in the ' Calcutta Keview ' 
 of September 1845: — 'James Outram in one quarter, and 
 Greorge Clerk — a kindred spirit — in another, were the 
 two men who then stood in the breach ; who forced the 
 authorities to listen to the fact against which they tried to 
 close their ears, that the proposed abandonment of the British 
 prisoners in Afghanistan would be as dangerous to the State, as 
 it was base towards the captives. These counsels were success- 
 fully followed ; the British nation thanked our Indian rulers, 
 while, of the two men, without whose persevering remon- 
 strances and exertions Nott and Pollock might have led back 
 their armies, without being permitted to make an effort to 
 retrieve our credit — Clerk was slighted, and Outram super- 
 seded ! ' 
 
 These words supply the key to what is now to be related 
 in regard to a cloudy period of James Outram's career. 
 The experiences of 1879 will enable the EngUsh reader the 
 better to appreciate the events of 1842. But it must be 
 borne in mind that we were then strangers throughout the 
 independent territories which lay within Major Outram's 
 jurisdiction — from Karachi on the ocean to the Khojak Pass — 
 strangers, moreover, whose proceedings had tended to
 
 1842 DUTIES, VARIED AND IMPORTANT. 251 
 
 alienate into enmity both Sindis and Baluchis ; that the 
 passes above Dadar and the Peshin valley swarmed with pre- 
 datory tribes then unaccustomed to the curb, and who had yet 
 to learn the inexorable sweep of the Farangi sword and the 
 inexhaustible flow of Farangi gold ; that these were days 
 when the spell of our success had just been rudely broken, 
 while all those upon whom we intruded ourselves had 
 only too good cause to dread our rapacity, and distrust 
 our motives ; and that while ' etappen ' arrangements were 
 then undreamt of, it was the political agent who had to 
 extract from these invaded territories means of transport, 
 local supplies, and nearly all else needful to an army in mo- 
 tion, save hard cash, powder, and shot. On him it fell to 
 ' manage ' predatory hordes, to maintain communications, to 
 organise local levies, to be the ' intelligence department,' 
 and much else besides. All this in addition to what may 
 be termed ' diplomatic ' functions throughout these varied 
 principalities and tribes ; with which were connected unde- 
 fined, or one might say infinite, civil duties involved in efforts 
 to check misrule and ameliorate the condition of the peoples 
 within his influence. In the case of Baluchistan, these duties 
 included the administration of Shal and other important 
 tracts. This is but an incomplete resutne of the work which 
 tasked the energies of Major Outram and his single-minded 
 assistants during the protracted crisis of 1841-2. We must, 
 however, confine oiu- extracts and allusions to a few of the 
 more personal features of the time, leaving the reader to fill 
 in, ad libitum,, the everyday details of duty and of danger, 
 of worry and of anxiety, of responsibility and of perplexity. 
 The mass and variety of correspondence available are enor- 
 mous. Illustrations of points dwelt upon might be multi- 
 plied to any extent ; but patience must not be overtried, 
 and to condense without obscurity is no easy task. We 
 may insert here a letter of May 19, 1842, to Mr. Clerk, not
 
 252 ■ JAMES OUTRAM. 1842 
 
 only as illustrative of the above remarks, but as contain- 
 ing views of general policy which are of weighty interest in 
 our own days : — 
 
 I note with regret — but not surprise — that your opinions 
 as to the measiu-es proper to be pursued in Afghanistan do not 
 meet those of the Govei-nor-General, who cannot with all his home 
 Indian experience, help being swayed in his estimate of the 
 physical difficulties to be encountered in Afghanistan, and of Afghan 
 prowess, by the results of the past six months. Now these, it 
 must be evident to any practical man capable of judging the true 
 value of both, were brought about by neither the one nor the other. 
 There exist no further physical difi&culties (to signify) than what 
 have already been overcome — the passage of the Khybur on one 
 side, and that of the Bolan and Kojuck Passes on the other ; and 
 as to the prowess of the Afghans, our experience of four years among 
 them, during which we have had some twenty or thirty hand to 
 hand engagements with them, ought to have lowered instead of raised 
 in our eyes their character in that respect; for in no instance — except 
 in that absurd business of Hykulzye — have they ever been able 
 to cope with us, however superior in numbers, or in strength of posi- 
 tion ! Every engagement only tended to heighten the despair of the 
 enemy of ever being able to compete with us in the field ; and had 
 it not been that our own measures at Cabul drove certain chiefs to 
 desperation, and our insane aiTangement of placing treasiu-e and 
 godouns (depots) vsdthin then' power, enabled those chiefs to inflame 
 the rabble, and commit the whole city, by laying open those stores 
 to indiscriminate plunder— at the same time incapacitating our 
 troops — at this moment, I say, the Afghans would have continued 
 subservient ; and, as it is, will succumb to any demonstration of 
 our strength. This you and /know, and every officer of experience 
 in Afghanistan is convinced of. But his Lordship camaot but give 
 heed to the more timid counsellors who preach ' prudently with- 
 drawing from further contest' against an exasperated nation — 
 having in his recollection the struggles of Spain against Napoleon's 
 efforts, and his disastrous expulsion from Russia ! True, the 
 parallels appear complete, but they are not really so, and cannot 
 be drawn until 30,000 British bayonets can keep all Europe in 
 subjection, as they now do India. Then — but not till then — will 
 the rules of Eui-opean warfare extend to Asia, Had we heretofore
 
 1842 PLAIN SPEAKING. 253 
 
 estimated our enemies in this qutarter of the globe on such equality, 
 we never should have obtained India, nor should we have retained 
 it ; and if Lord Ellenborough is induced to swerve from the only- 
 course now left us for recovering our honour, through an over- 
 estimate of any Asiatic enemy — fi-om that period will be dated the 
 decline of our power in India ; and those nearer home will be en- 
 couraged to lay their heads together, and to oppose the Government 
 on every favourable opportunity for raising a disturbance. Our 
 armies must be increased to ovei^awe the then turbulent, but 
 hitherto peaceable, population of India, while at the same time 
 the revenues decrease owing to such disturbances, until either the 
 people become too powerful, or the country too impoverished, to 
 admit of our continuing the government. 
 
 "With such a result in view, I shall continue to urge, by every 
 means in my power, directly or indirectly, what I with you feel to 
 be the most advantageous course, until we are committed beyond 
 recall, which I still hope the favourable turn of affarrs in Afghan- 
 istan, and General Nott's decisive opinion, may avert ; or, until 
 rejDroved for intruding such opinions — which I may now expect to 
 be, since you, whose opinion is entitled to so much greater weight, 
 have been checked in expressing what, as coming from me, has 
 hitherto escaped notice only from being less entitled to con- 
 sideration. 
 
 One other extract will complete the general view of 
 Afghan politics. The anxiety here expressed regarding the 
 course of action to be decided on by Government, and by 
 Greneral Nott under his perplexing instructions, formed the 
 chief of the heart-burdens which weighed upon Major Outram 
 throughout this period of doubt and mystery. In June his 
 hopes were raised by Pollock's call to Nott to advance on Kabul 
 upon his (Pollock's) own responsibility as senior officer, and the 
 strength of the indefinite latitude just accorded to the gene- 
 rals. Outram urged Nott strongly to act on this soldierly 
 summons, but was disappointed ; and anxieties were only set 
 at rest by the tardy advance in August. He thus continued 
 his train of thought in a letter to Hir E. Shakespeare, General 
 Pollock's military secretary, of May 21 : —
 
 254 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842 
 
 I am mucli obliged to you for your very interesting and insti'uc- 
 tive letter, dated 4th inst., and lose no time in thanking you for 
 it, and in assuring you that I cordially coincide in all your views, 
 excepting in the advisability of assuming Afghanistan to ourselves, 
 which you appear to lean towards, in preference to the alternative 
 of -withdrawing after reoccupying Cabul, which 1 would prefer. 
 I have always been opposed to the location of our troops in 
 Afghanistan ; and to show you what my sentiments were on the 
 subject so far back as this time three years ago, I enclose an extract 
 from a letter I wrote the Bombay Secretary when we were at 
 Candahar in 1839. Late events have of course strengthened that 
 opinion ; but I have ever been adverse to withdraw our troops, 
 after we loere committed in the countiy, until we can do so with 
 honour : and I agree with you that cannot now be, until we have 
 reasserted our power at Cabul. You will have been thunderstruck, 
 as I was, on the receipt of the Governor-General's orders of the 
 19th ult., which I observed were forwarded to General Pollock, 
 and, I conclude, were to the same eflfect as those sent through me 
 to General Nott, of the same date ; and I am pretty sure that the 
 sentiments of Generals Pollock and Nott, yourself, Mr. Clerk, 
 and indeed every practical man concerned, coincide with mine. 
 
 . I must say, however, that I would recommend the 
 return of the united armies by this route instead of by the Khybur, 
 which, for the reasons stated in a letter I addressed to Mr. Maddock 
 on tlie subject,' I would abandon altogether; returning the whole 
 army by this route, wherein there is no chance of obstruction, such 
 as retiring troops would be subject to in the Khoord Cabvil and 
 Khybur passes. The only pass of any difficulty on this route, 
 the Bolan, we hold the key of in the Brahooes, and I am sure I 
 could ensure the passage of our armies by this route without the 
 sKghtest loss.2 From hence, a portion might be shipped round to 
 Calcvitta and the rest march by land to the upper provinces. I 
 shall continue in much anxiety till I hear General Pollock's deter- 
 mination on receipt of the order of the 19th April — still feel little 
 doubt as to the course he will adopt. 
 
 ' In an official despatch, dated May 2 (which is not given in the Blue 
 Eook). 
 
 - It will be soon hereafter how Outram fulfilled this pledge, in with- 
 drawing General England's portion of the army, under far less favourable 
 circumstances than would have attended the return of the wh(de united army, 
 after havint; been victorious at Cabul.
 
 i842 LETTER TO CAPTAIN DURAND. 255 
 
 About JNIarch 10 he left Dtidar for Sind, and Sakhar on 
 the Indus was selected as a convenient spot both for his local 
 work and keeping open the communication with Afghanistan. 
 As regards the change of locality, Sakhar may have the 
 advantage over Dadar in cheerfulness and beauty of outer 
 scenery, but for the six months commencing with March the 
 heat is simply indescribable in both places. At such a time 
 the charms of landscape can only be appreciated by the most 
 aesthetic of Englishmen as a brilliant opera can be appre- 
 ciated by a listener with a splitting headache. He had been 
 at Sakhar for two or three days when on March 27, he thus 
 addressed Captain Durand, private secretary to the Governor- 
 General : — 
 
 I am waiting with much, anxiety the development of Lord 
 Ellenborough's views in our present most difficult position. I 
 almost fear the very many and serious obstacles which present 
 themselves against the only coiu-se left to retrieve our honour, will 
 deter his Lordship from attempting it at present. The most 
 serious is, the feeling which has displayed itself among the sepoys 
 of General Pollock's force of late : but if he can induce them to go 
 on to Jellalabad, I do hope the rest would be plain saULng ; — 
 certainly if they can be persuaded to piu-sue their march on Cabool 
 it would be so, aided by a simultaneous advance from Candahar — 
 and provided Colonel Palmer maintains his position at Ghuznee, 
 which I am sorry to find by the accounts from Cabool, dated 5th 
 inst., he was thinking of evacuating ; but I am in hopes that my 
 letter from Dadur (which I despatched on the 24th ult., and was 
 to have been delivered in twelve days) would reach that officer in 
 time to cause him to defer such a step until he receives the 
 positive orders of Government, for I am happy to see that yoimg 
 Conolly has thrown obstacles in the way, calculated to cause delay. 
 I hope that having thrown up the Pass General England's brigade, 
 will be approved of by the Govenor-General : whatever course 
 may be resolved on, it was equally necessary — either with the 
 view to the advance or retreat of General Nott's army — and indis- 
 pensable to provide supplies of treasure and ammunition, which 
 were absolutely necessary to enable the Candahar troops to move
 
 256 JAMES OUTRAM. 1S42 
 
 or hold out. Moreover, the movement up the Pass was equally so 
 to prevent the hill tribes rising, and closing the Bolan Pass, and 
 stopping our communication altogether ; independently of the moral 
 effect of that movement in fovour of our captive countrymen in 
 Afghanistan under any circumstances, and of our cause, should it be 
 determined to relieve our positions. Whatever may happen else- 
 where, I am under no apprehension of the Ameers of Scinde 
 openly committing themselves, or that their united powers could 
 shake us here if they did ; but I am relying on our being reinforced 
 by one regiment from Ferozepore, which is necessary for the security 
 of this extensive and straggling cantonment. 
 
 To INIr. Willougliby he also wrote on the same date, for- 
 warding a copy of the letter from which we have last extracted. 
 In this he says : — 
 
 I think Brigadier England wrong to move on to Pisheen as he 
 appears to intend, before the remainder of his brigade ascends the 
 Pass, for that movement will now do no good either to General 
 Nott (who says he is not prepared to send an escort to receive the 
 supplies) or to any one else ; whereas, his remaining at Quetta a 
 week longer, will enable his rear detachment to join, and deter the 
 tribes from attemptiag to oppose it going up the Pass — or, he 
 would be at hand to aid the ascent of the troops should they do so. 
 As General England is not prepared to march on to Candahar till 
 his vjhole brigade is assembled, surely he should wait till the rear 
 detachment joins him, when the mere fact of his doing so insures 
 its safety, which otherwise may be jeopardised. 
 
 Being at Quetta he was ready to carry on the supplies to the 
 Kojuck, had General Nott been prepared to send so far to receive 
 them ; hiU the latter not being so, and, moreover, it having been 
 determined that Brigadier England's whole brigade is to take on 
 the supplies the whole way, what possible use can there be in 
 moving off from Quetta to Pisheen, there to await the junction of his 
 rear detachment, at too great a distance to support it in the Pass 
 should it be opposed ! 
 
 Outram was no diplomatist in the too commonly received 
 sense of the term ' diplomacy.' Had lie belonged to the
 
 1842 AFFAIRS AT HAIKALZAI. 257 
 
 times of Machiavelli and Richelieu, or moved in the social 
 spheres of Talleyrand and Metternich, he could not have 
 shared the laurels of success with adepts such as these. 
 Open and honest in his ordinary dealings, only under some 
 strong conviction of doing service to his country could he 
 have been otherwise than plain-spoken. But reticence may 
 be a virtue on occasions : and he could not brook that the 
 rumour of our proposed abandonment of Afghanistan should 
 be spread abroad one moment before the dread fiat to that 
 effect had gone forth. ' Don't let out,' he said to Lieutenant 
 Hammer sley in the postscript of a note dated March 28, 
 ' that Grovernment contemplates ultimately withdrawing from 
 Afghanistan. It is satisfactory to find, however, that it is 
 determined to re-establish our power in the meantime. 
 That I shall let out readily enough.' The very day on which 
 this note was written, occurred a serious disaster to our 
 troops. Greneral England was defeated at Haikalzai, a village 
 in the Pishiu valley, about 30 miles above Kwatta, suffering a 
 loss of 27 killed and 71 wounded. He had left the latter can- 
 tonment, escorting treasure, &n route for Kandahar, without 
 awaiting a detachment in completion of the full force at his 
 disposal which had yet to work its way through the Bolan. 
 His reason for moving thus early, contrary to Major Outram's 
 advice and Greneral Nott's orders, were stated to be the want 
 of forage at Kwatta, and the probability of obtaining a better 
 supply at Kal'a Abdullah, four marches beyond. At this place, 
 some eight miles east of the mouth of the Khojak Pass, he 
 had purposed to remain until joined by the remainder of his 
 brigade. 
 
 This serious mishap was retrieved on April 28, exactly 
 one month after its occurrence, when the enemy's position at 
 Haikalzai was attacked and carried by Greneral England, with 
 a loss of 10 wounded only, and the brigade passed on, with its 
 treasure convoy, to Kandahar. But its effect was not favour- 
 
 VOL. I. S
 
 25b JAMES OUTRAM. 1842 
 
 able to British prestige, weakened the influence of British 
 political officers, and materially embarrassed the local govern- 
 ment. There arose from it, moreover, questions of a dis- 
 agreeable nature, the discussions of which were attended with 
 bitterness, though confined to our own camp. On one side it 
 was urged that the military authorities had been misinformed 
 of the strength of the enemy and the erection of stockades ; 
 on the other, the accuracy of the information afforded was de- 
 fended in both respects, and the supposed importance of the 
 enemy's defensive works was disallowed. The controversy found 
 its way into the Bombay newspapers, and in one of them — the 
 ' Times ' — an account of the Haikalzai disaster appeared, so 
 closely resembling the general's own official despatch on the 
 subject dated two-and-twenty days before, as to lead to the 
 impression that the text of that record had through some 
 unknown agency been made available for the public en- 
 lightenment before attaining the period of legitimate 
 publicity. Outram felt keenly the matter of this premature 
 publication for two especial reasons. First, because he con- 
 sidered the reflections made therein upon the conduct of the 
 sipahis engaged to have been unjust, and based upon wrong 
 assumptions; and secondly, because he could not acquiesce 
 in the censure awarded his assistant. Lieutenant Hammersley, 
 for want of proper acquaintance with the disposition and 
 movements of an enemy which had successfully opposed our 
 troops in their advance from Kwatta. 
 
 As regards the native soldiers it was his belief that they 
 would ever follow and ably second a European leader. They 
 had ' already proved on fifty occasions,' he maintained, that 
 they were 'able and willing to meet Afghans in the field — aye, 
 and always beat them too when led against them without any 
 other European assistance than that of their European offi- 
 cers.' In the case of Lieutenant Hammersley, Outram's open 
 and generous advocacy brought him under the displeasure of
 
 1842 LIEUTENANT HAMMERS LEY. 259 
 
 the higher authorities. Construing the remand of that officer 
 to regimental duty as consistent with temporary retention of 
 appointment, pending a further inquiry into the supposed 
 cause of his removal from political employ, Outram took 
 upon himself if not actually to suspend a Government order, 
 certainly to interpret it to the advantage of his subordinate, 
 whom he looked upon as a hardly -treated Grovernment ser- 
 vant. He kept Hammersley in his post at Kwatta, on the 
 fair plea of urgent requirements ; and addressed letters on 
 his behalf to Grenerals Nott and England, and Colonel Stacy. 
 But those were busy times, and there were not many who, 
 in the midst of heavy, responsible, and very serious work, 
 would willingly go out of their way and devote their little 
 leisure to inquiring into an individual grievance on which, if 
 they had not themselves already spoken, the opinion of 
 superior authority had been openly expressed. Among the 
 names of men who came forward on the occasion that of 
 Outram was almost the only influential one denoting a 
 thorough-going, fearless advocate of the officially condemned 
 lieutenant. It is little to be wondered that the result was 
 failure to establish his case : and to his request that his as- 
 sistant might be allowed to draw office allowances up to date 
 of final decision on his appeal, the Secretary to Grovernment 
 with the Grovernor-Greneral informed the political agent that 
 compliance was impossible. ' It would,' to quote the despatch, 
 ' sanction the step which you took of suspending that officer's 
 removal from his situation, pending a reference to the Grov- 
 ernor-General as to the ground upon which you assumed that 
 he had been removed.' This decision, however, was never 
 communicated to poor Hammersley, who died three days 
 before the date which it bore. His mind had become 
 seriously affected by the treatment he had experienced, and 
 this treatment formed the subject of his incoherent utter- 
 ances to the last. What Outram himself anticipated, as the 
 
 s 2
 
 26o JAMES OUTRAM. 1842 
 
 result of his chivalrous stand on behalf of his subordinate, we 
 find in a letter to INIr. Willoughby : —' See this correspondence 
 about Hammersley, which I take it will end in his Lordship 
 sending me to my regiment.' 
 
 Lord Ellenborough's despatches, or the withdrawal orders, 
 written on April 19, have given rise to much comment and 
 controversy. We have no intention of discussing their 
 merits in these pages, or comparing them with the previous 
 instructions to Grenerals Nott and Pollock, Sir Jasper Mcolls, 
 and Mr. Clerk, of March 15. Such a criticism of general 
 policy belongs to history rather than biography. But one 
 arrangement of the Grovernment of India, ruling the subor- 
 dination of the political to the military authority in Lower 
 Afghanistan, Sind, and Baluchistan — in other words, investing 
 General Nott with the chief political as well as military 
 control in those parts — directly affected Outram. His first 
 impression, on receipt of it, was that the change in his posi- 
 tion was due to a too free expression of opinion in his 
 correspondence with Greneral England, of which a copy had 
 been submitted by himself for the Grovernor-Greneral's in- 
 formation. The conclusion was natural enough under the 
 circumstances : for this was not the sole instance in which 
 the tone of his Calcutta letters, contrary to former practice, 
 might be judged significant of mistrust or even censure, quite 
 as much as of confidence or cordiality. At the same time, he 
 admitted the wisdom of leaving the military commander 
 unfettered and wholly responsible during the operations of 
 war ; and in due course received a laconic reply to a question 
 put on the subject to Captain Durand, explaining that the 
 extension of Major-General Nott's command had no reference 
 to him individually, but was part of a general measure. 
 
 Mr. Clerk, having forwarded a copy of two important 
 letters he had addressed to Government, regarding the 
 possible military movements and political questions to which
 
 1842 REVIEW AND FORECAST. 261 
 
 the violent death of Shah Shuja had given rise, Major 
 Outram thus wrote officially to JNIr. Maddock on May 2, 
 1842:— 
 
 ' We are well informed that Kelat-i-GThilzie and Candahar 
 are amply provisioned at present ; and GTeneral Nott, having 
 the means of keeping a strong brigade in the field, to which 
 will be added Major-General England's brigade, now march- 
 ing on Candahar, insm^es the command of the resom-ces of 
 the country, communication with Kelat-i-Grhilzie, and the 
 ability to provision that fortress and Candahar to any extent 
 requisite. Upwards of 20 lacs of treasure are now at the 
 disposal of General Nott, which, with the facility of selling 
 bills on India, arising from so large an introduction of specie, 
 removes any apprehension of want in that respect for a long 
 time to come. A sufficiency of medicines, rum, &c., for six 
 months for the whole force above the pass is now with the 
 army. I believe, also, that a considerable supply of ammu- 
 nition has been taken on by Major-General England. . . .' 
 
 He then proceeds to estimate the probable strength of 
 the Kandahar garrison, when reinforced, the means of car- 
 riage available, and the defensive arrangements requisite for 
 posts such as Kwatta, Dadar, Sibi, and Chatar, adding : — 
 
 ' So long as we are in power at Candahar, there is no risk 
 of disturbance below the passes in Cutchee or Sind. 
 
 ' I have thus shown that General Nott will have it in his 
 power, on the junction of the Bombay troops, either at once 
 to take the field at the head of 10,000 men in support of 
 General Pollock's advance upon Cabool — leaving every mili- 
 tary position throughout southern Afghanistan, Beloochistan, 
 and Sind in sufficient strength ; or, should the forward move- 
 ment from Jellalabad be delayed for a season, his troops 
 may maintain their present positions so long as necessary.
 
 262 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842 
 
 . . . I now proceed to state what are our prospects of securiDg 
 increased means in camel carriage for further reinforcements 
 during such delay.' 
 
 The details then given in respect of camels would hardly 
 interest the reader, however indicative of the writer's capacity 
 to deal with the most practical of commissariat questions in 
 the East. His conclusion is thus expressed : — 
 
 ' With the above means, and the carriage which can be 
 hired in this country, T estimate that two strong brigades 
 could be equipped in time to ascend the Bolan early in 
 October next, so as to pass through Shawl and reach Candahar 
 before the severity of winter.' 
 
 The proposals contained in the remainder of the letter 
 are based on the hypothesis of a concentration of the whole 
 force, for the cold weather, at Kandahar, after the reoccupa- 
 tion of Kabul. They embrace the question of the future 
 government of Afghanistan, and suggest the fitting course 
 to facilitate the return to India of the British troops. We 
 add one paragraph which bears directly upon a leading topic 
 of the past year's campaign, and involves a consideration 
 which may at any time be revived : — 
 
 ' As so immediately connected with the interests of my 
 charge (Beloochistan), I may be allowed to offer an opinion 
 on the Candahar portion of the arrangement : 1 . If this were 
 a separate kingdom under Timour Shah, maintained by a 
 British subsidiary force, our troops could always be supported 
 via the Bolan or Sonmiani routes (for the late temporary 
 suspension of our communication could never have occurred 
 had the simple precaution of securing water in Killa 
 Abdoolla been taken, or a fortified post been placed in the 
 Kojuck Pass); they would never have to encounter the vicis- 
 situdes of the extremes of climate ; we should secure as
 
 1842 AS IN 1842, SO IN 18R0. 263 
 
 commanding an influence over the neighbouring kingdom of 
 Cabool as if our armies continued there — because its principal 
 channels of commerce would lay through the Candahar terri- 
 tory, on which the ruler of Cabool would rather depend than 
 either the routes through the Khyber and Punjab on the one 
 side, or Balkh and Bokhara on the other ; even the products 
 of those countries would reach Cabool more cheaply, safely, 
 and perhaps more expeditiously by the well-protected (as 
 they might be under this arrangement) roads from Shikar- 
 poor, or Herat, via Candahar ; we could exercise an equally 
 commanding check to the maturing of hostile designs against 
 British India, either at Cabool or Herat; and we should 
 the better secure our engagements to Kelat. 2. Leaving 
 Timour Shah in possession, but without military support, 
 our influence at Candahar would always be paramount from 
 being in power on the Indus, and commanding her commu- 
 nications with India ; but of course, without military support 
 Timoiur's kingdom would be liable to constant anarchy, 
 commerce would not be fostered, and the territory of our 
 ally, the Khan of Kelat, would be liable to infringement. 
 . . . Whether those evils, or the advantages on the other 
 side, are of sufficient magnitude to warrant the expense and 
 inconvenience of maintaining a large army at such a distance 
 as Candahar, it is not my province to discuss ; and the ques- 
 tion which must arise as to how we are to maintain our 
 pledges to Kelat under the second arrangement, can be con- 
 sidered hereafter if required.' 
 
 It has been remarked, with truth, that Indian officials of 
 the higher grades are often much overtasked in the perform- 
 ance of their professional duties ; and that the daily routine 
 of a London Government office is, as a rule, child's play to 
 that of a zealous, conscientious, and responsible Auglo-Indian 
 functionary, engaged in civil and political administration. If
 
 264 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842 
 
 this be so in ordinary times, how much stronger would be 
 the argument under the influence of the crisis resulting to 
 British India from the Kabul insurrection of 1841 ! Ou- 
 tram's work at Sakhar — for the ten weeks of his sojourn there 
 in the hot weather of 1842 — if judged from his correspond- 
 ence only, must have been arduous in the extreme. Yet, 
 contrasted with like evidences of the immediately preceding 
 months at Dadar, it was much in accordance with his usual 
 practice. At these times, the number of his correspondents, 
 the precision and frequency of his semi-official communica- 
 tions to each, the scope, length, and minute detail of his 
 strictly official despatches, addressed on one occasion to the 
 Supreme Government, on another to Bombay, or to Generals 
 Nott, England, or Farquharson — cannot but strike the 
 observer as marvellous. They certainly give speaking testi- 
 mony to the clearness of head and exceptional ability of the 
 writer. 
 
 On May 10, Outram received a letter from Mr. Maddock, 
 in which was the following sentence : — ' Unless you should 
 have received instructions of a different tenor from General 
 Nott, you will, without prejudice to your health, at the first 
 convenient period proceed to Quetta, or to such other point 
 as may enable you to give the greatest aid in facilitating the 
 movements of Brigadier England and the Major-General.' 
 The same day he wrote to Captain Durand : — 
 
 I have to-day received his Lordship's orders to pi"oceed to Quetta, 
 and shall make immediate arrangements for doing so, which I 
 might have hesitated to do, supposing that the order arose from 
 my own proposition to you in my letter of the 18th ultimo. This 
 had chiefly in view to induce Genei'al England to advance to 
 General Nott's support, that event having happily been already 
 accomplished ; but as I observe Mr. Maddock's letter, dated 28th, 
 has taken twelve days on the way, mine of the 18th could hardly 
 have reached you on the 28th, or tenth day. I conclude, therefore, 
 that the order for my proceeding to Quetta must be solely caused
 
 1842 LETTER TO CAPTAIN DURAND. 265 
 
 by his Lordship's opinion that my place is above the pass just now ; 
 and as I can with perfect confidence entrust the conduct of affairs 
 here to Lieutenant Brown during my absence, I must admit that 
 Quetta is the most important position for my exertions — to facilitate 
 so delicate an operation as the retreat of a large army down 
 mountain defiles before an elated enemy; and, moreover, to carry 
 into effect the necessary arrangements of our future relations with 
 the Khanate of Kelat, prior to the abandonment of the upper 
 countries, on the subject of which I addressed Mr. Maddock ofiicially 
 on the 7th instant. 
 
 You must be well aware that it is at some personal risk I shall 
 pass the burning plains of Cutchee so late in the season, or ascend 
 the Bolan when no military escort is available for me ; and I re- 
 mind yovi of this circumstance, not with any view to enhance my 
 services, which I value not as anything equal to what is due by me 
 to my Government, but in the hope that this, perhaps my last 
 opportunity of advocating a policy which I deem vitally essential 
 to our interests in India, may be permitted to me — should you see 
 no objection to lay my humble opinion privately before his Lord- 
 ship, which it would be presumptuous in me to have intruded offici- 
 ally through Mr. Maddock. 
 
 You have seen with what confidence General Nott looks for- 
 ward to the result of a combined advance on Cabul from Candahar 
 and Jellalabad. General Pollock also appears to have no doubts 
 on the subject, provided carriage can be furnished to him before 
 the proper season to advance is past, which I consider may be any 
 time from the beginning to the end of June or even July. In the 
 meantime dissensions between the Barukzye and Suddozye factions, 
 with, probably, the seci-et influence of the Kuzzilbash tribes on our 
 side, will weaken the enemy to such a degree that while the one 
 party would hail our support with delight, the other would be in 
 no condition to oppose our entrance to the capital ; nor, even allow- 
 ing that the enemy did continue imited to oppose us, can there be 
 a doubt of the result, at a season when the harvest is available, and 
 the climate is congenial to ovn- troops. Even supposing that the 
 Bala Hissar is held against us, I should be equally confident of 
 speedily reducing Cabul with General Nott's siege train (four 18- 
 pounders), in addition to the splendid field artillery with Generals 
 Pollock and England, and also at Candahar, and we know that the 
 rebels are deficient in gun ammunition,
 
 266 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842 
 
 Had I any personal military reputation, however great, I shoiild 
 have no hesitation in staking the whole on this result, i.e. that we 
 should take Cabul, by the end of June or July, dictate our own 
 arrangements there, and march on Ghuznee (which need not be 
 approached by General Nott on his advance to Cabul, as it can be 
 turned), having taken which, winter the whole army at Candahar, 
 if too late to pass Quetta (although during ordinary years the 
 Bolan Pass may be descended at all times) and then withdraw 
 from Afghanistan on such terms as will preserve us and our allies 
 — the Seikhs, Brahoees, and Sindians — from future insults at the 
 hands of the Afghans. 
 
 Or, should General Pollock be disabled, by deficiency of carriage, 
 from a forward movement this season, and find it inconvenient to 
 support his large army at Jellalabad, he might leave adequate gar- 
 risons there and in the Khybur, and await his time at Peshawur, 
 while General Nott can preserve his positions at Kelat-i-Ghilzie and 
 Candahar, by seeming his communication with Quetta by a post in 
 Kojuck, without a chance of the enemy attempting any one of 
 those positions, disheartened by previous failures, and by seeing 
 them newly stored, reinforced, and strengthened. To this alone 
 General Nott would confine his operations this season, if our final 
 triumph is put off till the next. Moreover, his troops could be 
 better supplied while thus divided, than if all were united on one 
 spot, and he would be more ready and able to take the field when 
 the time arrived, with a certainty of meeting no opposition on the 
 side of Kelat-i-Ghilzie at all events. 
 
 If, therefore, a temporary retirement on Quetta only is contem- 
 plated — which the orders to General Nott to destroy the defences 
 of Candahar and Kelat-i-Ghilzie would denote — I would beg most 
 earnestly to advise that the orders to General Nott be so far modi- 
 fied as to leave it to his own discretion either to abandon or sustain 
 his present positions, at any rate till October, before which period 
 he could not descend the Bolan Pass, or traverse Cutchee, on 
 account of the heat. 
 
 By remaining as at present, he commands, and will gather in, 
 the resom-ces of the country sufiicient to provide for the campaign 
 next season, if it cannot be concluded in this ; he holds all the 
 strong positions and a secure communication throughout the countiy 
 from Sukkur to Kelat-i-Ghilzie ; he breaks the. confidence of the 
 enemy, whose dissensions in the meantime he would be in a posi-
 
 1842 DISCRETIONAL POWER TO GENERALS. 267 
 
 tion to take advantage of, shonlcl any particular turn, favourable to 
 the views of his Lordship, in the interim occur ; he insiires the 
 safety of the Cabul prisoners who, so long as we hold our positions 
 in the country, would be preserved by those in whose possession 
 they are, with a view to making their own terms when we re-assert 
 our power, which they will dread so long as we do not withdraw ; 
 he prevents agitation in Scinde and Beloochistan so long as he 
 remains in power at Candahar ; and he preserves his troops in 
 health and plenty, who, if all are brought to Quetta during the hot 
 season, will suffer from that dreadful climate, even more severely 
 than last year, owing to the assemblage of so large an army on the 
 spot ; while the valley of Shawl and neighboui'ing districts under 
 Kelat would be unable to afford provision and forage for so long a 
 period. 
 
 How far you may deem yourself warranted in com- 
 municating the opinion of so humble an individual as my- 
 self to his Lordship I cannot judge; but such is my opinion, 
 foiuided on some practical experience and much consideration, i.e. 
 that if Genei-als Pollock and Nott are allowed to exercise their own 
 discretion as to advancing on Cabul this season, they may very 
 probably find that they can do so without risk of faili;re ; but that, 
 if the campaign is deferred for a season, we shall be in a much 
 better condition to enter upon it at our convenience by retaining 
 our present positions until then, which we can do loUhout 
 difficulty. 
 
 I think an apology to a comrade, having the honour and 
 interests of oiu' country equally at heart, can hardly be required for 
 this letter, which, however, I leave to your discretion, and that of 
 Mr. Maddock — shovild you both do me the favour to exercise your 
 judgment upon it — whether or not to lay before his Lordship. 
 
 I hope to have everything ready to leave this by the 15th, and 
 to arrive at Quetta in a few days, being unencumbered with bag- 
 gage or followers, who cannot pass through Cutchee now. 
 
 True soldier as he was, Outram, as will be seen, resolved 
 not only to obey the letter of the instructions received, but 
 to carry out in a loyal spirit the duties required at his hands. 
 He was, however, mortal, and could not but feel aggrieved 
 at the modus agendi adopted towards him, so different from
 
 268 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842 
 
 that to which he had been accustomed under former masters. 
 Opening his heart to Mr. \\'illoughby, he has left us another 
 letter bearing the same date as that just laid before the 
 reader, but couched in a different strain. ' I go up,' he 
 writes to the friendly and sympathising secretary, ' to 
 officiate in the immediate neighbourhood, and as the humble 
 subaltern of Greneral Nott, where so lately I was supreme ; I 
 pass through the heat of Cutchee, and the dangers of the 
 Bolan, to the deadly climate, privations, and annoyances of 
 Quetta, from a comfortable house, and the comparative ease 
 and luxury of this station — with certainly less cheering pro- 
 spects, under these circumstances, but with undiminished 
 zeal, and determination to fulfil the duty assigned to me, 
 however degrading that may be in my opinion, and however 
 lowered my personal position ; but I must here in justice to 
 myself add, that it is not my intention to remain in this 
 country, in the subordinate capacity so assigned to me, one 
 hour after the withdrawal of the army, and hostilities have 
 ceased ; when the necessity for a Wiiliiary dictator in these 
 countries no longer existing, I should degrade myself by con- 
 tinuing in a lower position than that to which Government 
 had thought proper to raise me, and in which, so far from in 
 a single instance incurring displeasure, every act of mine 
 has been highly approved, and every measiu-e successful. 
 Unless, therefore, the Court of Directors are pleased to 
 order that, on the termination of hostilities in Afghanistan, 
 Greneral Nott's political powers over me are withdrawn, I 
 most assuredly must respectfully resign the line in which I 
 have so long endeavoured to serve them, and join my regi- 
 ment, a poorer man than when I left it, nearly twenty years 
 ago. 
 
 ' It is in no bitter spirit I write this ; these are simply 
 the feelings of an honourable man willing to do his duty 
 so long as he can do so without dishonour, but not gro-
 
 1842 HALF-WAY NO WAY. 269 
 
 veiling enough to submit to the least degree of disgrace. As 
 such you have long known me, my dear friend, and ever shall 
 know me while I live. 
 
 ' I might have hesitated, probably, so strenuously to urge 
 an immediate advance on Cabool, noiv the Shah is removed, 
 had we not been fully equal to the task ; but being so, and 
 having been at the cost of throwing the troops into Afghan- 
 istan, why now stop half-way ? ' 
 
 Fifteen days later, he transmitted intelligence to General 
 Nott, which appeared to warrant the assumption that if he 
 and General Pollock could advance that season on Kabul, 
 they would carry everything before them. Stating his own 
 opinion that Lord Ellenborough's orders of April 19 were 
 based on the supposition that Nott's actual strength was 
 insufficient to carry out the objects in view, and that the 
 advanced positions of Kandahar and Kalat-i-Ghilzai would 
 be untenable in winter, he dwelt upon his Lordship's evident 
 intention to recommence active operations at a later period, 
 when reinforced from England. ' I still hope,' he con- 
 tinued, 'that late favourable events in Afghanistan . . . 
 may induce Lord E. to allow you to exercise your own discre- 
 tion as to whether or not to prosecute the campaign at once, 
 or to hold on your present positions.' Then, after discussing 
 the present and prospective means of carriage for the army, 
 and stating in detail the number of camels and bullocks avail- 
 able, or likely to be available, for possible movements, he 
 thus referred to home intelligence which had recently 
 arrived by the Overland : — 
 
 ' This does not look as if the instructions Lord Ellen- 
 borough received by this Mail would authorise backing out 
 of the scrape we have got into ; and I have every hope we 
 shall soon see the consequences of the home advice in new 
 instructions from his Lordship of a more .wholesome tenor
 
 270 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842 
 
 tlian those of the 19th ult. I leave this on the 1st proximo, 
 and expect to be at Quetta on the 10th, where I shall be 
 ready to receive, and most willing to execute, your com- 
 mands.' 
 
 Accordingly, on the night of June 1, installing Lieu- 
 tenant Brown in his own vacated post at Sakhar, he left 
 that place to repeat the old, dreary, and perilous journey to 
 the Passes beyond the desert. The frontier posts of Khan- 
 garh, Chatar, and Sibi were taken on the way, and sub- 
 jected to minute inspection. Reaching Dadar on or about 
 the 8th, he was delayed there two days, to enable him to 
 move rapidly through the Bolan, and on the night of the 
 11th he was again at Kwatta. Here Outram remained until 
 the end of September, to play, as he had done elsewhere, an 
 active and important part in the drama then engaging the 
 attention of our statesmen at home and in India — and, be it 
 added, to contribute materially towards its happy denoue- 
 TYient. But his personal action, while patent to the world 
 about him, was unrecognised where it should have been 
 rewarded : in some cases it was misrepresented, and, as we 
 shall have to show, an incident of zeal on his part was mag- 
 nified into deliberate error. At first there were, amid the 
 thunder-clouds, gleams of sunshine and other signs of fair 
 weather. Notwithstanding the little consideration evinced 
 towards their political agent in the matter of subordinating 
 his work to military control, and the doubtful courtesy of 
 the curt replies to his references, the authorities in Calcutta 
 were occasionally pleased to throw out expressions of appro- 
 bation at a devotion out of the common order. ' His Lord- 
 ship wrote to you,' are Captain Durand's words, in a letter 
 of May 21, replying to Outram's of the 10th idem, already 
 reproduced in extenso, ' upon the subject of your moving up 
 to Quetta prior to the receipt of your request for permission
 
 1 842 PROMISE OF ENVOYS HIP. 271 
 
 to go there ; and with the hope that it might be done with- 
 out too great a risk on your part of health and safety. His 
 Lordship anticipated that neither of these considerations 
 would by yourself be allowed to weigh against a call for your 
 services where deemed most necessary ; but still, he fully 
 appreciates the readiness with which you willingly incur such 
 risks in the execution of your duty.' Again, on learning of 
 his later movements, the private secretary was instructed to 
 forward to him the Grovernor-Greneral's approval. ' I am 
 directed ... to inform you that his Lordship highly appre- 
 ciates the public zeal you have manifested in the perform- 
 ance of your duty at much personal risk, by proceeding at 
 this season to Quetta, where your exertions are especially 
 required in aid of Major-Greneral Nott's army.' Between five 
 and six weeks later came the merest scrap of a note written 
 by Lord Ellenborough himself, in which was the following 
 passage : — ' I am much gratified by the accounts received 
 from you to-day of the extent of carriage now at Major- 
 Greneral Nott's disposal, and of the facility with which you 
 think it can be immediately increased. It is essential that 
 the Major-Greneral's army should have furnished to it ample 
 means of moving in any direction ; and I indulge the hope 
 that, through your zealous and able exertions, this has now 
 been done.' 
 
 Perhaps, however, the highest as the most substantial 
 testimony to the value set upon his services by the Indian 
 Grovemment would have been the despatch of May 22, had 
 its provisions ever been carried into effect. This paper was 
 a remarkable one in its way, pregnant with matter, and withal 
 brief and business-like. It opened with a quasi-lament over 
 a system which admitted the employment, in countries 
 to the north of India, new to our intervention, of a number 
 of British ofiicers equal to that of the salaried employes in 
 H. M. diplomatic service throughout Europe. It expressed
 
 272 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842 
 
 the Grovernor- General's intention to reduce this overgrown 
 institution to within reasonable limits, and sketched out 
 an administrative staff for the Lower Indus, consisting of 
 an Envoy, with private secretary, and three secretaries of 
 legation, besides whom, and a commandant of escort, no 
 European officers would be required. It gave the envoy 
 power to nominate and remove any and every member of 
 his establishment, and to leave their distribution and dis- 
 posal under his absolute control. It touched upon the deli- 
 cate question of individual fitness,forthe service contemplated, 
 of certain European officers then in Sind or Baluchistan. 
 Finally, Outram was requested at once to prepare nominal 
 lists of natives whom he would propose to employ, together 
 with a note of the duties to be entrusted, and salaries to 
 be awarded, to each ; and, as a climax to the whole project, 
 the last of the twenty paragraphs in the despatch informed 
 him that he himself was to be the Envoy. Thus was it 
 worded : — 'It is necessary for me to acquaint you that, on the 
 formation of the reformed establishment, it is the intention 
 of the Governor-General to bestow upon you the appoint- 
 ment of Envoy, his Lordship being perfectly satisfied with 
 the zeal and ability you manifest in the discharge of your 
 duty.' 
 
 But the promise here held out was not fulfilled; and, as 
 we have already led the reader to infer, Outram never %vas 
 the Envoy. He replied with sufficient fulness to the requi- 
 sition made, to elicit an expression of the Governor-General's 
 pleasure, in finding that his ' zealous attention ' had been 
 given to the subject ; but there the matter dropped. Only 
 he was desired, without waiting his Lordship's final orders, 
 to adopt ' every practicable means of economy ' to reduce 
 the expense of the offices under his supervision — an object 
 to which it will be remembered he had already turned his 
 thoughts with substantial result.
 
 1842 THE KHAN OF KALAT. 273 
 
 Had the situation been more favourable to the work re- 
 quired, he would have fulfilled these Grovernment behests 
 both readily and completely. But he had other and more 
 urgent work to attend to, in the interests of the same 
 Government in Kalat, and to these he gave his first spare 
 hours. In this instance, his views were, unfortunately, not 
 those of the Governor-General. Again, had there been no 
 Kabul disaster to repair, and had our troops never penetrated 
 the passes of the Bolan or Khaibar, Outram would have found 
 ample occupation of his time in putting on a sound basis 
 British relations with Sind and Baluchistan. In neither 
 country had our interference produced a result on which the 
 nation, in or out of Parliament, could be heartily congratu 
 lated : and where justice has been once superseded by ex- 
 pediency, it is not always easy to prove satisfactorily, to 
 comparative strangers, that the act is a mere exception to 
 the rule. As it happened, the exigencies of the moment 
 made Afghanistan a primary consideration ; but Baluchistan, 
 represented by Kalat, was not to be shelved or set aside ; for, 
 even in connection with the larger State, it had a special 
 political value. To Sind we shall have to revert a little 
 later. 
 
 During his stay at Dadar, in the winter of 1841-42, a 
 period to which we have already referred, Outram's hands 
 were indeed full. Had it been possible, he would then have 
 gladly devoted himself exclusively to secure to Kalat a good 
 government, and to enhance generally the influence of its 
 Khan. But the urgent nature of his exceptional duties on 
 the occurrence of the crisis in Kabul, and for many months 
 afterwards, not only forbade the concentration of his energies 
 on any isolated measure of diplomacy, but took him away for 
 a time from the side of his Brahui 'protege. Thus, in March 
 1842, under the pressure of circumstances, the young chief 
 had been deprived of his two best friends and supporters. 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842 
 
 Colonel Stacy — rejoining his regiment to accompany Briga- 
 dier-General England up the Pass, and share in the reverse 
 as well as after-success at Haikalzai — had been replaced, 
 in attendance on the Khan, by Captain Pontardent, of the 
 Bombay artillery. Just three days later, Outram himself 
 left Dadar for Sakhar, whither, for the time, he was to shift 
 his head-quarters. But the political agent would allow 
 neither locality, nor the pressure of internal politics, to 
 draw off his attention wholly from his double charge, or 
 lessen his responsibility a whit in the conduct of our rela- 
 tions with Kalat or Sind. His correspondence with the 
 new agent at the former place was continuous and com- 
 prehensive. Among the topics discussed in it, none had a 
 greater importance than the ownership of the Shal district, 
 better known to us under the more popular name of Kwatta, 
 its principal town. 
 
 Early in May, from the furnace of his summer quarters 
 at the Sakhar residency, Outram put before the Governor- 
 General his proposal — since virtually adopted by Lord 
 Dalhousie and his successors — to substitute pecuniary for 
 military help to the Khan of Kalat, upon the withdrawal 
 of British troops from Kandahar. To this end, he recom- 
 mended that a lakh and a half of rupees (15,000Z.), the sum 
 originally suggested by Captain French, be given — ostensibly, 
 and in some sense practically — in commutation for tolls as 
 well as remuneration for protection of merchandise. At the 
 same time, he enclosed extracts from demi-oflficial letters 
 which he had addressed to Mr. Colvin in the beginning of the 
 year, on the policy to be pursued with the Kalat State in the 
 contingency that had now arisen, viz. our impending with- 
 drawal from Afghanistan. As the writer was informed, in 
 reply, that his correspondence, when embracing matter of a 
 political nature, should be submitted through Major-General 
 Nott, disposal of the reference became an affair of considerable
 
 1842 NEGATIVE RESPONSIBILITY. 275 
 
 duration. Two despatches on the subject were transmitted 
 to the General. A fortnight after, he wrote this ' demi-official' 
 to Mr. Maddock : — 
 
 ' General Nott merely acknowledges the receipt of my 
 various letters relating to Kelat, but gives me no instructions 
 whatever, or any intimation of what are his views. Neither 
 does he appear to intend to enter into any consideration of 
 the subject ; for in a private letter to Lieutenant Hammersley 
 he thus expresses his opinion : — "When the Government gave 
 me political authority, it could only have been intended the 
 power of putting my veto on what I may deem injurious ; it 
 could not have been meant that I should interfere with details. 
 The charge of an army of 25,000 men is quite enough." See- 
 ing that I can look to no instructions from the General re- 
 garding the settlement of Kelat, and considering that our 
 future quiet in Sind depends so much on a wise permanent 
 arrangement with the chiefs of Baluchistan before we leave 
 this country, I shall be obliged again to solicit his Lordship's 
 consideration to the subject. ... As I have been directed 
 to address Government only through General Nott, offici- 
 ally, I must trouble you in a demi-official form, so soon 
 as I receive a reply to a reference I have made to Captain 
 Pontardent.' 
 
 But between the date of his second despatch to General 
 Nott and this letter to Mr. Maddock, he had written to the 
 former officer asking for sanction to make over to Kalat the 
 districts of Shal and Sibi, in the spirit of Lord Auckland's 
 intimation that it might be good policy if the Khan were 
 ' made to feel our disposition to give to him and his tribes 
 this accession of power and of territory so soon as our diffi- 
 culties in Afghanistan should be brought to a close.' The 
 young Khan had behaved loyally towards us throughout a 
 
 T 2
 
 276 JAMES OUTRAM. 1841- 
 
 period of disquiet and disturbance. Even on the very day 
 that the assistant political agent at Kwatta heard of General 
 England's reverse at Haikalzai, that officer reported well of 
 Nasir Khan's fidelity. ' The Khan is staunch to us,' he then 
 wrote, 'but would like a Barukzai at Kandahar.' There 
 were other reasons why Lord Auckland's views of a fitting 
 reward to Kalat should be acted on in anticipation of the 
 winding-up of our relations with Afghanistan. To Outram's 
 mind, the aspect of affairs in his neighbourhood gave an 
 urgency to the case which brooked neither delay nor circum- 
 locution. We quote from two paragraphs of his letter to the 
 Major-Greneral : — 
 
 ' It appears to me that by now placing the territories in 
 question in the Khan's hand, he will be enabled to secure their 
 possession before the withdrawal of our troops, which, if delayed 
 till that event, he might be unable to effect ; and as I can see 
 no advantage to us from holding them (further than merely 
 continuing their general control as at present but on his be- 
 half), I think that in fairness to the Khan we should now make 
 them over, and during the remainder of our stay assist him in 
 establishing government. 
 
 ' Should any treaty be entered into with any of the Afghan 
 powers, I beg to suggest that the cession of Shal and Sibi be 
 formally stipulated ; otherwise, the Khan being in possession 
 of those districts will be a plea for the Afghans making war 
 on him, whom we are bound by treaty to protect against 
 foreign enemies. Although the late Khan of Kelat was not 
 possessed of Sibi at the time we took possession of the 
 Khanate — and that district, though once in his possession, 
 had generally continued an appendage to Kandahar — still, as 
 the high road of the Afghans into Kachi (which the fortress 
 of Sibi commands), as well as being a check on the hill tribes, 
 and as a natural fortress of Kachi, I would most strongly
 
 -1842 SHORT, BUT 'IN EXTENSO: 277 
 
 recommend that it be not given up to the Durranis on any 
 consideration. . . .' 
 
 How the General regarded the acknowledgment of his 
 political suzerainty, expressed by the submission to him of 
 the political agent's proposals, may be gathered from his 
 already quoted letter to Lieutenant Hammersley ; but perhaps 
 the following full text of his reply to two out of the three 
 references on the Shal and Sibi transfer will not be bad pre- 
 sumptive evidence : — 
 
 'Kandahar, June 28. 
 
 ' My dear Sir, — I have the pleasure to acknowledge the 
 receipt of your letters as per margin. 
 
 ' (Signed) W. Nott, Major-General.' 
 
 At this particular junctm-e, there were dangerous intriguers 
 moving about the State of Kalat. One, Muhammad Sadik, a 
 leader of Afghans hostile to Shah Shuja's cause, was seeking to 
 bring about a coalition of Brahiiis against the British power ; 
 and one, Muhammad Sharif, who had fled from British custody 
 at Sakhar, was supposed to be plotting with similar intent, 
 using Muhammad Sadik as his instrument. Outram would 
 have rejoiced in receiving renewed sanction to strengthen the 
 Anglo-Brahui alliance, and so defeat the machinations of its 
 opponents by an act of such palpable friendliness as restoring 
 a whole district to the Khan's territorial possessions. But 
 the unwillingness of the Calcutta magnates to take so decisive 
 a step was a difficulty not easily to be removed without a 
 bold stroke of individual responsibility. Time was precious ; 
 opportunities once missed might never occur again. There 
 was no veto against carrying out Lord Auckland's expressed- 
 wishes referred to by Outram. The latter, reasoning from 
 experience that he was right, and risking the rest, took upon
 
 2/8 JAMES OUTRAM. 1841- 
 
 himself to do that for which he had vainly asked sanction, 
 and to which sanction, if withheld, had not been refused. He 
 cut the Gordian knot by making over Shal to the Khan, 
 acquainting the Supreme Government with the circumstance, 
 and soliciting authority to dispose in like manner of the dis- 
 trict of Sibi. 
 
 As an independentexerciseof judgment, the accomplished 
 fact was coldly accepted and curtly noticed by Lord Ellen- 
 borough and Major-General Nott. Neither censure nor 
 approval of the policy followed were vouchsafed in either 
 case. In the letter addressed to Major Outram on the 
 occasion from the Governor-General's head-quarters at 
 Allahabad, we read that ' it may have been expedient to trans- 
 fer Shal to the Khan of Khelat at that particular time, if it 
 were determined that it should ultimately belong to him ; ' 
 while the communication from Kandahar, acknowledging the 
 report, ' with pleasure,' and adding, ' I dare say the Govern- 
 ment will approve of your proceedings regarding Shal,' qualifies 
 the courtesy so evinced by the words immediately following : 
 — ' but it was my wish to retain Quetta until my army en- 
 camped there ; this would have been convenient. I regret 
 you did not wait for my orders.' Fortunately, Outram could 
 inform the General that the transfer would in no way inter- 
 fere with his arrangements ; for that our military occupation 
 of the town would remain as before, and the resources of the 
 district were at his disposal. More trouble, however, was 
 involved in disposal of the question at Allahabad. 
 
 The despatch of the Supreme Government did not confine 
 itself to the abstract fact of the transfer effected under Lord 
 Auckland's implied sanction. It dealt with certain collateral 
 circumstances. Outram, in excess of zeal for the interests of 
 the State, having had recourse to a diplomacy foreign to his 
 nature, had laid himself open to a charge of error ; and the 
 action thus taken, though not even noticed by his immediate
 
 -1 842 REPLY TO GOVERNMENT STRICTURES. 279 
 
 superior at Kandahar, was commented upon by the Governor- 
 General in a manner which could not but wound him 
 grievously. Not a word of objection to his proposal had been 
 communicated by Government ; so that when the General 
 declared himself unwilling to interfere in political matters, he 
 interpreted his position to be that of a responsible officer, 
 virtually authorised to act on the responsibility vested in him. 
 In this view he had addressed the Khan to the effect that he 
 had received authority to make over the district to his 
 Highness, as though ' a reply on the subject had just been 
 received.' We quote from Outram's own letter, in which he 
 certainly did not make the best of his case, but reported the 
 occurrence against himself with the most ingenuous frankness 
 and persuasion of rectitude. And he further aggravated his 
 imputed offence by laying before Government a copy of his 
 letter to Captain Pontardent, instructing that officer to 
 explain to the Khan that the political agent had come to 
 Kwatta mainly with the object of carrying out the transfer 
 aforesaid — a statement strictly in accordance with the an- 
 nouncement contained in his letter to Captain Durand of 
 May 10, already quoted. In the last-noted communication 
 the two main objects of his projected move to Kwatta were 
 specified — viz. to facilitate the retreat of the army down the 
 passes, and to ' carry into effect the necessary arrangements 
 of our future relations with the Khanate of Kelat, prior to 
 the abandonment of the upper countries, on the subject of 
 which I addressed Mr. Maddock officially on the 7th inst.' 
 The restoration of Shal, in accordance with Lord Auckland's 
 unrepealed instructions, was unquestionably the most im- 
 portant of these necessary arrangements, and, of the two 
 objects, the settlement of Kalat affairs was that which most 
 called for the presence of the political agent in person. 
 
 The term ' error ' has been applied to Outram's procedure : 
 but assuredly it was something more than the desire to
 
 28o JAMES OUTRAM. 1841- 
 
 dispense even-handed justice which prompted a rebuke such 
 as this : — 
 
 ' The Grovernor-General will not now consider to what 
 extent, if at all, and under what circumstances, if any, it may 
 be justifiable to resort to fiction in political transactions, but 
 his Lordship must observe that to resort to fiction in com- 
 munications to a native chief, without the shadow of justifying 
 necessity, if any such there can be, is conduct inconsistent 
 with the character which he desires the diplomacy of India 
 to maintain, and calculated to shake the confidence of the 
 Government in the fidelity of the communications it may 
 receive from its own officers. 
 
 ' The Govemor-G-eneral trusts that he shall never again 
 have occasion to remark upon similar conduct, which he has 
 witnessed with the greater regret on the part of an officer so 
 able and so zealous in the performance of public duty as you 
 have heretofore shown yourself to be.' 
 
 Outram's reply was respectful and dignified. We quote 
 from the concluding paragraphs of an important public de- 
 spatch which introduces the personal exoneration, as it were, 
 incidentally : — 
 
 ' In conclusion, I beg to be allowed to express my regret 
 that my measures should have caused the severe displeasure 
 of Government, and with the utmost deference to declare 
 that throughout my public career no measure of political 
 expediency, however urgent, has ever in my mind warranted 
 a wilful departure from, or perversion of, the truth, such 
 as I understand to be imputed to me in the despatch 
 alluded to. 
 
 ' In the enclosures to my despatch to your address . . . 
 I intimated the necessity for making over Shal and Sibi to 
 Kclat before evacuating Baluchistan — a measure, the prospect
 
 -i842 APOLOGY FOR ZEAL. 281 
 
 of which the late Governor-General had authorised me to 
 hold out to the Khan. In your reply ... no objection was 
 made to that proposition, but I was directed to communicate 
 in all matters relating to Khelat through Major-General Nott. 
 It never occurred to me, consequently, that any objection was 
 intended to the transfer of Shal, which I naturally considered 
 one of the most important measures to be carried into effect 
 previous to our withdrawal from Baluchistan, and a part of the 
 final political settlement with the Kelat State . . . the 
 principal object of my being sent up to Quetta, as a matter of 
 course — although to aid General Nott to withdraw the troops 
 was certainly specified, and was considered by me as a con- 
 sequent duty. 
 
 ' . . . Your despatch . . . adverts to there not having been 
 " the shadow of a necessity " for the communication to the 
 chief of what is designated " a fiction " — I had declared in 
 . . . my letter on which you thus animadvert, that the 
 necessity was extreme, in the following words which I beg 
 leave to quote, to save the trouble of reference : — " I hope the 
 measures I have had recourse to, with a view to counteract 
 such designs — which, if successful, would have thrown Baluch- 
 istan into a flame and involved a war with the Brahuis — will 
 be approved by his Lordship, and have the desired effect." 
 
 ' Under this explanation, I sincerely and earnestly hope 
 that I may be exonerated in his Lordship's mind from the sup- 
 position that I could wilfully pervert truth under any circum- 
 stances ; and at the same time I submissively claim for any 
 errors of judgment which I may inadvertently commit, such 
 indulgent consideration as his Lordship may deem just to an 
 individual situated as I here am, with no instructions or pre- 
 cedents to guide me ; . . . harassed in body and mind by 
 my incessant endeavours to forward the public service ; kept 
 in ignorance of the measures intended by the authorities at 
 Kandahar, which I am expected to forward ; and surrounded
 
 282 JAMES OUTRAM. 1841- 
 
 by a fanatical and treacherous people whom I have to pre- 
 serve in good faith, although naturally opposed to us by 
 religion, and by awe of our enemies their neighbours — 
 besides being goaded by recent recollections of the many hard- 
 ships they have suffered at our hands, such as spoliation of their 
 territory, sacking of their capital, and slaughter of their Khan 
 and principal chiefs. In successfully working as I have been 
 under these disadvantages to effect almost impossibilities, 
 and at the sacrifice of health and every reasonable comfort, 
 I had hoped to earn the approbation of his Lordship's 
 Grovernment ; but although so bitterly disappointed, I shall 
 not relax in the slightest degree my endeavour to forward the 
 public interests.' 
 
 We have purposely dwelt upon an ungracious passage in 
 the high and honourable career under review, hitherto little 
 discussed, because it relates to a charge which, in the heat 
 of much-to-be-deplored after controversy, was the severest 
 that could be re\ived against James Outram ; and because 
 the rude form of its expression so affected his sensitive 
 temperament that, were we to slur over the incident or 
 leave it wholly unnoticed, our biography would be unwar- 
 rantably incomplete.^ 
 
 ' Mr. Lushington, an advocate of Lord EUenborough's policy, in A Great 
 Country's Little Wars, thus speaks of the restoration of Shal : — ' The portion of 
 his dominions taken from him (the Khan of Kelat) has since been restored by 
 Lord Ellenborough. It is worth observing that to this single act of justice we 
 may attribute the subsequent tranquillity of the country." Further on, he alludes 
 to this measure as 'almost the only spot upon which the eye can dwell with 
 pleasure in the dark Iiistory of our four years' supremacy beyond the Indus.' 
 
 Palmam qui meruit feraf .' How can we doubt that this act of justice, and 
 the efforts of Outram and his assistants in 1841-2, paved the way for a better 
 understanding with the Baluchis in later years, the full fruit of which has 
 been seen in our operations of 1878-9? When Dr. Stocks travelled through 
 these regions in 1850, he found the name of Outram still honoured above all 
 others in Baluchistan. He transmitted to him a letter from one Kurd chief, 
 old Allah Dinah, of Merv, with a postscript from another, in which the former 
 offers ' to be always ready, as in 1842, to perform any service that may be re-
 
 -1842 TIVO MEMORABLE MONTHS. 283 
 
 Not many hours after despatch of his letter reporting the 
 cession of Shal, Outram was present at the capture of 
 Muhammad Sharif, effected by Lieutenant Hammersley in 
 command of a party of Puna horse. He exphiins with charac- 
 teristic modesty and consistent self-denial, that he had him- 
 self accompanied his political assistant merely to afford the 
 weight of his ' authority for any ulterior measures that might 
 have been necessary.' 
 
 Though General Nott must have received his famous 
 permission to withdraw via Kabul on July 20, Outram 
 could only thus write on August 1 to Mr. Willoughby : — ' Not 
 being honoured with his Lordship's confidence regarding 
 what is to be done by Greneral Nott, and the General having 
 bound Eawlinson to the strictest secrecy, he is unable to 
 inform me ; I can but give you, therefore, such insight into 
 what is intended as I glean from officers of the camp who 
 have correspondents at Kandahar. This, it appears, is 
 decided : i.e. that General Nott takes the bulk of his army 
 northward, and General England brings the remainder this 
 way.' 
 
 We need not linger over the events of that memorable 
 month of August, during which Generals Nott and England 
 moved out of Kandahar, the one in the direction of Kabul, 
 the other in that of Kwatta ; or of the still more memorable 
 month of September, when Ghazni was deprived of the 
 Somnat gates, and Generals Nott and Pollock entered 
 Kabul from different sides, triumphantly to reassert the 
 power of British India. Throughout the two months named, 
 Outram was at his post, ever active and busy, striving to 
 
 quired of him; ' while his comrade, Syud Wais Shah, of Mastung, ' desires re- 
 membrancps of former passages and adventures of the road,' adding that ' many 
 others, be they of greater or lesser note, hold yet good memory of Outram Sahib.' 
 Allah Dinah told Dr. Stocks that he was ready at Outram's call, -nithhis whole 
 clan, to open the Bolan and act according to orders.
 
 284 JAMES OUTRAM. 1841- 
 
 fulfil the instructions, while conscious of the unjust dis- 
 pleasure of the Supreme Government ; marvellously successful 
 in counteracting the opposition, and obtaining the support, 
 of those among whom he was placed ; and finally securing, 
 in despite of many and serious obstacles, the practically safe 
 and unobstructed passage through the Khojak to Kwatta of 
 Greneral England's troops on their way back to Sind and 
 India, the ' impedimenta ' of the column being carried on 
 Brahtii camels. Constant mental worry, and the distress 
 naturally caused by the death of his assistant. Lieutenant 
 Hammersley, at whose bedside he had watched for several 
 nights, brought on an affection of the brain, which might 
 have terminated fatally in the case of a man of less seasoned 
 strength, and which compelled him, hardy as he was, to 
 employ Captain Eichardson as a temporary amanuensis. 
 But his energy and fine spirit carried him safely through 
 the crisis. 
 
 A letter to his old friend, Mr. Bax, gives a graphic view 
 of what was really a most critical act in the drama then in 
 progress. Its date is September 6. Elsewhere he speaks of 
 his illness as having ' speedily brought him to the brink of 
 the grave ' : — 
 
 We have weathered a storm, which had long been brewing in 
 this quarter — fomented by the Ameers' agents from Scinde, and 
 Mahomed Sadeeq and Saloo Khan, rebel Aifghan leaders, all of 
 whom were striving to cause the Brahoes to rise — the former, with 
 a view to occupy us above the passes, while they should disturb 
 the small force in Scinde, the latter that the Candahar troops 
 should be unable to detach towards Cabool, AU these schemes 
 were thwarted, however, by various precautions and counter- 
 workings, and by the captvu'e of the principal mover, Mahomed 
 Sherif — a Syud, who escaped from confinement at Sakhiu* (two days 
 after I left that station to come here), at the instigation of the 
 Ameers' minister, who deputed him to embroil the Brahoes with us. 
 I ' chuppaoed ' (surprised) him in the midst of the Kakur tribes.
 
 -1842 A CRISIS WEATHERED. 285 
 
 whom he had enrolled for the purpose of bringing against us here, 
 simultaneously with certain disaffected tribes of Brahoes (who had 
 been successfully tampered with), and the Affghan rebels. This 
 averted the first convulsion ; but a second nearly followed when it 
 became known that Candahar was evacuated, and that only a 
 very small force was to return this way, having no Europeans in 
 its composition, and scarcely any artillery, and no cavalry, the 
 main body of the forces being taken on by General Nott to Cabool. 
 This civused the mischief-brewers again to bestir themselves in the 
 endeavour to seduce the Brahoes to join in opposing General Eng- 
 land in the Kojuck, and to close the Bolan Pass. Sxiffice it to say 
 that in this again they were foiled, and not only have the Brahoes 
 continued faithful, but they will also fulfil their pledges to supply 
 our forces with the requisite carriage cattle (6,000 camels), for 
 which we are dependent on them, General Nott having taken 
 almost every beast of burden with him. The very delicate opera- 
 tion of passing the troops down the Bolan, when having the appear- 
 ance of a retreat, will, consequently, be effected without opposition, 
 I trust, and with the aid, moi'eover, of the very tribes whom it was 
 scarcely but fair to expect, under such circumstances, would at least 
 do all in their power to discompose us, if not openly turning against 
 us. . . . 
 
 From the above you will observe that I have incurred his 
 Lordship's displeasiu'e, and that I have been ill. The fii'st was 
 caused by my taking on myself to restore the province of 
 Shawl to Kelat, after in vain seeking instructions for two 
 months (having stated that its immediate restoration was essen- 
 tial to preserve the Brahoes faithful) — which restoration had 
 previouslu been pledged by Lord Auckland ! ! Notwithstanding 
 which, and our treaty with the Khan of Kelat, Lord Ellenborough 
 was for leaving him and the Affghans to scramble for what 
 we ourselves had robbed Kelat of in the first instance ! My 
 having taken this ... on my own responsibility, caused the 
 extreme wrath of his Lordship. ... So much for my own aflairs 
 — Oh ! by the bye, I forgot the allusion to my late illness ; it was a 
 serious bout of brain fever, of which I thought little, and the doc- 
 tors thought serious. Now to turn to the satisfactory fact that 
 our troops are on the march (though at the eleventh hour, and 
 doing what ought to have been done two months ago) to Ghizni 
 and Kabul.
 
 286 JAMES OUTRAM. 1841- 
 
 To his mother he wrote cheerily at the same time : — 
 
 We are about to withdraw to Sukldiar, and then we shall 
 have 10,000 men, which insures the peaceful management of our 
 affairs in Sind, and all will be satisfactorily settled by the end of 
 the year. In the course of this month we move down into the 
 plains, and by about the middle of next, not a British soldier will 
 be on this side of Sukkhar. In the intended new arrangements, I 
 am to be styled Envoy, with Secretaries of Legation, &c. — higher 
 titles than Political Agent and Assistants — but I do not expert any 
 increase of salary. The duties of my new appointment will be quite 
 a sinecure compared to what it was heretofore, when I had per- 
 sonally to traverse all Sind and Baluchistan, with fifteen Assistants 
 scattered over the country. . . . Everything ia quiet within my 
 charge ; and I am enabled, without difficulty, to furnish the means 
 of moving our troops from the people of the country, which is 
 satisfactory, considering how strenuously it has been the endeavour 
 of our enemies to turn the Brahuis against us for some time past, 
 and how much theu' people had sufiered at our hands until their 
 Khan submitted a year ago. 
 
 On or about October 1, he bade farewell to Kwatta. 
 Before leaving, he despatched one of his last letters to his 
 esteemed friend and trusted adviser, Colonel John Sutherland. 
 In this he ' poured out his vexations ' on public and private 
 matters, and entered into a long account of the ungenerous 
 treatment which he had experienced at the hands of the 
 Supreme Grovemment. And it was unjust as well as 
 ungenerous; but the climax had not yet been attained. 
 Another injury was to be inflicted, the cause of which can 
 only be traced, on the one hand, to that secret pernicious 
 influence which afifects an Indian pro-consul as well as a 
 European Court; and, on the other, to the infatuation 
 yielding to that influence. He thus unburdened himself to 
 his confidant :— 
 
 ' Human nature could hardly be tried beyond what I 
 have had to endure during the past few months. The disgrace
 
 -1842 REASONABLE GRIEVANCES. 287 
 
 of our Cabul disasters ; the bare thought of the possibility 
 of the more disgraceful abandonment of our honour and of 
 our imprisoned countrymen, which was contemplated ; the 
 anxiety regarding my own Mahomedan charge ; all this of a 
 public nature have I had to endure — which, however, could be 
 compensated by the retrieval of the honour of our army, in- 
 sured by the order to march on Cabul, although issued at the 
 eleventh hour, were it not for anxiety regarding the prisoners 
 who now are jeopardised, but would not have been so had we 
 advanced, as we could have done and should have done, two 
 months earlier. Now for my private vexations. I complain 
 not of military supersession, because, where warfare is likely 
 to occur, the responsibility should never be divided, and of 
 course should rest on the military commander ; I complain 
 not of being bandied like a racket-ball up and down this 
 abominable pass, because it is my duty to go wherever it is 
 thought I am most required ; but I do complain of the 
 lackey style in which I am treated by the Governor-Greneral ; 
 of the bitter reproof he so lavishly bestows on me when he 
 thinks me wrong, and I know I am right ; of the withering 
 neglect with which he treats the devoted services of those in 
 my department ; of the unjust sacrifice of one of my most 
 deserving assistants ; of the unceremonious dismissal of five 
 others without any communication to myself whatever on the 
 subject. Such treatment (caused solely by his Lordship's 
 vexation at my advocacy of the advance on Cabul and poor 
 Hammersley's cause) would have goaded many men to mad- 
 ness ; but I verily believe it has been the resmrection of me 
 from the very jaws of death — like Marryat's middy — for, 
 when in extreme danger the other day (brought on, by the 
 bye, by attendance on the death-bed of poor Hammersley, 
 whose death the medical men declare was accelerated, if not 
 positively caused, by the treatment he received), the most 
 insulting letter I ever received in my life . . . arrived ; my
 
 288 JAMES OUTRAM. 1841- 
 
 eager desire to reply to which gave a fillip to my system from 
 which I benefited at any rate.' 
 
 Accompanying General England through the only part 
 of the Bolan Pass where molestation was considered likely, 
 and himself aiding to flank the heights at the head of 
 Brahtii auxiliaries, he pushed on alone to Dadar. Here he 
 prepared his long report of the evacuation of Baluchistan, 
 and of the services rendered by himself and the ofiicers 
 under his orders during the critical period through which 
 they had lately parssed. At the expiration of three days, he 
 rode rapidly into Sakhar. There were reasons for this 
 speed, independently of political requirements and the 
 storm-cloud overhanging the province to which he was re- 
 turning. He had to report himself to a new superior officer 
 — one whose acquaintance he had yet to make, and whose 
 sympathy he sought to enlist, if not for himself, at least for 
 those who had done good service in his department. But it 
 is now time to introduce a new actor, destined to play an 
 important part in the drama of which the closing scene was 
 to be laid in Sind. 
 
 In the autumn of 1841, Major-Greneral Sir Charles 
 Napier, a tried soldier of the Peninsula, and ex-governor 
 of Cephalonia, then in his sixtieth year, accepted from Lord 
 Hill the off'er of a command in India. Arrived at Puna, 
 after taking over his military charge, he did not restrict his 
 attention to the mere neighbourhood of his place of sojourn, 
 but soon turned his thoughts to the critical state of British 
 relations with Afghanistan. Before long he had submitted 
 to Lord Ellenborough, among more general remarks, his 
 opinion on the operations necessary to be undertaken for 
 recovering our prestige and strengthening our position in 
 that quarter. Eventually, in August 1842, he was directed 
 to proceed to Sind and assume command of the troops there
 
 -1842 MEETING WITH SIR CHARLES NAPIER. 2S9 
 
 aDd in Baluchistan, with entire control over the political 
 agents and civil officers. If the action of their chief be any 
 criterion, this nomination was neither distasteful to the 
 latter, nor unexpected by them. Some months prior to its 
 notification, Outram, with a view to securing the presence 
 of a military leader fitted by rank, experience, and energy 
 to direct the movements requisite to retrieve his country's 
 reputation, had set his eye upon the old soldier as the 
 wanting man for the left bank of the Indus, and sought to 
 impress upon Mr. Willoughby his own conviction to that 
 effect. ' Despatch him in a steamer,' he wrote unreservedly 
 to the secretary on April 14, ' even if he has to stop at 
 Sukkhar.' Referring again to the wished-for arrangement 
 in a letter to Captain Durand of April 16, he says of the 
 proposed nominee : — ' General Napier, whose character seems 
 formed for such a crisis.' 
 
 The General had been at Sakhar for about a week 
 when Outram arrived there on October 12. There is every 
 reason to believe that their mutual regard was as genuine 
 as their first meeting was outwardly cordial. They con- 
 sulted together freely and unreservedly on the more urgent 
 political questions of which they had to take professional 
 cognisance ; and the long Dadar report was willingly de- 
 livered over to the superior officer for submission to the 
 Governor-General. Especial attention was given to the 
 pending negotiations with Sind, where both the Haidarabad 
 and Khairpur rulers were, more or less, disposed to resist 
 the demands of the British Government. It is not im- 
 probable that the return of General England's troops may 
 have led to the supposition that we had been compelled to 
 evacuate Afghanistan, and thus encouraged them in their 
 unfriendliness. Under the orders of Government, com- 
 municated before his departure from Kwatta, Outram drew 
 out a return of complaints against the Amirs for submission 
 
 VOL. I. u
 
 250 JAMES OUTRAM. 1841- 
 
 to Sir Charles Napier. Before receipt of this paper the 
 General had himself commenced a memorandum of observa- 
 tions on the occupation of Sind for the Grovernor-Greneral's 
 information. Among many pertinent paragraphs one as- 
 serted that several chiefs had neglected their treaty obliga- 
 tions ; and pleaded ' abundant reasons ' why, in the position 
 then held by us in the country, we should take to ourselves 
 Karachi, Sakhar, Bakhar, Shikarpur, and Sabzalkot. With 
 reference to this view, Outram repeated his impression that 
 the parties who had ' most deeply committed themselves ' 
 were Mirs Kustam and Nasir Khan of Khairpur, and Mir 
 Nasir Khan of Haidarabad. But the proposals involved a 
 considerable amount of detail, into which it would be im- 
 possible to enter. We will therefore only add to this notice 
 of them, that the 'memorandum' was completed after 
 personal communication with Outram, to whom the original 
 sketch was handed for perusal. 'His experience of these 
 countries,' wrote Sir Charles Napier, ' his abilities, and the 
 high situation in which he has been placed by the Governor- 
 General, render his opinion very important.' ' Since his 
 arrival,' he continued, ' he has given me every assistance.' 
 
 On October 22, Outram told Mr. Willoughby : — ' I work 
 with hearty goodwill under Sir Charles, because he works 
 heartily with me, and sympathises in my degradation.' The 
 term is a strong one ; but the severest blow of all had not 
 then been delivered. On October 26, as we gather from a 
 letter of that date again addressed to jNIr. Willoughby, 
 Outram had been remanded to his regiment, and the 
 political establishment had been dissolved. Of the promised 
 appointment of Envoy to the States on the Lower Indus, not 
 a syllable was said. Neither by official nor semi-official com- 
 munication was a word of explanation on the subject offered. 
 The order bore date the 20th of the month ; and thus it 
 ran: —
 
 -1842 SCANT WAGES. 291 
 
 ' The Governor-General requests that Major-General Sir 
 C. Napier will express to Major Outram and the other 
 political officers, his thanks for the zeal and ability they 
 have manifested in the collection of the means of carriage 
 and supply, and in their various transactions with the native 
 chiefs and tribes, tending to facilitate and secure the descent 
 of the several columns of the army.' 
 
 Such was the only recognition, such the only reward, 
 ever vouchsafed to Major Outram and his hard- wrought 
 assistants, so far as Lord Ellenborough and the Government 
 of India were concerned: and in point of fact the only 
 official return Outram ever received for ' these three eventful 
 years ' of exceptionally arduous and important service, was 
 this curt remand to regimental duty. Nevertheless Lord 
 Auckland stated in the House of Lords on February 26, 
 1843 : — ' He took that opportunity of saying that, throughout 
 these transactions, to no man in a public office was the 
 public service under greater obligations than to Major 
 Outram ; a more distinguished servant of the public did not 
 exist, and one more eminent in a long career.' And the 
 President of the Board of Control, Lord Fitzgerald, in reply, 
 expressed his ' cordial ' concurrence in the terms applied by 
 Lord Auckland to Major Outram's ser^dces.' 
 
 ' The reasons assigned by Outram himself for Lord Ellenborough's dis- 
 pleasure are detailed in the letter to ;]VIr. Willoughby of October 22. Be it 
 observed that in each case he had deliberately sacrificed his own'' interest to 
 the demands of right and public honour : — 
 
 ' My real ofiFences being such as he cannot forget, i.e. my advocating poor 
 Hammersley's cause, and opposition to the disgraceful retreat (from Afghan- 
 istan) once determined on; for in the only instance in which ho fancied he had 
 room to find fault, he has tacitly admitted that I was in the right, — at least so I 
 read the acknowledgment of my letter defending the cession of Shal, without 
 comment or disapproval, which otherwise would have been expressed freely 
 enough, I presume. ... As my name does not go up with his despatches, an- 
 nouncing the Kabul victories, of course I shall have no share in the honours 
 that will be showered. . . . But I regret nothing that has passed; indeed you 
 are well aware that I fully laid my account to suffering personally in the cause
 
 292 JAMES OUTRAM. 1841- 
 
 Many personal regrets at the treatment experienced 
 might be added to many personal testimonials of unrequited 
 service, to prove how public opinion was shocked at this 
 unexpected result of a campaign to the success of which 
 Outram had so essentially contributed. But we content 
 ourselves with an extract here and there from the papers 
 before us. 
 
 The late Brigadier-Greneral John Jacob was, at this time, 
 a subaltern in command of the Sind Horse. His services in 
 protecting the line of march of the returning troops through 
 Kachi had been handsomely acknowledged by General Eng- 
 land, who had attributed to his exertions ' the miraculous 
 tranquillity of the country,' and who had given him charge 
 of the outpost of Khangarh — now Jacobabad — with two 
 companies of infantry and two guns, in addition to his own 
 irregulars. ' I have just received,' he wrote to Outram on 
 October 27, ' your letter . . . about the abolition of the 
 politicals. As far as we small fry are concerned it must be 
 a matter of perfect indifference, I should think, to all ; but 
 everyone must be indignant at the . . . way in which you have 
 been treated. . . . Pray accept my best thanks for all your 
 kindness to me. One thing you may be sure of, namely, 
 that no man was ever looked on with more profound respect 
 and admiration than yourself, not only by your friends, but 
 the very party against you. They might as well try to put 
 out the sun as to throw your services in the shade ! ' 
 
 Much in the same strain is Colonel Sutherland's letter 
 of October 31, in which he writes : — 
 
 ' I was . . . prepared to congratulate you on attaining 
 the highest office in the department, and you may judge of the 
 dismay with which I received last night the order of the 19th. 
 I could not at first believe that it applied to you^ and I 
 
 of Hammersley, months ago; and were it all to dooi'eragain, I would not vary 
 my cause. I am prepared for tlie worst, and fully expect it.'
 
 -1842 GRATEFUL TESTIMONIALS. 293 
 
 cannot yet believe that it is intended to affect you injuriously. 
 ... If services such as yours are not to be rewarded, 
 what is to become of us who have been leading inglorious 
 lives in tranquil India ? and if his Lordship seeks to reward 
 only military services, where, in the lists of those who have 
 most distinguished themselves, or raised the military 
 reputation of their country, will he find anyone more deserv- 
 ing than James Outram ? ' 
 
 An address from the clerks of the Sakhar agency, under 
 date October 29 — among the eight signatures to which are 
 those of men who did much good after-service in Sind, in 
 higher and more responsible positions — was full of gratitude 
 and sympathy. The language may have been a little soar- 
 ing and ambitious, but there can be no doubt that its spirit 
 was genuine, and that the good wishes expressed in it were 
 sincere. To Outram this evidence of appreciation must have 
 been gratifying ; and none the less so because it especially 
 acknowledged the kind consideration he had shown for the 
 personal welfare of each member of his establishment in 
 seemingly trivial but really significant acts.^ 
 
 On October 28, Sir Charles Napier had officially written 
 his compliance with Major Outram's request to proceed, 
 when convenient, to Bombay, intimating at the same time 
 that a steamer had been placed at his disposal. ' I cannot 
 allow you to leave this command,' he added, ' without ex- 
 pressing the high sense I entertain of your zeal and abilities 
 in the public service, and the obligations I personally feel 
 towards you for the great assistance which you have so 
 kindly and so diligently afforded to me ; thereby diminish- 
 ing in every way the difficulties that I have to encounter as 
 yoiur successor in the political department of Sind.' 
 
 Nor was this all that the newly arrived commander had 
 
 ' Sec Appendix F.
 
 294 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842. 
 
 to say of one whose single-minded usefulness and nobility of 
 character had been foreshadowed to him during his short 
 stay in Bombay, and personal acquaintance with whom set 
 the seal of truth upon local report. We learn from the 
 journals of the day that on November 5, a public dinner was 
 given to Major Outram by the Military Society at Sakhar, 
 on the occasion of his departure from Sind. At this, nearly 
 one hundred officers of the three Presidencies were present ; 
 among them Sir Charles Napier, who, as chairman, spoke 
 as follows : — 
 
 ' Gentlemen,^! have told you that there are only to be 
 two toasts drunk this evening; one, that of a lady (the 
 Queen), you have already responded to, the other shall be 
 for a gentleman. But before I proceed any further, I must 
 tell you a story. In the fourteenth century there was in 
 the French army a knight renowned for deeds of gallantry 
 in war, and wisdom in council ; indeed, so deservedly famous 
 was he that by general acclamation he was called the knight 
 sans 'peur et sans reproche. The name of this knight, you 
 may all know, was the Chevalier Bayard. Gentlemen, I 
 give you the " Bayard of India,* sans peur et sans reproche. 
 Major James Outram, of the Bombay army." ' 
 
 ' This honourable epithet has since become permanently linked to the 
 name of Outram. The fitness of the connection was quite recently referred to 
 in an anniversary sermon, grandly eloquent in its simplicity, delivered by 
 the Dean of Westminster to a crowded congregation in the Abbey.
 
 295 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1842—1843. 
 
 Back in Sind again. — The Amirs and their Downfall. — Extracts from Journal. 
 
 Defence of Haidarabad Kesidency. — Embarkation for England. 
 
 If Outram's departure from Sind occasioned a spontaneous 
 ebullition of personal regard on the part of his many friends 
 in that province, his return to Bombay was, in every sense, 
 a moral triumph. A Government letter, acknowledging his 
 report of arrival, expressed the great satisfaction with which 
 the Governor in Council had perused Sir Charles Napier's 
 letter to his address, on taking charge of the political de- 
 partment he had vacated, and further assured him of the 
 ' high gratification ' which the Bombay authorities had derived 
 ' from obser\'ing the eminent zeal and abihty ' with which he 
 had ' discharged the important duties confided to him during 
 the three past eventful years.' And in token that these were 
 not mere words of compliment, the Governor, ten days after 
 his arrival, offered him command of the Puna horse, an ap- 
 pointment just placed at his Excellency's disposal ; stating 
 his regret that there was then no post available which, in point 
 of responsibility and emolument, would approach nearer to 
 those he had already held in the Western Presidency, ' with 
 such distinguished advantage to the public service, previous 
 to . . . joining the Commander-in-Chief, in the field.' 
 
 But Outram was not disposed to remain in India one day 
 longer than necessary, unless the State really required his 
 presence. The formation of an army of reserve at Firuzpur 
 had certainly made him scent possible warfare, and he had
 
 296 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842- 
 
 written to Captain Durand on the subject before leaving 
 Sakhar. But Lord Ellenborough's reply to his request to 
 be allowed to perform in the field the military duty for which 
 he had become available, received in Bombay, held out little 
 prospect that his wishes would be gratified. His Lordship, 
 it was set forth, would with pleasure make use of his services 
 for active operations, but he trusted that there could be ' no 
 necessity, after return of the army from Afghanistan, for any 
 such taking place.' The Bombay appointment, honourable as 
 it was, offered no temptation to him to forego his homeward 
 visit after nearly twenty-four years of almost incessant work. 
 So, returning his grateful acknowledgments for the Grovernor's 
 consideration, he declined the cavalry command on the plea 
 of ha\dng sent in his application for a year's furlough. 
 
 How it was that the home project was again deferred, 
 and that the further aid of the superseded political agent 
 was again required in Sind, under a new designation but for 
 the solution of an old question, we shall leave Outram to re- 
 late presently in his own words. It so happened that he was 
 invited to a public dinner organised by the community of 
 Bombay for the purpose of bidding him an honourable fare- 
 well, and testifying to him, on his embarkation for Europe, 
 that his Indian career had been highly appreciated by his 
 fellow-countrymen in the East. At this banquet all political 
 and ofiicial matters were carefully eschewed; and Mr. 
 Fawcett, of the house of Eemington and Co., who presided 
 on the occasion, being hampered by no ties or traditions 
 of the covenanted service, must have been regarded as a 
 thoroughly independent chairman. Among other happy 
 eulogies on the guest of the evening, he said : — ' Well has he 
 been compared by a gallant officer, in another place, to the 
 knight who, above all, bore the character of being sans peur 
 et sans reproche — the noble Bayard, the pride of chivalry, 
 the glory of France ; for like him, bold in the field, wise in 
 council, courteous and gentle in the chamber, wherever he
 
 -1 843 REPLACED IN HARNESS. 297 
 
 has moved he has been admired, respected, and beloved. The 
 whole course of his service has been so marked with distinc- 
 tion that, were I to endeavour to follow it, I should have to 
 trespass too long on your patience.' 
 
 But the speaker was compelled to add that, contrary to 
 the original object of the great gathering, their guest would 
 need encouragement for renewed work rather than their good 
 wishes for temporary repose. Kelieved from his duties, and 
 about to revisit his native land, he had just reappeared 
 among them. Now, under sudden exigency, at the call of 
 the State, he had been replaced in harness : — 
 
 ' With that readiness to sacrifice all personal considerations 
 which marks his character, knowing that the post of duty is 
 that of honour, without hesitation he is preparing to return, 
 and a few hours wiU see him on his route. Those who know 
 him best cannot but be assured that, whatever the duties 
 may be that will be entrusted to his charge, they will be ful- 
 filled in a manner beneficial to the public interest, and 
 honourable to himself .... We will not say " Farewell," but 
 we will cheer him on his course.' 
 
 A few days later, a similar entertainment followed at the 
 club — more of the nature of an affectionate recognition of a 
 comrade's merits by members of the civil and military ser- 
 vices — but we have no space to quote the expressions of con- 
 fidence and esteem to which utterance was then given. Truly, 
 the sunshine of social and official sympathy which the battered 
 < regimental captain ' found awaiting him when he returned, 
 a snubbed and degraded man, to those who had known him 
 best and longest, was well calculated to cheer the warm heart 
 which had so long chafed and toiled under the mysterious 
 despotism then ruling the destinies of India. It encouraged 
 him as he entered on one more phase of depressing duty 
 under circumstances which his own journal will best ex- 
 plain : —
 
 298 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842- 
 
 ' Having made every preparation for returning to England 
 after twenty-four years' absence, on the first application for 
 leave from my duty that I had ever made — taken my passage 
 in the steamer which was to sail on January 2, 1843 — written 
 by the previous mail to my wife and mother to meet me in 
 London (from Edinburgh) by February 10 or 12 — and in the 
 belief that the Grovernment of India had no further occasion 
 for my services after the summary manner in which I had 
 been dismissed, on November 15, from the political control of 
 Sind and Beloochistan, without thanks or acknowledgment 
 of any sort (and even without the direct communication from 
 Grovernment which courtesy, at least, would dictate towards 
 a person who held one of the most responsible situations in 
 India, and who had committed no error, or, at least, had been 
 accused of none) — I was surprised at receiving, on December 
 12, the following letter directing me to return to Sind, should 
 Sir Charles Napier require me, but without expressing the 
 slightest consideration for my own wishes or convenience, and 
 without any reference to the Bombay Grovernment, and its 
 Commander-in-Chief, at whose disposal I had been placed. 
 
 ' "From the Secretary to the Goveminent of India. 
 " To Major Outram, &c., &c. 
 
 ' "d/ Camp Buddee, November 24, 1842. 
 
 ' " Sir, — Major-Greneral Sir C. Napier having intimated a 
 wish to employ you as a Commissioner for the arrangement 
 of the details of a revised treaty which is to be proposed to 
 the Ameers of Sinde, I am directed to inform you that the 
 Governor-Greneral will sanction any such appointment ; and 
 you will hold yourself in readiness to proceed to join the 
 Major-General as soon as you may receive from him the 
 notification of his requiring your services. 
 
 * " I have, &c., &c. 
 
 ' " (Signed) T. H. Maddock."
 
 -1 843 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. 299 
 
 ' The summary manner in which I had been removed 
 from my late important charge, where I had been so long 
 the representative of Government, and the unceremonious 
 manner in which I was ordered back to serve in a subordinate 
 capacity where I had previously been supreme, caused my 
 most intimate friends to advise my declining again to place 
 myself at the Grovernor-General's disposal to the sacrifice of 
 my private interests, especially considering my previous 
 treatment at his Lordship's hands, and the ungracious manner 
 of my recall to Sind. 
 
 ' But the principle which has ever guided me throughout 
 my career of service — implicit obedience to the orders of 
 Government (and when, as in this case, orders were con- 
 veyed, and no option was left to me) — I had no hesitation in 
 following on this occasion, and accordingly replied as follows : 
 — " Sir, — I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 letter dated 24th ultimo ; and to forward, for the information 
 of the Eight Honourable the Governor-General of India, the 
 copy of a letter I addressed in consequence to the Political 
 Secretary to the Government of Bombay, with that gentle- 
 man's reply, and of my letter to the Adjutant-General of the 
 Bombay army, in accordance with which I purpose embark- 
 ing in a steamer which proceeds to Sind to-morrow. I 
 expect to arrive at Sukkur about the 30th instant. Dated 
 Bombay, December 1.3." ' 
 
 ' My departure from Bombay was delayed till December 
 16, in consequence of the arrival, by the Suez mail on De- 
 cember 14, of General Ventura, for whom the steamer in 
 which I was to proceed to Sind was directed to be detained 
 a couple of days. The only notice I received from the 
 Governor-General of the devotion to Government I had thus 
 
 ' We regret that economy of space compels us to omit the letter which 
 Major Outram drafted in his journal as expressive of what he would have 
 written had he considered his ' private conscience and feelings prior to public 
 duty.'
 
 300 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842- 
 
 displayed, was the simple acknowledgment of my letter 
 through his secretary.' 
 
 Ontram embarked on the date stated in the steam-frigate 
 ' Semiramis,' which anchored off the Hujamri mouth of the 
 Indus on December 21 . He then shifted into the ' Euphrates,' 
 one of two river-steamers towed by the larger vessel, and 
 moved up the stream. On December 24, after dark, he was 
 at anchor off the Haidarabad agency. During her upward 
 course from Thatta, the ' Euphrates ' had been hailed by 
 numerous boats bringing deputations from the several Amirs 
 sent to welcome their old acquaintance and adviser, and 
 anxious to obtain his assistance under the continually re- 
 curring perplexities which met them at every new step in the 
 negotiations with his countrymen and successors. To avoid 
 embarrassing discussions, he had been compelled to pass 
 them by on the plea of insufficient time. At Haidarabad 
 also, though he left the landing-place at an early hour in the 
 morning of the 25th, he found messengers from the Amirs 
 begging him to await visits from their masters ; and excused 
 himself from receiving them on board much in the same 
 words used to the deputations. He, however, availed himself 
 of the occ.!sion to address a letter to the darhdr, thanking 
 the chiefs for their attentions, and expressing regret at in- 
 ability to attend upon their Highnesses then, with a hope 
 to return soon from Sakhar, after consultation with Sir 
 Charles Napier. 
 
 The journal continues : — 
 
 'The information I obtained during my voyage up the 
 Indus, and my previous knowledge of the chiefs of Siud, 
 satisfied me that the reports of their warlike preparations 
 were unfounded, probably promulgated by themselves, in the 
 hope that our demands would be less stringent, if we supposed 
 them in any way prepared for resistance. ... I well knew
 
 -1 843 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. 301 
 
 that they themselves were quite conscious of their inability 
 to oppose our power ; that they had no serious intention 
 of the sort ; and that nothing but the most extreme proceed- 
 ings and forcing them to desperation would drive them to it. 
 ' On my arrival at Sakhar on the night of January 3, I 
 was much distressed, therefore, to learn that Sir Charles 
 Napier had actually marched some days previously to depose 
 Mir Rustam . . . induced thereto by the subtle acts of Mir 
 All Murad, who, in the first place, had promulgated reports of 
 the hostile intentions and preparations of the other Amirs 
 . . . and led the Greneral to address them in a strain to 
 which they had not been accustomed. ... At the same time 
 their fears were promoted by the misrepresentations of Ali 
 Murad as to the General's real intentions towards them, he 
 pretending to keep well with us ... to save them, but 
 really playing his own cards to their ruin. Accordingly Sir 
 Charles having written to Mir Rustam and the others to 
 disperse their troops and disarm their followers ... Ali 
 Murad led Mir Rustam to believe that . . . our intention 
 . . . was to seize his person and family. In that supposi- 
 tion the old chief was induced to fly in one direction ; Mir 
 Nasir Khan and Muhammad Husain in another ; and Mir 
 JMuhammad Khan to his fort in the desert, Imamerarh : all 
 these parties being represented as in hostile array. Rustam's 
 party was said to number upwards of 2,000 warriors, daily 
 increasing ; Nasir Khan's about 8,000 ; and Mir Muhammad's 
 fort to be garrisoned by 500 men. On the flight of Mir 
 Rustam . . . the Amirs of Upper Sind were directed to 
 obey Ali Murad as Rais, to whom was to be given over also 
 the fourth shares of their territories, or the customary sup- 
 port of the chiefship. This, in addition to the cession of 
 Sakhar, Bakhar, and Rohri, and all the territory on the 
 eastern side of the Indus above Rohri, which had been 
 previously required by the new treaty. . . . Such was the
 
 302 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842- 
 
 state of affairs when I joined Sir Charles Napier at Diji, 
 about 30 miles SE. from Sakhar, on January 4. I found the 
 Greneral preparing an expedition to proceed against Imamgarh, 
 for which we marched the next night with a detachment con- 
 sisting of about 350 men of H.M. 22nd regiment, mounted 
 on camels, two 24-pounder howitzers of the camel battery, 
 and 60 of the Sind irregular horse, and accompanied by Ali 
 Murad and a few mounted followers.' 
 
 At Diji, Outram took the opportunity of submitting to 
 Sir Charles Napier his views as to what were the real objects 
 of the Amirs in pursuing the shuffling practice for which they 
 had become distinguished, and especially in the intrigues 
 and self-seeking of Ali Miu-ad. The Greneral, on his side, 
 discussed with Outram the course which it seemed most 
 advisable to approve for the better government of Sind in the 
 future. He inclined to the belief that a single chief would 
 be preferable to the oligarchy under which the province had 
 groaned for so many years. Outram, while admitting the 
 advantage of a powerful and undivided rule, doubted the wis- 
 dom and dwelt on the injustice of subverting, impoverishing, 
 and rendering hostile to ourselves the feudal chiefs as then 
 acknowledged ; and had no confidence in the measures which 
 Ali Murad would introduce if placed at the head of affairs. 
 But let us revert to the pages of the journal : — 
 
 ' We marched from Diji at 2 a.m. on January 6. While 
 riding with the advance shortly after sunrise, we met a man 
 on a camel, whom I recognised as an attendant of JVIir Eustam, 
 and who, on seeing me, immediately dismounted and threw 
 himself at my feet. I took him aside and asked him why his 
 master had fled. ... He replied that, having heard of my 
 arrival, the Amir had sent him to seek me to represent his 
 miserable state, and to beg my kind offices with the General. 
 Having ascertained from the man that the Mir's camp was
 
 -1 843 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. 303 
 
 situated only a few miles off our line of march, I went back 
 to Sir Charles, told him what I had learnt, and begged to be 
 permitted to go myself to Mir Eustam to communicate the 
 messages of assurance which he (the General) had transmitted 
 through Ali Miurad previous to the Amir's flight, but which 
 I was sure the latter had not honestly delivered. . . . Sir 
 Charles allowed me to go ; I took with me Captain Brown 
 A. D. C. (at his own request) and two horsemen. Having to 
 pass Ali Murad as I diverged from the road, I was necessi- 
 tated to inform him where I was going, and, to avoid show- 
 ing mistrust, invited his minister to accompany me. Luckily 
 there was no time to precede me with any false reports to 
 Mir Rustam's camp; otherwise the old man would have 
 again, doubtless, been scared away by representations that 
 the British troops were coming to attack him, it being Ali 
 Murad's object to prevent any direct communication between 
 us and his victims, and to promote the belief that Mir 
 Eustam was only bent on hostility. We came upon the 
 Amir's camp, at the distance of about ten miles, pitched on 
 an elevated spot in the midst of jungle. On our approach 
 being seen the utmost consternation was observable in the 
 shouting and hasty assemblage of the armed followers, while 
 the chiefs themselves mounted their horses to fly on the 
 supposition that we were the advance of a chup'pao. My 
 name being called, however, I was gratified to see confidence 
 immediately restored ; the chiefs dismounted and came to 
 meet me, at the same time keeping back their somewhat 
 excited followers. I was embraced by them all most cordi- 
 ally, and taken into their principal tent, a single fly not twelve 
 feet square, in which and a few wretched routies they and 
 their families had been exposed during the late heavy rains. 
 I was distressed to observe that Meer Eoostam, who is seventy- 
 two years old, looked very much older and more broken than 
 when I last saw him ; he had been, and still was, unwell.
 
 304 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842- 
 
 caused, doubtless, by exposure and anxiety, the evidences of 
 which were plainly traceable on his benign and venerable 
 countenance. The poor old chief freely disclosed, in the 
 presence of Ali Murad's own minister, how basely he had been 
 deceived; how he had been driven by his brother (Ali Murad) 
 to fly in dread of seizure and transportation ; further, how 
 Ali Murad had pledged himself to watch over his interests 
 whilst he himself stayed with the British Greneral. I gave 
 the old man, who expressed anxiety to go in person to Sir 
 Charles, every comfort that it was in my power to offer ; but 
 not wishing to expose him to the heat and fatigue of the 
 journey in his then weak state, I said it would suffice to 
 send the eldest of the other chiefs to receive the Greneral's 
 assurance in his behalf, and recommended that he should go 
 back with his family and followers to Khairpur, there to await 
 in quiet and shelter our return from the expedition on which 
 we were engaged — the object of which I told the chief in 
 order that he might see that we had not been in pursuit of 
 himself. After conversing a short time and drinking sherbet 
 with the Amir, I took a cordial farewell of all the chiefs old 
 and young, and proceeded to the spot fixed on for Sir Charles's 
 encampment, accompanied by Mirs Ali Akbar (second son of 
 Mir Rustam), and Dost Muhammad (brother of Mir Nasir 
 Khan) ; we arrived at about 3 p.m. In approaching the 
 General's quarters we had to pass through Ali Murad's camp, 
 who seeing the chiefs with me, came forward and embraced 
 them with an affected cordiality, and desired them to visit 
 him on their return from the interview with Sir Charles. 
 Meeting his visitors outside, the Greneral took them into his 
 tent, where we all sat together on the carpet in the absence 
 of chairs. The chiefs delivered their message, setting forth 
 that Mir Rustam Khan had previously signified his ac- 
 quiescence to the new treaty, and was ready to sign it, and to 
 submit to any condition that might be imposed ; that he had
 
 -i843 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. 305 
 
 fled in consequence of its having been represented that, not- 
 withstanding the Greneral's assurances, transportation was to 
 be the lot of himself and family ; and more to the same effect. 
 Sir Charles replied, through the Munshi, in kind words, but 
 in the decided tone and terms which would be addressed to 
 European rebels. The chiefs evidently considered the mat- 
 ter less than the manner, and remarked, moreover, that the 
 Greneral neither referred to nor spoke to them through me, 
 which was further calculated to weaken their confidence. I 
 endeavoured to remove this impression by suggesting to Sir 
 Charles, after he had finished, to proffer them his hand, with 
 a view to show his sincerity ; and this he very readily did. 
 Before returning to Mir Eustam the chiefs unfortunately went 
 to Ali Murad, who had a long conference and secret interview 
 with them — which ended, I was afterwards grieved to learn, 
 in buying them over to his interests against those of their 
 own father. They saw Ali Murad's power established, and 
 that of INIir Eustam gone, and the ingrates gladly secured 
 to themselves the pledge of the continuance of their own 
 possessions, with an increase thereto from the rising sun ; 
 consequently (as I have to-day ascertained through a spy I 
 sent into Eustam's camp for the purpose of watching pro- 
 ceedings) so far from giving any confidence to the poor old 
 IVIir, his scheming deputies described the angry tone of the 
 General, and conveyed only, as his orders, that they were all 
 to proceed with their families to the fort of Diji, and there 
 remain under Ah Murad's protection. They also dwelt on the 
 obviously little influence I had with the Greneral, and argiied, 
 therefore, that no dependence could be placed on my doing 
 anything for them. Thus was effected AH Mm-ad's object 
 in preventing the return of Mir Eustam to his own home at 
 Khairpur . . . where it had been appointed that all parties 
 were to meet me for the arrangement of the details of the 
 treaty and settlement of all differences. . . . He sought to 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 3o6 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842- 
 
 drive the other Amirs to commit themselves either by acts of 
 aggression, or by keeping " out," so as to induce the Greneral 
 to confiscate their lands and make them over to him — the 
 rapacious man not being content with the whole power, and 
 upwards of half of their remaining possessions which had al- 
 ready been assigned to him. 
 
 ' I represented this to Sir Charles, and suggested — with a 
 view to convince Ali Murad that he would gain nothing more 
 by persecuting his brethren further, and that, therefore, his 
 best policy would now be to obtain for himself the merit of 
 appearing a mediator in their behalf — that it should be dis- 
 tinctly intimated to that chief that, should the other Amirs 
 drive the British Grovernment to confiscate their estates, they 
 would not devolve on him, but be attached by the British 
 Government. Sir Charles, whose kind heart always induces 
 him to adopt the most humane course, readily acceded to 
 this, and wrote to Ali Murad accordingly ; but unfortunately 
 here, where a decided expression would have convinced that 
 chief, the whole effect of the measure was annulled by the 
 termination of the letter thus: — 'at least I think that 
 would be done,' or some expression to that purport, which, 
 encouraged as Ali Murad is by the uniform kindness with 
 which the General always treats him, while it gave the Amir 
 an idea of our object, left him the hope of still effecting his 
 aim. Indeed he had now the assurance to write a long letter, 
 advocating the advantage of giving him the entire control of 
 the property of the State, as well as its government — all 
 the other Amirs and chiefs to rely on him for support. 
 
 ' These discussions occurred during our march to Imam- 
 garh, where we arrived on January 11. IVIir Muhammad 
 Khan, who never had an idea of opposing us (as had been 
 represented), of course fled on hearing of our march from 
 Diji, leaving nothing in the fort but a little grain, and a 
 large quantity of powder which had apparently been stored
 
 -i843 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. 307 
 
 there for years, and which, although a very inferior stuff, and 
 caked like hard mud, came into play in blowing up the for- 
 tress. This, as a stronghold to which the chiefs of Sind 
 might hereafter have recourse in the event of rebellion, it 
 was a good measure to destroy ; for although we had made 
 good our march with a detachment of artillery, infantry, and 
 horse, sufficient to take the place when it got there, it was 
 very evident we might very easily have been prevented 
 reaching it, by filling the few scanty cutcha wells at our 
 halting places in the desert. The demolition of this fort will 
 also destroy the confidence of the chiefs of both Upper and 
 Lower Sind in their other desert strongholds, such as Shah- 
 garh, Umarkot, and others. 
 
 ' The distance from Diji to Imamgarh measured very 
 nearly eighty miles, which we had made in seven marches 
 — the first three through thick jungle, and a not very bad 
 road, the remaining four through an ocean of loose sand hills 
 sometimes very high and steep, over which we had much 
 difficulty in taking the guns (two 24-pounder howitzers of 
 the camel battery). Fatigue parties of infantry were con- 
 stantly required to drag these up the ascent, although some- 
 times 25 camels were yoked to each besides. During the 
 13th, 14th, and 15th, the detachment halted, while the 
 sappers were occupied in blowing up the fort, in utterly 
 destroying which all the powder found in the place (7,000 
 pounds) was expended. 
 
 ' During our stay at Imamgarh a confidential Munshi 
 arrived from Mir Eustam, charged with a last appeal to the 
 Greneral (as he communicated to me verbally on the evening 
 of his arrival, when too late to present him). During the 
 night Ali Murad's minister, Ali Husain, got hold of the 
 man, and bought him over to his master's interests. Next 
 morning I ascertained that they were occupied together 
 for upwards of an hour ; the result was the delivery of a letter 
 
 X 2
 
 3o8 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842- 
 
 of a very different purport, more calculated to irritate than to 
 conciliate, the fictitious document having been substituted 
 for the real one by inserting it within the cover to which 
 Mir Rustam's seal was attached. Fortunately I had obtained 
 a clue to the villainy that was going on, and warned Sir 
 Charles of it prior to the receipt of the letter, which accord- 
 ingly he estimated as it deserved. 
 
 ' On the night of the 15th, I departed from Imamgarh for 
 Diji, en route to Khairpur, to prepare for the meeting of the 
 chiefs of Upper Sind, and Wakils of the Amirs of Lower 
 Sind, which had been fixed for the 25th, and determined 
 to make one more effort to save Mir Eustam. I made 
 a detour to his camp (which still continued where I had 
 left it) and arrived there about 10 A.M. The old chief 
 and all about him received me very civilly, and appeared 
 grateful for the trouble I took on their account, but 
 their confidence in me was evidently much shaken. The 
 corrupted Munshi (who had retiurned from the Greneral's 
 camp) had doubtless aided those previously in Ali Murad's 
 interests in misrepresenting my real feelings — and their 
 suspicions, consequently, that I was insincere in my friendly 
 professions, were further confirmed when I declared to the Mir, 
 in order that no unfounded hopes should be raised, that it 
 was not in my power to alter the arrangements which had 
 already been decided by the Governor-Greneral, i.e. the terms 
 of the new treaty, and the elevation of, and pledges to, Mir 
 Ali Murad ; but I said it was my desire to settle all details, 
 and the arrangement of the territory that remained, as much 
 as possible, fairly towards all parties. The Amir then re- 
 marked, "What remains to be settled? Our means of 
 livelihood are taken; " adding, " Why am I not to continue 
 Eilis for the short time I have to live ? " 
 
 ' He gave me a sort of vague promise to follow me in 
 two or three days to Khairpur, but at the time appeared so
 
 -1 843 FAVOURABLE FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 309 
 
 dejected and despairing, that I had little expectation he 
 would do so. He parted kindly from me, however, as did the 
 others, and I continued my journey to Diji, which I com- 
 pleted on one camel (upwards of 90 miles in consequence of 
 the detour I had taken) by six o'clock on the evening of the 
 16th. My only escort through this " hostile " country was a 
 couple of Baluch horsemen.' 
 
 It was, perhaps, in the brief interval after meeting at 
 Diji, and before setting out for the desert-fort at Imamgarh, 
 to which we have already referred, that the marked difference 
 of opinion on Sind politics between Sir Charles Napier and 
 Major Outram first found expression ; and that the germs 
 appeared of a controversy which, to whatever extent developed 
 in later years, was unfortunately never, at any subsequent 
 time, exhausted in manuscript or printed volumes. Amid 
 the many statements and counter-statements addressed to the 
 public by the principals in this paper-war and their advo- 
 cates, there might be no serious difficulty in seeking out the 
 main issues, but no material object would be gained in the 
 process, and there is manifest harm in needlessly reviving 
 an ungracious theme. Nothing could have been of brighter 
 augury than the first impressions mutually derived at 
 Sakhar in the autumn of 1842. ' Our acquaintance has 
 been very short,' then wrote Sir Charles to the younger 
 officer, with that generous frankness for which he was 
 remarkable, ' but I trust it will continue long. I assure you 
 that the high opinion which I everywhere heard expressed of 
 your character before I had the pleasure of your acquaintance, 
 has been more than confirmed in my mind during the few 
 days we have served together ; and I only regret that we did 
 not meet at a more early period and in the field. Believe 
 me when I say that, wherever you may be, my best wishes and 
 sincere respect and friendship will follow.' Outram's openly 
 avowed admiration of the Greneral has been already noted in
 
 3IO JAMES OUTRAM. 1842- 
 
 the preceding chapter. But his letter to his mother dated 
 January 12, 1843, is more to the point still. It was addressed 
 from Imamgarh, at the close of the week's march they had 
 had together over a desert country ; and after that each must 
 have opened his mind to the other in personal conversation 
 on the nature of the work they had undertaken : — 
 
 * You will not know where to look for the place whence 
 this is dated ... so I must explain that it is a small 
 fort, situated in the midst of the desert, about 100 miles 
 a little to the eastward of south of Khairpur, the capital of 
 Upper Sind — a stronghold where the chiefs of Sind are in 
 the habit of taking refuge when in rebellion or pressed by 
 foreign invasion. ... I found, on joining the General, that 
 he had been led into the field by hostile indications on the 
 part of the Amirs, and that he had been encamped in the 
 neighbourhood of Khairpur some days before my arrival. . . . 
 I had ascertained sufficiently on my voyage up the Indus, 
 however . . . and by previous experience of these people, 
 that they were instigated to feeble attempts to arm by mis- 
 trust of us, and with a view to defence rather than any idea 
 of acting offensively ; and, as my duty is peace-maker, I hope 
 I shall have the happiness to be instrumental towards pre- 
 serving amity. My present chief, Sir Charles Napier, is fortu- 
 nately so good and kind-hearted a man that he never would 
 drive the Amirs to extremity so long as he could prevent 
 bloodshed, and I myself am satisfied that all will be quietly 
 settled ... he and I are equally anxious to prevent war- 
 fare. We shall be back at Khairpur about the 20th instant, 
 when, I doubt not, the chiefs will combine to arrange matters 
 amicably. . . . After arranging with the Upper Sind Amirs 
 I shall have to go to Haidarabad to effect a settlement with 
 those of Lower Sind : so I fear my calculation of going home 
 in the March steamer is wrong, and that I cannot, at any 
 rate, get away before April. In the meantime I am very un-
 
 _i843 A LI MURAD. 311 
 
 comfortably situated, having brought nothing up with me 
 but a few suits of clothes, in the determination not to stay in 
 this country. My position as subordinate, where formerly I 
 was supreme, is very grating ; but of course I must suppress 
 all such personal considerations in a sense of public duty ; 
 neither do I complain, or work less zealously than if I were 
 as formerly. Indeed it would be most ungrateful to Sir 
 Charles Napier were I to do otherwise ; for he is most kind 
 and considerate. ' 
 
 On January 20, Outram proceeded to Khairpur, and 
 there he found the Wakils of the Lower Sind Amirs ; but 
 no representative on the part of those of Upper Sind was in 
 attendance except AH Murad's minister, who had accompanied 
 him. That Amir himself remained with Sir Charles, and 
 must have been well pleased to be rid of an Enghsh officer 
 who with full knowledge of Sind affairs, had such good cause 
 to suspect and scrutinise his acts. We need not now pause to 
 inquire to what extent the non-fulfilment of Outram's wish 
 to bring about an inteview between the General and Mir 
 Rustam is to be attributed to the scheming of this ambitious 
 .younger brother. Certain it is that the old chief, impelled 
 to destruction, under some strong and secret influence, fled, 
 and became confounded with our enemies. January 25, the 
 last day allowed to the fugitive Amirs for submission, passed 
 away without the appearance in the British camp of any of 
 the parties, either personally or by proxy. 
 
 About this period, Outram was informed through Sir 
 Charles Napier that the Governor-General had fixed his 
 salary, as ' Commissioner ' in Sind, at 1,500 rupees (1 50^.) per 
 mensem. He acknowledged the intimation in the following 
 non-official letter : — 
 
 ' My dear Sir Charles, — I have to-day received your letter 
 forwarding that from Government fixing my salary at 1,500
 
 312 JAMES OVTRAM. 1842- 
 
 rupees per mensem. So far from murmuring at the amount 
 (although less by 200 rupees than I received as political 
 agent in Guzerat years ago,' from which I was transferred t*^ 
 Sinde on no suing of my own), I really do not consider that I 
 deserve so much, for, in fact, I have been unable to effect 
 anything as commissioner as yet, and see little prospect of 
 doing more. 
 
 ' Whatever may be my private objections to receiving what 
 possibly might be construed as a pecuniary favour,^ I must, 
 without reference to any personal feelings whatever, abstain 
 from accepting public money which I have not earned. I 
 beg you will not be annoyed with me, therefore, for declining 
 to take advantage of the authority to draw salary as " Com- 
 missioner," or rather the salary assigned to me personally not 
 being that which commissioners in India enjoy. 
 
 'Pray do not suppose that I purpose officially objecting 
 to receive the money, or that I purpose taking any notice 
 whatever of the matter : I merely purpose allowing the half- 
 sheet of Grovernment foolscap to remain a dead letter — or, 
 rather, I have destroyed it, that I might not be tempted 
 hereafter to make use of it. 
 
 * I shall simply draw my Captain's pay in the field to which 
 I have an undoubted right without being beholden to any. 
 I am too glad of the honour of your friendship and confidence 
 to require or wish for further advantage so long as I continue 
 with you. I shall defer sending this letter, however, until 
 you dispense with my services, lest it should induce you to 
 do so one day sooner than you otherwise intended. 
 
 ' I am, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 * (Signed) J. Outram.' 
 
 ' The political agent's monthly salary in Sincl and Baluchistan was 3,250 
 rupees (325^.) 
 
 " The following note was Outram's own on the record. — ' This has no 
 allusion to my dismissal from office of course, but to an accusation from his 
 Lordship of political dereliction from veracity which was not withdrawn, 
 altlioiigh the refutation was received, and was unausweriible.'
 
 -i843 A SOLEMN PROTEST. 313 
 
 The ^vriter of this letter, delivered to the General on 
 February 20, was, however, influenced by other motives than 
 here expressed, in acting as he had done. Foreseeing the 
 utter ruin of the Khairpur chiefs, he dreaded lest they should 
 involve in the same calamity their cousins of Haidarabad, 
 men towards whom he was attracted by the recollection of a 
 lengthened friendly intercourse, and he had solicited the 
 Greneral's permission to remove to the city of that name, in 
 the hope of adjusting matters by personal interference. In 
 another letter to Sir Charles Napier, bearing the precise date 
 of that declining the salary, will be found the following 
 passages : — 
 
 ' I am sorry to confess myself unable entirely to coincide in 
 your views, either as respects the policy or justice of, at least 
 so suddenly, overturning the patriarchal government to which 
 alone Sind has been accustomed. ... I say pair iaixhal, for, 
 however we may despise the Amirs as inferior to ourselves, 
 either in morality or expansion of intellect, each chief 
 certainly lives tvith, and for, his portion of the people ; and 
 I question whether any class of the people of Sind, except the 
 Hindoo traders . . . would prefer a change to the best 
 government we could give them. . . . 
 
 ' The specific I advocated was, affording protection to the 
 trading classes who should seek to locate in the bazaars of 
 our cantonments, and refuge to the serfs as cultivators in the 
 proposed Shikarpoor farm (obtained on fair terms of purchase). 
 I was sanguine that the mere force of example, which the 
 prosperity of our bazaars and flourishing state of oiur farm 
 must have afforded to the neighbouring chiefs, would have 
 caused them, from motives of self-interest, similarly to pro- 
 mote trade — consequently to cherish their Hindus and foster 
 agriculture — and consequently, again, to improve the state of 
 the serf. The facility of obtaining protection under British
 
 314 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842- 
 
 laws in the heart of Sind, must have compelled the rulers 
 so to govern their people as to prevent their seeking our 
 protection : thus our object would have been gained without 
 either the appearance or reality of injustice. 
 
 ' It grieves me to say that my heart, and the judgment 
 God has given me, unite in condemning the measures we are 
 carrying out for his Lordship as most tyrannical — positive 
 robbery. I consider, therefore, that every life which may 
 hereafter be lost in consequence will be a murder, and I 
 cannot but think that the sudden revolution we seek to 
 effect is as little called for by necessity, as unjustifiable in 
 fact. . . . 
 
 ' Until we entered Sind, I verily believe all classes in the 
 country were as happy as those under any government in 
 Asia. The amity with which four rulers at Haidarabad, 
 and four at Khairpur, acted together, was dwelt upon by all 
 who visited these countries with wonder and admiration. 
 Although every chief ruled his own people, each brotherhood 
 had one head, or " Eais," for the conduct of the foreign re- 
 lations of the State, and whose power interposed in internal 
 quarrels. I do not justify our location in Sind under the 
 terms of the former treaty (my objections to which, stated to 
 Colonel Pottinger at the time ... I submitted to you), and 
 undoubtedly our coming here has been the cause of much 
 misrule. For instance, we destroyed the ruling head of 
 Lower Sind where now six chiefs have equal powers; and we 
 undermined the power of the " Rais " of Upper Sind to his 
 ultimate destruction. I am, therefore, very sensible that it is 
 our duty to remedy the evils which we have ourselves caused, 
 and my idea as to the mode in which we might have done 
 so I have stated above. . . . 
 
 ' You observe that I myself had pointed out Ali Murad's 
 previous consistency of character, and advocated his claims 
 to the " Rais "-ship. I did recommend that his claims to that
 
 -i843 LETTER TO SIR CHARLES. 315 
 
 dignity, %u}ien it became vacant by Rustam^s deaths should 
 be admitted, as consonant with the customs of the country, 
 and as poHtic, because Ali Murad never would have sub- 
 mitted to the domination of any of his nephews, and in 
 any struggle with them would have been victorious . . . 
 and because Ali Murad is personally a more able man, as far 
 as we can judge, than any of the others, and, under our 
 strict control and guidance, might be prevented from mis- 
 using his power ; but I never contemplated conferring the 
 chiefship on him before the demise of Mir Eustam — a usurpa- 
 tion which must turn all classes against him, who otherwise 
 would have been as ready to support Ali Murad as any of the 
 others ... I never had any idea of dispossessing any of the 
 other chiefs of any 'portion of their territory to uphold Ali 
 Murad's power, which is sufficiently secured by our counte- 
 nance ... I consider that the superior share of territory 
 assigned to the Rais by Meer Sohrab, was for the main- 
 tenance of troops necessary to protect the State against 
 foreign aggression which, as I before remarked,^ is no longer 
 required under British protection. . . . 
 
 ' Had I been in your position, of course I must have 
 obeyed; as it is, I consider myself fortunate that I am here 
 as your subaltern ... for I know you will never order me 
 to do what my conscience condemns ; and if I find it im- 
 possible to arrange details which the parties spurn, and you 
 are satisfied that I have honestly exerted myself to the ut- 
 most of my ability, I hope you will allow me to depart — which 
 I shall do, I assure you, with a heavy heart, for it is my 
 most earnest desire to serve you usefully, in gratitude for 
 the extreme kindness I have ever experienced from you. 
 
 ' I fear I can be of no manner of use here now, but still 
 hope I may possibly do something at Haidarabad, both with 
 the Upper and Lower Sind Amirs, should you send me there 
 
 ' Appendix G.
 
 3i6 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842- 
 
 * I make no excuses for the freedom with which I have 
 expressed myself, because you asked my sentiments, and, I 
 know, would expect me to give them without disguise. . . . 
 
 ' I cannot close this without expressing my sorrow that 
 you should have such a very low estimate of the Amirs 
 personally. I call them " children " merely in reference to 
 their puerile dealings with us and foolish suspicions, but 
 they are much like most Oriental princes, and, in my 
 opinion, equally able to manage their own affairs. . . . 
 
 ' It is with very great concern I write what may possibly 
 cause you annoyance, or presume to differ from you in 
 opinion, my dear Sir Charles, but you would consider me un- 
 worthy of your esteem did I hesitate to express my sentiments 
 when you call for them.' 
 
 In restricting our extracts, we have omitted very much 
 valuable matter ; but the object of selection has been rather 
 to show the general views of the writer on the question with 
 which he had to deal, than to instruct the reader in the very 
 intricate details of Sind history and politics, a thorough com- 
 prehension of which must be acquired out of the range of 
 biography. It is but fair to add the Greneral's brief but 
 genial reply : — 
 
 ' My dear Outram, — Your long letter, and dinner, came 
 in together, and I only write just to say I have not read it — 
 ergo, can't answer it. I went to the end just to see if you 
 had heard aught of the Vakeels, and see a few words about 
 giving me annoyance. My dear friend, you cannot do that ; 
 a man that can be annoyed at a friend who tells him frankly 
 his opinions, even had they not been asked and are honoured, 
 has neither good sense nor good feeling ; and I assure you, 
 you may trust that I have enough of both to avoid such 
 weakness. 
 
 ' Whatever your letter contains, whether we agree or
 
 -1 843 THE CRISIS APPROACHES. 317 
 
 not, nothing can affect the sincere regard with which I am, 
 always, 
 
 * Yours, &c. &c., 
 
 ' (Signed) C. Napier.' 
 
 Sir Charles Napier did not long tarry in the deserts 
 around Imamgarh. Having shown that this isolated strong- 
 hold was not inaccessible to his troops, and having destroyed 
 its more material defences, he thought it well to abandon 
 the uninviting locality. On January 18, he was within 
 reach of provisions and water in abundance. Four days 
 later he was at Pir Abu Bakar, a station near Diji. Here, 
 agreeably to his report to the Governor-Greneral, he was to be 
 joined by the remainder of the force, with which he would 
 advance towards Haidarabad, should the negotiations which 
 Major Outram had undertaken not progress satisfactorily. 
 We have shown that nothing had been done up to January 
 25. On the 28th the General wrote from Halani, about 
 twelve miles from the Indus, and on the high road between 
 Khaipur and Haidarabad, that the Lower Sind Amirs had all 
 sent vakils with full powers to Major Outram. Those in 
 Upper Sind having made no sign, had been addressed by a 
 special proclamation extending the time for appearance up to 
 February 1. MiHtary operations, it was stated, would go 
 forward ; but the persons of the chiefs would be respected, 
 and all considered as friends up to the specified date. Outram 
 himself was, in accordance with his request, ordered to Haidar- 
 abad ; but the letter of instructions miscarried, or was treacher- 
 ously withheld, and he did not leave Sakhar until February 4, 
 reaching his destination by steamer on the 8th idem. Sir 
 Charles was then at Daulatpur, about 90 miles north ot 
 Haidarabad. 
 
 Amid the clouds and smoke of controversy in which this 
 particular passage of history has been enveloped, we discern
 
 3i8 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842- 
 
 and may safely lay down as fact that, while the General 
 officer who exercised civil and military control in Sind was, 
 in accordance with his own views and under the thorough 
 sanction of the Grovemor-General in India, hastening to 
 bring about a crisis which he believed to be both excusable 
 and imperative, his Commissioner was in the false position 
 of acting against his judgment and conscience, but imder 
 a sense of inexorable duty. 
 
 On the day of his arrival at Haidarabad, and on the day 
 following, Outram held conferences with the Amirs. At these 
 were present Mir Nasir Khan and sons, and Mir Muhammad 
 Khan, representing the ruling chiefs of Lower Sind, and 
 Mirs Eustam Khan and sons, Mir Nasir Khan, and Mir 
 Muhammad Khan of Khairpur. The Commissioner pressed 
 upon them the acceptance of the new treaties ; but the 
 resistance displayed was of a determined character. It was 
 argued by the Amirs that, having never broken the old 
 agreements into which they had entered with the British 
 Grovernment, there was no necessity to impose upon them new 
 and objectionable terms as punishment for an offence which 
 they had not committed. In the light of free agents, they 
 declined them in toto. There was one condition, however, 
 on which they would be induced to submit : that was, the re- 
 storation to Mir Eustam of the turban of sovereignty. They 
 further begged that the march of the British troops might 
 be delayed ; otherwise it would be impossible for them to 
 withhold the Baluchis from aggressive operations. On the 
 afternoon of February 9, deputies from the Haidarabad 
 Amirs waited on INIajor Outram, and applied the seals of their 
 Highnesses to a written pledge to sign the new treaty. 
 Three days afterwards, a further conference was held, at which 
 the Persian copies of the draft treaties were produced, and 
 a formal request made to the Amirs, both of Upper and 
 Lower Sind, to affix their seals in the presence of the British
 
 -i843 THE CRISIS ARRIVES. 319 
 
 Commissioner. The meeting was so far satisfactory that the 
 Haidarabad Mirs, also Mirs Rustam and Muhammad of Upper 
 Sind, did as required, and Mir Nasir Khan of Khairpiir 
 promised compliance on the following morning. But it was 
 evident, from the signs out of doors, that the Baluchis meant 
 mischief, and, notwithstanding the precaution taken by the 
 chiefs against outrage, one of the British officers of the 
 escort was struck by a stone. On the following afternoon, 
 confidential agents from the Amirs waited upon Major Outram 
 to ask for assurances on behalf of Mir Eustam, whose rights 
 the Baluch Sirdars had pledged themselves to uphold. As it 
 was impossible to give these,the deputies expressed themselves 
 to the effect that there was little hope of alla3dng the excite- 
 ment of the people. The Commissioner, they urged, had 
 demanded that the Amirs should control their soldiers and 
 subjects, and had promised that the Greneral would carefully 
 consider their alleged grievances. If any replies on these 
 points were to be made they would bring them that night. 
 Otherwise it was to be taken for granted that their masters 
 could do nothing further. The messenger did not return that 
 night. Sir Charles Napier was then sixty miles from the 
 capital, at Sakarand, where he had halted three days in 
 compliance with Major Outram's request. 
 
 On February 14, Outram saw cause to believe that open 
 hostility was intended by the Amirs. Independently of ap- 
 pearances in his immediate vicinity, our seizure of certain 
 men of the Marri tribe, reported by the Greneral, would, he 
 thought, bring matters to a crisis. He wrote to Sir Charles 
 accordingly, and addressed a request to the officer command- 
 ing H.M.'s 41st regiment, then en route to Karachi, to halt 
 at Thatta, or the former place, pending further orders for its 
 disposal. On February 15, he wrote his now historical de- 
 spatch to the Greneral, describing the attack upon the British 
 Residency near Haidarabad. It was characteristic of the
 
 320 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842- 
 
 writer that he desired the officer in command of the escort 
 to report the brilliant affair. Sir Charles Napier, however, 
 returned Captain Conway's despatch, insisting that as Major 
 Outram's diplomatic functions had ceased with the first shot 
 fired, it was his duty to report, as senior officer present. To 
 this Outram was only reconciled by the Greneral's assurance 
 that his representation of Captain Conway's gallant service 
 would most benefit the latter. The official account is brief : 
 but we curtail it in order to add a few particulars heretofore 
 unpublished : — 
 
 My despatches of the last few days will have led you to expect 
 that my earnest endeavours to effect an amicable arrangement with 
 the Ameers of Sinde would fail ; and it is with much regret I have 
 now to report that their Highnesses have commenced hostilities 
 by attacking my residence this morning, which, after four hours' 
 most gallant defence by my honorary escort, the Light Company 
 of Her Majesty's 22nd regiment, commanded by Captain Conway, 
 I was compelled to evacuate, m consequence of our ammunition 
 running short. 
 
 At 9 A.M. this morning, a dense body of cavalry and infantry ' 
 took post on three sides of the Agency compound (the fourth 
 being defended by the ' Planet ' steamer, about .500 yards distant), 
 in the gardens and houses which immediately command the in- 
 closure, and which it was impossible to hold with our limited 
 numbers. A hot fire was opened by the enemy, and continued in- 
 cessantly for four hours ; but all theii- attempts to enter the Agency 
 inclosure, althoiigh merely surrounded by a wall varying from foin- 
 to five feet high, were frustrated by Captain Conway's able distribu- 
 tion of his small band, and the admirable conduct of every indi- 
 vidual soldier composing it, under the gallant example of their 
 commanding officer and his subalterns, Lieutenant Harding and 
 Ensign Pennefather, Her Majesty's 22nd regiment, also Captains 
 Green, of the 21st regiment native infantry, and Wells, of the 
 15th regiment, who volunteered their services, to each of whom 
 was assigned the charge of a separate quarter; also to your aide-de- 
 
 ' Asoortained, afterwards, to have anionnted to 8,000 men under the com- 
 mand of Mir Sliahdad Khan, his cousin Mir Muhammad Khan, Nawab Ahmad 
 Khan, Laghiiri, and many principal chiefs.
 
 -i843 DEFENCE OF IIAIDARADAD RESIDENCY. 32 r 
 
 camp Captain Brown, Bengal engineers, who carried my orders to 
 
 the steamers, and assisted in working her guns and directing her 
 flanking fire. Our ammunition being limited to forty rounds per 
 man, the officers directed their whole attention to reserving their 
 fire and keeping their men close under cover, never showing them- 
 selves or returning a shot, except when the enemy attempted to rush, 
 or showed themselves in great numbers. . . . Our hope of receiv- 
 ing a reinforcement and supply of ammunition by the ' Satellite * 
 . . . being disappointed, on the arrival of that vessel without either, 
 shortly after the commencement of the attack, it was decided at 
 12 A.M., after being three hours under fire, to retire to the steamer 
 while still we had sufficient ammunition to fight the vessel up the 
 river ; I requested Captain Conway to keep the enemy at bay for 
 one hour, while the propei^ty was removed, for which that time 
 was ample, could the camp followers be induced to exert them- 
 selves : accordingly, after the expiration of another hour (during 
 which the enemy, despairing of otherwise effecting their object, 
 had brought up six guns to bear upon us), we took measures to 
 evacuate the Agency. Captain Conway called in his posts, and all 
 being united, retired in a body, covered by a few skirmishers, as 
 deliberately as on parade, carrying off our slain and wounded. 
 
 So far the official report. We add a supplementary 
 statement from a source not less authentic.' It should be 
 premised that the Eesidency, as already shown, was situated 
 in an enclosure or compound, the wall of which was from 
 four to five feet high. This wall was built more or less 
 parallel to the then river bank ; its length — roughly N.W. 
 to 8.E. — was probably 300 yards, and its breadth 200. In- 
 cluded herewith were two smaller enclosures on the N.W. 
 face, in which the doctor and his assistants had houses. At 
 the S.E. end was a village, with bazar and orchard apper- 
 taining. The gate was on the N.E. side, the direction in 
 which lay the city of Haidarabad. 
 
 ' An orij^inal draft in Outram's handwriting, -wliicli has nad the advantage 
 of supervision by an officer who bore the chief part in the honour.ible and notuble 
 exploit narrated — Captain, now JMajor-Gtneral, T. S. Conway (C.B.). 
 
 VOL. I. Y
 
 322 JAMES OUTRAM 1842- 
 
 The position for the first three hours is thus described : — 
 
 To the westward an approach by the bed of a nullah was 
 watched by a party of fifteen men under Lieutenant Penne- 
 father, guarding the wall. 
 
 To the front,' four scouts watched a body of horse, and 
 occasionally fired shots to keep the assailants at a distance. 
 
 Twenty men, under Captain Wells, manning part of the 
 wall, watched the gate ; some ten men more being placed in 
 reserve under cover of the cook-house, in readiness to repel 
 any sudden rush to this quarter. 
 
 Twenty men under Lieutenant Harding manned another 
 part of the wall. The whole were obliged to lie very close in 
 consequence of the commanding fire from the flat-roofed upper- 
 storied houses in the neighbouring compounds ; and never 
 showed their heads above the wall, except when the enemy 
 threatened a rush at the gate, or to surmount the wall on the 
 opposite side. Each man bored a hole with his bayonet, 
 through which to watch the enemy, and to fire at every 
 favourable opportunity. 
 
 There was also a party of thirty men to watch the enemy 
 occupying the adjoining village, outbuildings, and detach- 
 ment lines, in dense masses. Of this party a corporal and 
 three men were posted in a convenient building to prevent 
 the enemy surmounting some flat-roofed stables available. 
 One particular position, considered the most important, was 
 occupied by Captain Conway himself, although from time to 
 time he visited other posts. Conductor Keily, with a com- 
 missariat guard of a Naigue and three sipdhis^ kept the 
 entrance from the bazar. 
 
 A flat-roofed office of considerable elevation was held by 
 
 Captain Grreen and fifteen men — stationed at the windows, or 
 
 wall, and on the roof. This position commanded the bazar 
 
 square and communication with the vessels, and prevented 
 
 ' Tho gate-side — i.e. looking towards the city — is the ' front.'
 
 -1 843 RETIREMENT IN ORDER. 323 
 
 the enemy showing himself outside the orchard wall ; he was, 
 moreover, kept in check by the fire from the ' Planet ' steamer. 
 
 At the expiration of three hours — when it was decided to 
 withdraw after one hour more, and the enemy were bringing 
 up their guns, not before observed — it was resolved, as a 
 preparatory measure, to abandon the front positions of the 
 compound. Accordingly, at a preconcerted signal, the 
 parties posted there fell back to the Eesidency, which then 
 became the front line of defence. 
 
 The hour allotted for carrying off the baggage having ter- 
 minated, the retreat was sounded, on which all posts except 
 one were abandoned, and the men closed in double march at 
 a gate appointed. When formed. Captain Conway marched 
 the party by sections to the river front of the still guarded 
 post, and then marched in column directly down to the 
 steamer, the march being the signal for the last batch of 
 defenders to drop from the windows, and cover the retiring 
 column by skirmishing to the rear in extended order. 
 
 About the period of the second formation. Captain Brown, 
 having observed the enemy preparing a battery behind 
 the embankment of a nullah, transferred himself from the 
 *■ Planet ' to the ' Satellite ' steamer, which had then arrived, 
 and took up a position in her, so as to rake the nullah and 
 prevent the enemy placing three guns they were bringino- 
 up against us — and which were afterwards used in position 
 to annoy the vessels in their upward passage. While the 
 * Planet 'was occupied in bringing off the 'flat,' three guns 
 were brought through the Agency compound, and placed in 
 battery under the trees in front of the gate where our 
 soldiers had last formed. Their fire was met, and almost 
 entirely kept under, by the ' Planet's ' single twelve-pounder ; 
 and the detachment was embarked without loss — the 
 wounded and corpses of the slain having been previously 
 removed on board. 
 
 Y 2
 
 ■324 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842- 
 
 The first object being to secure the fuel depot at the 
 village of Kotri, about three miles up the opposite bank of 
 the river, ere yet the enemy had time to destroy it, the 
 
 * Satellite ' steamer was immediately despatched for its protec- 
 tion, until a sufficiency of wood to enable both vessels to 
 pursue their course up the river had been laid in. The 
 three guns formerly alluded to as having been withdrawn, 
 which in the meantime had been brought into position 
 higher up the river, opened their fire as the ' Satellite ' 
 passed. She returned the fire, and by her good practice dis- 
 mounted one gun. 
 
 The next point was to carry off the large flat which 
 was moored to the shore immediately opposite the enemy's 
 guns, to effect which the ' Planet ' remained. The flush 
 decks of the river-steamers affording no protection from 
 shot for those on board, the officers commanding them 
 had prepared bulwarks, previous to the embarkation of the 
 troops, by piling up every movable article. Under this 
 cover all except those employed in working the vessels were 
 well protected ; but the removal of the unwieldy flat was 
 an operation which obliged all hands belonging to the 
 
 * Planet ' (and especially her commander, Mr. Cole) to expose 
 themselves much. That they did so with impunity is extra- 
 ordinary, because they were under a very hot fire for more 
 than twenty minutes. The enemy, emboldened by the 
 departure of the ' Satellite,' sought to approach the remaining 
 vessel across the dry bed of the river ; and only fell back to 
 the ' long shot ' position after examples had been made 
 among the more venturesome of their number. Three times 
 did the ' Planet ' fail to attain her object : and three times 
 had she to return and go round before bringing off her charge in 
 tow from under the hostile guns. During this proceeding the 
 soldiery on board had kept their fire in reserve, as heretofore, 
 only opening as opportunity was afforded by the increased 
 audacity of their opponents.
 
 -1 843 KILLED AND WOUNDED. 325 
 
 The ' Planet ' then followed the ' Satellite,' running the 
 gauntlet of the artillery, and the fire of the enemy from every 
 hollow wliich afforded cover, with no loss. Large bodies of 
 the enemy kept company with her for about two miles up the 
 river, when they departed. The ' Planet ' having delayed at 
 Kotri on the right bank, while the ' SatelHte ' was completing 
 her fuel, both vessels continued their upward course until 
 sunset, when they anchored for the night about ten miles 
 above the Agency. On the 16th they pursued their voyage at 
 daylight, and at 9 A.M. anchored opposite to and about a mile 
 from Matari, where, shortly afterwards, the advanced guard 
 of the army arrived. 
 
 Outram wrote that in the operations above described, the 
 loss on our side was only two killed and eleven wounded ; while 
 there were, on the side of the enemy, more than sixty killed, 
 and 'probably the usual estimate — quadruple of that number 
 wounded.' This extraordinary disparity he attributed to the 
 * judicious disposal of our men, and their steady maintenance 
 of their posts, to draw them from which all attempts of the 
 enemy failed — except to the extent of springing up,' when- 
 ever the latter tried to close, * delivering their fire, and again 
 squatting, before the enemy had time to take aim or even 
 fire.' Thus it was, he continued, that the assailants ' became 
 momentarily less daring, and were at last obhged to bring 
 up six guns to force an imperfect low-walled enclosure of 
 200 yards square, defended by only one hundred men against 
 countless numbers possessing commanding positions and cover 
 up to our walls on three sides.' ' 
 
 ' In the rough memorandum written by Outram, from which the above 
 account is taken, it is added that when the army reached the Residency on 
 Februai7 19 (four days after the assault), three of the guns wore found still 
 on the river bank. The other three had broken down on the road between the 
 Residency and town, in the attempt to take them back. The official report 
 gave two men killed of H.M.'s 22ud regiment and one camp follower, ten
 
 326 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842- 
 
 He joined his chief at Matari, a town situated only sixteen 
 
 miles north of Haidarabad. Between the two places was the 
 
 village of Miani — a name common in Sind to the abode of 
 
 fishermen ; and around Mi^ni were gathering the available 
 
 forces of the Sind Amirs.* From Matari, on the day of his 
 
 joining, it was arranged that Outram, in company with Captain 
 
 Green, Lieutenants Wells and Brown, his co-defenders of the 
 
 Residency,and 200 convalescent sipdAis, should be despatched 
 
 on a night expedition. The object was to obtain a position 
 
 which would enable them, at an early hour of the morning, to 
 
 burn the Miani and neighbouring sAifcargrd^, or forest,in which 
 
 it was expected the enemy would collect, and from which, when 
 
 collected, their dislodgment would be difficult. That the 
 
 proposal was Outram's own may be certified on perusal of 
 
 his report of arrival at the Matari ferry, addressed to the 
 
 General before the latter had reached the town of Matari, 
 
 and had pitched his camp between it and the river. But 
 
 the necessity of clearing the shikdrgdhs by some means, 
 
 whether by land or water, was obvious to Sir Charles Napier, 
 
 who, had, moreover, reason to suppose that the enemy's left 
 
 flank was posted in them, and that an army of 22,000 men 
 
 was in position at Miani ! In Outram's diary of February 16, 
 
 the entry is as follows : — * At 12 . . . force arrived at Matari, 
 
 and encamped about a mile from the steamer. Visited Sir 
 
 Charles Napier, who instructed me to take two hundred men 
 
 next morning to burn the shikdrgdhs which skirted his line 
 
 of march, while he should continue his advance to within a 
 
 few miles of the city, where I was to join him.' 
 
 ■wounded, among whom were Mr. Conductor Keily, Mr. Carlisle, the Agency 
 clerk, two of the steamer's crew, four men (if H.M.'s 22nd regiment, and two 
 camp followers, and four camp followers missing. 
 
 ' Outram's belief that there was really ' no preparation' for hostility on 
 the part of the Amirs, will be readily reconciled with this aggreg;ition of 
 armed chiefs and retainers hastily brought together. Such Oriental local 
 armaments are commonly procurable at a very short notice ; and in the then 
 temper of the Baluchis, a summons to arms would be rather anticipated than 
 awaited.
 
 -l843 BATTLE OF MI ANT. 327 
 
 On the 1 7th we read : — ' Occupied all day in endeavouring 
 to destroy the shikdrgdhs, in which we had to traverse many 
 miles. There being no wind, the woods burned very slowly 
 and partially. We only saw one body of about 500 of the 
 enemy, who made off on observing our approach ; we heard 
 firing in the direction of the army, which continued till 
 I P.M. I proposed to take our detachment round the shiMr- 
 gdh, so as to fall upon the retreat, towards the city, of the 
 enemy, who would doubtless have retired before Sir Charles. 
 The officers, however, considered their men too much knocked 
 up to attempt an enterprise involving a further march of some 
 miles. We returned to our vessels about sunset, and shortly 
 after learned from the natives the severe action which had 
 taken place. I decided on making my way to Sir Charles's 
 camp with 100 men, to be in time to partake in the advance 
 on the fortress, which we considered would take place next 
 morning. 
 
 The firing heard was indeed from the battle-field. The 
 severe action reported by the natives was that of Miani. A 
 struggle had occurred, the result of which, in the words of 
 the Governor-General, ' placed at the disposal of the British 
 Government the country on both banks of the Indus from 
 Sakkhar to the sea, with the exception of such portions thereof 
 as may belong to Mir Ali Murad of Khairpur, and to any 
 other of the Amirs who may have remained faithful to his 
 engagements.' 
 
 Sir Charles Napier prefaces his despatch describing the 
 victory with a notice of the risks run at Haidarabad by his 
 Commissioner, and of a plot laid to murder Major Outram 
 and his companions which had happily been frustrated ; and 
 thus speaks of the attack on the Agency : — ' The report of 
 this nefarious transaction I have the honour to enclose. I 
 heard of it at Hala, at which place the fearless and distin-i
 
 328 JAMES OUTRAM. \Z\z- 
 
 guished Major Outram joined me, with his brave companions 
 in the stern and extraordinary defence of his residence against 
 so overwhelming a force, accompanied by six pieces of cannon.' 
 At the close of the same paper, he reverts to the subject: — 
 ' The defence of the Eesidency by Major Outram and the 
 small force with him against such numbers of the enemy 
 was so admirable, that I have scarcely mentioned it in the 
 foregoing despatch, because I propose to send your Lordship 
 a detailed account of it, as a brilliant example of defending a 
 military post.' 
 
 Of the burning the shikdrgdhs, he says : — 
 
 * This was an operation of great difficulty and danger, but 
 would have been most important to the result of the battle. 
 However, the enemy had moved about eight miles to their 
 right during the night, and Major Outram executed his task 
 without difficulty at the hour appointed, viz., nine o'clock, 
 and from the field we observed the smoke of the burning 
 wood arise. I am strongly inclined to think that this circum- 
 stance had some effect on the enemy. But it deprived me 
 of the able services of Major Outram, Captain Green, and 
 Lieutenants Brown and Wells, together with 200 men, which 
 I much regretted for their sakes.' 
 
 But we left Outram about to rejoin the victorious army. 
 The diary continues : — 
 
 ' February 18. — At 2 a.m., marched with 100 men for 
 the camp, eight miles distant, which we reached just before 
 daybreak ; our road lay along the course of the Falaili. The 
 field of battle, over which we passed, plainly showed, in the 
 bright moonlight, from the heaps of slain covering it, how 
 severely contested the action must have been. We were soon 
 in possession of the particulars of this very sanguinary, at one 
 time doubtful, and finally decisive, conflict. Our loss, in pro-
 
 -1 843 SUBMISSION OF THE AMIRS. 329 
 
 portion to the numbers engaged, was very heavy: 19 officers 
 and 256 men, and 95 horses killed and wounded out of about 
 2,700 actually in the field. Therewere many chiefs and up- 
 wards of 5,000 killed and wounded of the enemy. 
 
 ' Early in the morning, messengers came into camp to 
 tender the submission of the Amirs. Sir Charles gave them 
 till mid-day to surrender unconditionally ; otherwise, our 
 troops would march at that hour on the capital. Before the 
 time specified had elapsed, Mirs Hasan Khan, Shahdad, and 
 Husain Ali Khan, the Amirs of Haidarabad who had led the 
 enemy, came into camp and surrendered unconditionally. 
 The two former were detained as prisoners, but the latter 
 was released by Sir Charles at my intercession, out of respect 
 to the memory of his late father, Mir Nur Muhammad, who, 
 on his death-bed, had consigned the youth to my guardianship. 
 Overtures were also made by the Amirs of Upper Sind, who 
 were informed that no other terms than unconditional sur- 
 render would be given. 
 
 ' February 19. — JNIarched past Haidarabad to the banks 
 of the Indus, and encamped close to the Agency, now a heap 
 of ruins. Mir Kustam Khan, and one of his sons, and 
 Nasir Khan of Khairpur came into camp, and surrendered as 
 prisoners of war unconditionally. As nothing further can 
 now be done until the Governor-General's orders are re- 
 ceived, and as my functions as commissioner ceased on hos- 
 tilities breaking out. Sir Charles Napier has granted me 
 permission to return to Bombay, for which I shall embark in 
 the " Satellite " steamer to-morrow at noon, bearing the de- 
 spatches.' 
 
 On the march from Miani to the site of the Haidarabad 
 Kesidency, the British commissioner rode side by side with 
 the fallen chiefs. One of them, Mir Nasir Khan, asked him, 
 with some show of curiosity, where he had been during the
 
 330 JAMES OUT RAM. 1842- 
 
 action of the previous day ? He had looked for him, he 
 affirmed, through his spy-glass, after the rout of his Baluchis, 
 in order that he might surrender to a personal friend ; but, 
 failing to recognise him among the British officers, he had 
 gone on his way with the rest. This statement accorded 
 with the testimony of Lieutenant Fitzgerald, of the Sind 
 Horse, who had observed one of the principal Amirs, mounted 
 on a camel, answering to Nasir's description, long hovering 
 about the retreating army, and otherwise acting in an unac- 
 countable manner. On Outram's explaining the cause of his 
 absence from the field, the Amir admitted that there had 
 been an intention, on the part of his people, to occupy the 
 shikar gdhs, but that they had changed their minds. It is 
 highly probable that the plan of firing the forests from the 
 rear having transpired before the period of its execution had 
 arrived, the enemy modified his tactics accordingly, and was 
 driven to fight at once in the open — a course which gave the 
 British General the opportunity of bringing the campaign, in 
 a few hours, to a comparative close. Outram gratified Nasir 
 Khan much, by telling him how great credit he had gained 
 with the British officers for the gallant fight he had main- 
 tained ; and amused him, even in his natural despondency, 
 by turning to Mir Shahdad, also riding near, and stating 
 that his failm-e to make good the assault upon one hundred 
 men with a force of eight thousand, was as much the ridicule 
 as the other's action was the admiration of the English army. 
 The fact is that the treachery of Shahdad, which had become 
 evident, merited severer treatment than conveyed in a road- 
 side rebuff. This chief had asked Outram's permission to 
 bring his followers to the Eesidency, for the protection of its 
 occupants, on the very eve of the attack upon the place, 
 which it was felt that he himself, to all intents and purposes, 
 had led and instigated. 
 
 Taking leave of the General, his companions in arms and
 
 -i843 RETURN TO BOM RAY. 331 
 
 native friends, Outram embarked in the river steamer. It 
 cannot be said that he parted from any with a light heart, 
 or free from cares, as much for others as on his own account. 
 The widow of the late ]\Iir Nur Muhammad had petitioned him 
 on behalf of her sons. Of these, although Shahdad was en- 
 titled to little consideration at his hands, the other brother, 
 Husain Ali, was his especial 'protege. But for the Talpurs 
 generally he felt a sympathy which few of his brother officers 
 in Sind could quite understand ; and he had misgivings on 
 the future, too, of the Amirs and their families, whose un- 
 sought association with the powerful foreigner had brought 
 about their ruin. Off Thatta, on February 22, he wrote to 
 his friend. Lieutenant Brown, the following brief letter : — 
 
 ' As you are the custodian of the captive princes, let me 
 entreat of you, as a kindness to myself, to pay every regard 
 to their comfort and dignity. I do assure you my heart 
 bleeds for them, and it was in the fear that I might betray 
 my feelings that I declined the last interview they yesterday 
 sought of me. Pray say how sorry I was I could not call 
 upon them before leaving ; that, could I have done them any 
 good, I would not have grudged .... any expenditure of 
 time or labour on their behalf; but that, alas! they have 
 placed it out of my power to do aught, by acting contrary 
 to my advice, and having recourse to the fatal step of appeal 
 to arms against the British Power.' 
 
 Before the last day of February, Outram had again landed 
 in Bombay, and been received with kindly consideration and 
 cordiality by the Governor, Sir George Arthur. He had pur- 
 posed returning home by the steamer of March 1, but the 
 result of his conference with His Excellency made him defer 
 his departure for at least another month. The suggestion 
 that he still might be wanted in Sind had been put to him 
 with new arguments which his own modesty and self-abnega-
 
 332 JAMES OUT RAM. ' 1842- 
 
 tion had not before suffered him to entertain ; and he could 
 not brook the bare notion that personal pique in one instance, 
 and mere difiference of opinion in another, had caused him to 
 abandon a scene of action in which he might still be excep- 
 tionally useful. Instead, therefore, of taking leave of his 
 Presidency friends preparatory to embarkation, he wrote, on 
 the last day of February, a letter to the Grovernor, enclosing 
 a long memorandum on the merits of the ' Sind question,' 
 but, personally, full of excellent feeling. One passage may 
 be extracted : — 
 
 * You are so good as to think that although Sir Charles 
 permitted my departure, he might really have wished my 
 stay ; and that I might be of use in the arrangement of the 
 details of whatever settlement may have to be carried into 
 effect in Sind. It never occurred to me that possibly Sir 
 Charles, in his kind consideration for my personal convenience, 
 may have let me come away sooner than he otherwise would 
 have wished ; and it is with compunction that I reflect on 
 the enormous labour which he certainly will have to go 
 through during the coming hot season, much of the minor 
 details and drudgery of which I might save him from. 
 
 ' If such is really the opinion of Sir Charles, I would re- 
 join him with alacrity and pleasure on the footing of an acting 
 aide-de-camp, as which, I should have no voice of my own in 
 the 'policy Sir Charles might adopt, and merely should have 
 to carry out to the best of my ability the details which he 
 might entrust to me, which would be far preferable to me to 
 the situation in which I was formerly placed, when, having 
 a voice, I was bound to raise it as my conscience dictated. 
 
 ' Simply as aide-de-camp to Sir Charles, the military 
 allowances of which situation are defined, there can be none 
 of the personal scruples which I entertained to receiving his 
 Ix)rdship's bounty on the former occasion, and I should not
 
 -iS43 POLICY OF THE SWORD. 333 
 
 grudge the time and trouble that might be incurred in 
 working out the settlement of Sind during the ensuing hot 
 season, so long as I was serving lender, and for, Sir Charles 
 Napier.' 
 
 Sir George Arthur, in replying to this letter, generally 
 approved of the course which the writer had pursued in 
 delaying his return. About a week aftenvards, Outram him- 
 self wrote fully to Sir Charles. Speaking of Sind, he wished 
 to Heaven the General were out of that country, adding : — 
 ' or that if you do stay, I were with you, as a humble mili- 
 tary aide-de-camp (not a political or commissionei'), for I 
 cannot but fear you will have a most troublesome time of it, 
 the dangers of which I would with all my heart share with 
 you in that capacity. As I believe Sir George Arthur wrote 
 to you, I have not the presumption to think that I could be 
 of much use in a purely military line, but it would gratify 
 me to share your fatigues and dangers, and I should be no 
 longer called upon to officiate out of that line. . . . 
 
 ' I am sick of policy ; I will not say yours is the best, 
 but it is undoubtedly the shortest — that of the sivord. Oh, 
 how I wish you had drawn it in a better cause ! ' 
 
 He touched, moreover, on other than official matters : 
 for he had been to see Lady Napier, and her family. Had 
 he had ten times the distance to go, he wrote, he would have 
 been more than rewarded by the outward indications of a 
 happiness which the sight of one who had so recently shaken 
 the gallant General by the hand had afforded. 
 
 While at Bombay, the rumour that a second engagement 
 in Sind was imminent, caused him formally to volunteer his 
 services there in a military capacity ; and he proposed to ac- 
 company a detachment of artillery then preparing to embark. 
 In reply he was informed by the Secretary to Government 
 thnt with reference to his ' former posit ion in Siiul, and disfin-
 
 334 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842- 
 
 guished services,' considerations existed which induced ' the 
 Hon. the Grovernor in Council to think it inexpedient that 
 Government should accept the offer.' Independently of his 
 letter to Sir Charles which we have quoted, he wrote twice 
 to his secretary on the subject, using, on the second occa- 
 sion, these words : — ' I certainly did not anticipate any 
 further open hostiKties when I left . . . and I shall ever 
 blame myself for having come away when I did if they do 
 take place. I wish I was again with Sir Charles, to share his 
 fatigues and dangers ... as his subaltern and a mere 
 volunteer. As such I asked to return the other day, when 
 unfavourable reports were brought down.' 
 
 We have alluded to Outram's warm reception at Govern- 
 ment House in Bombay. It need scarcely be said, however, 
 than on his return to the Presidency, he had been welcomed 
 in all quarters, official and non-official, with every demonstra- 
 tion of regard and respect. On March 25, a meeting of his 
 friends was held, at which it was unanimously resolved to 
 present him with a sword of the value of 300 guineas, and a 
 costly piece of plate. The copy of the resolutions then 
 passed and forwarded to him was acknowledged with ' feel- 
 ings of gratitude and pride,' which he expressed himself at a 
 loss to describe. ' I have always felt,' he wrote to Mr. 
 Le Geyt, one of the committee of subscribers, ' that to 
 obtain the applause of my comrades in arms is the highest 
 honour to which I could aspire ; but when I perceive men of 
 all classes unite with them in according to me this distin- 
 guished mark of approbation, I feel my merits have been 
 greatly overrated, and that it is to their partial estimate of 
 the services I have performed that I am indebted for this 
 splendid token of their approbation. 
 
 ' I accept with gratitude the sword thus presented to 
 me. It will be my most cherished possession while I live, 
 and, on my death, it shall be bequeathed to my representa-
 
 -i843 '^^A.YS PELR ET SAXS REP ROCHE: 335 
 
 tive, as the most highly valued gift I can bestow.' There 
 were no fewer than 511 subscribers to this testimonial. 
 On the sword ran this inscription : — 
 
 * Presented to Major James Outram, 23rd Eegiment 
 Bombay Native Infantry, in token of the regard of his 
 friends, and the high estimation in which he is held for the 
 intrepid gallantry which has marked his career in India, but 
 more especially his heroic defence of the British Residency 
 at Hyderabad, in Scinde, on the 15th February, 1843, 
 against an army of 8,000 Beloochees with six guns. — 
 Bombay, April, 1843.' 
 
 Marked on one side of the blade : — 
 
 ' JNIajor James Outram.' 
 
 On the other : — 
 
 ' Sians peur et sans reproche.^ 
 
 With further reference to the Bombay meeting, the 
 following letter was addressed to him in whose honour it 
 was held, three or four days later, by Bishop Carr, of Bombay.' 
 
 * In fitting contrast to this honourable testimonial from his own church, may 
 be mentioned the award to Major (then Colonel) Outram of a gold medal from 
 the late Pope Pius 'IX. for services referred to in the following letter, diited 
 from the English College in Rome, January 31, 1850 : — ' His Holiness Pius IX. 
 has commanded the undersigned rector of the English College in Eome to for- 
 ward to you a gold medal; and he has desired that it should be sent without 
 delay, as a testimonial of gratitude for the kindness displayed by you on various 
 occasions to poor Catholics under your command, or stationed within your 
 Residency. As soon as the Holy Father received information that an English 
 bishop was on his way to Calcutta, he ordered this modal to be prepared and 
 sent by that opportunity to you ; but as the bishop had unfortunately quitted 
 Naples, it was sent to me, and I write by the earliest post to apprise you of 
 this act of consideration on the part of His Holiness, and to ask you whether 
 you M'ish me to send it to England, to your agent in London, or whether I am 
 to send it by Malta through some other channel. 
 
 'Allow me to add that I feel highly honoured in having been chosen by the 
 Holy Father as the medium of communication with you ; and I shall be happy, 
 if you ever visit Rome, to present you to His Holiness, and to render you any 
 other service in my power.'
 
 336 JAMES OUTRAM. 1842- 
 
 Accompanying it were a Bible and Prayer-book, with these 
 words in the good old prelate's hand-writing, ' Thou hast 
 covered my head in the day of battle ; ' and ' This is Life 
 Eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, 
 and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent ': — 
 
 'Bjcullah: March 29, 1843. 
 
 ' My dear Sir, — Amongst the friends who assembled in 
 the Town Hall on Saturday, in order to offer you a tribute 
 of their respect, there probably was none who felt more 
 admiration of your conduct in the late campaigns, and in 
 your former situation, when you were reducing the Bheel 
 tribes to habits of order, than myself. I felt, however, that 
 I could not consistently take part in the offering of a sword, 
 as it is the object of my office and ministry to keep the 
 sword in its scabbard, and to labour to promote peace. With 
 these views, and with feelings of great respect for the 
 intrepid bravery, ability, persevering activity, and I will add, 
 forbearance towards the weak, which have marked your con- 
 duct, I venture to offer you a small tribute of respect, and 
 to request your acceptance of a Book, a blessed Book, in 
 which you may find support in the hour of trial, and conso- 
 lation at that time when the sword must be laid aside, and 
 when external things must cease to interest. In it, my 
 dear Sir, is to be found a peace which the world cannot 
 disturb. I pray that this peace may be yours ; and, with 
 sentiments of much admiration and respect, believe me to 
 be. Sir, very sincerely yours, 
 
 * Thomas Bombay.' 
 
 Outram returned home by the steamer of April 1. 
 Though he was not to reappear in Sind, either in a civil or 
 military capacity, his connection with that country was by 
 no means severed. His acquaintance with its people and
 
 -1 843 ENGLAND AGAIN. 337 
 
 politics would be soon put to a new and crucial test. It 
 would occupy his thoughts in the West, as it had already 
 done in the East. But nearly twenty-four years of unbroken 
 service in India should suffice to complete one section of the 
 career we have undertaken to describe : and a thorough 
 change of scene points to an appropriate division of our 
 subject. 
 
 VOL. 1.
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 MIDDLE AGE. 
 
 1 843-1 85(;.
 
 341 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1843-1845. 
 
 Home. — Keturn to India.— Nimar. — Disturbances in Southern Mar.itha 
 Country. — Kolapur and Sawant-Wari. 
 
 Absence from England for a quarter of a century may bring 
 about distaste and unfitness for the climate and ways of the 
 old country ; but the sight of home, even after so many years, 
 can hardly prove a matter of indifference to the returning 
 wanderer. In Outram's case this long period had been al- 
 most reached : the full vigour of manhood had replaced the 
 undeveloped powers of youth ; and there had been much 
 growth and formation of taste in India to dim the colour of 
 boyish association. But family ties and patriotic instincts 
 ever exercised a strong influence over him ; and in a letter 
 addressed to his mother from Malta, on his homeward voyage, 
 the old filial affection burns brightly as ever. He thanks 
 Heaven that he is ' now on the high road ' towards her, and 
 calculates the precise date on which he may be actually 
 proceeding from London to Scotland. 
 
 As it happened, the satisfaction of revisiting his native 
 land had more of alloy for Colonel Outram than falls to the 
 average lot of the Indian officer availing himself of a long-de- 
 ferred furlough to Europe. Even his richly-deserved honom's 
 were not to be matter of pure congratulation. True that the 
 Sind gazettes enabled him to turn his face homewards a brevet 
 Lieutenant-Colonel and C.B. ; but this was exactly what he 
 had been officially led to consider himself three years before. 
 How friends antl comrades viewed his promotion was well
 
 342 JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 expressed in the words of the most eminent of the Governors 
 under whom he served. Mr. Elphinstone, in a letter to an 
 East India Director of the day, took occasion to remark that 
 had the honours been received agreeably to original promise, 
 Colonel Outram would then, under ordinary precedent for 
 distinguished military service, have been an aide-de-camp to 
 the Queen and K.C.B. — rewards quite irrespective of excep- 
 tional work in the political department. • But, personal 
 considerations apart, his mind was full of cares and anxieties 
 concerning the honour of his country and on behalf of the 
 Amirs of Sind ; and it was natural that he should wish the 
 home authorities to understand what had been his own 
 share of responsibility in the treatment of the deposed and 
 exiled chiefs and the annexation of their lands. He felt, 
 moreover, constrained by honour and duty to represent the 
 circumstances of these unfortunate princes in the light which, 
 to his appreciation, was that of truth. His own intimate 
 acquaintance with the more prominent members of the fallen 
 dynasty, and especially the legacy of trust committed to him 
 by one of the number on his dying bed, made him keenly 
 sensitive to the necessity of pleading a cause which, without 
 such advocacy, could not obtain a legitimate hearing. In 
 taking this course he knew full well that he once more, and 
 
 ' The exact words may be quoted: — '. . . two distinctions which had 
 been promised, and more than promised, long ago. Had he received these 
 honours at the time, he would now (on the principle which must have been 
 observed of advancing each officer one step) have been made aide-de-camp to 
 the Queen and K.C.B. All this is written as if Colonel Outram was merely 
 a military officer who had distinguished himself in tlie Afghan campaign, and 
 who now again shared with many others in the services lately performed in 
 Scinde; but you are well aware how far this is from Colonel Outram's real 
 position. Besides his ample share in the planning and conduct of various 
 military enterprises, his political services for several years have been such as 
 it would be difficult to parallel in the whole course of Indian diplomacy . . . 
 Considering all these services, and the high station held by Colonel Outram 
 when he performed them, the appearance of his name among crowds of subal- 
 terns is rather z. humiliation than an honour.'
 
 1 845 DETENTION IN LONDON. 343 
 
 this time perhaps hopelessly, imperilled both reputation and 
 prospects. Indeed, to initiate at head-quarters an attack 
 upon the policy of the Governor-General and of others high 
 in power and influence might seem deliberate official suicide. 
 He did not at the time anticipate that disinterested efforts 
 on behalf of the Amirs would involve a breach with a man 
 whose friendship he especially valued, and whose character he 
 especially admired — Sir Charles Napier. But no considera- 
 tions whatever could restrain him from what he believed to 
 be the straight line of duty, particularly when it implied 
 justice to the oppressed, the misrepresented, or the maligned 
 — and such he believed the deposed Amirs to be. 
 
 Lord Ripon was at that time President of the Board of 
 Control ; but it was not only Avith that nobleman that his 
 Indian experience and repute placed him in communication. 
 Sir Eobert Peel, then Prime Minister, sent for, and received 
 from him a statement of his views on the Sind question : 
 and he had also to meet similar requisitions from the Chairs 
 of the Court of Directors, as well as from the Duke of 
 Wellington through his secretary, Mr. Arbuthnot. He 
 found that most important official documents had never 
 reached the home authorities — such as his notes of confer- 
 ences with the Amirs ; and he Avas enabled to supply copies, 
 as well as to submit verbal explanations of these. Arrival 
 in London was consequently not immediately followed by 
 departure to join his family in the North. It was on a 
 Saturday afternoon in May. Installing himself at the 
 Burlington Hotel in Cork Street, he proceeded at once to the 
 India Board, where he had to await the coming of the 
 President, who was on a Cabinet Council, and did not ap})car 
 until 6.30. r.M. too fatigued for new Avork. There Avas no 
 remedy but to defer the intervicAv until Monday. On 
 Monday, his Lordship Avas closeted Avith the Prime ]\Iinister, 
 and on appearance at the office in the afternoon, apologising
 
 344 JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 for the exigencies of his high position, had to hurry off again 
 to a Cabinet Council. We need not continue these details to 
 explain how it was that days passed before Outram rejoined 
 his family at Cheltenham, which place was fixed upon as a 
 more convenient temporary residence than any part of 
 Scotland. A letter to his mother, dated May 25, may, 
 however, be quoted : — ' The truth is that my going to 
 Edinburgh at all till the next India INIail arrives is very much 
 against the wish of the Court of Directors. ... I believe 
 they concede it out of kindness to me ; and discussions daily 
 arise from which reference has to be made to information 
 which I have to afford. To-day, for instance, I was closeted 
 with the Duke of Wellington's secretary two hours, and shall 
 again be required by Lord Ripon to-morrow, and am liable 
 to be so every day till it is decided what has to be done. I 
 feel, therefore, that I should be deserting my post to go 
 away at this moment.' 
 
 During his nominal stay at Cheltenham, he was perpetu- 
 ally on the move between that place and London. In the 
 former town he was invited to a dinner to be given to him 
 by the Anglo-Indian residents, but declined the honour. 
 His health was good, although he was annoyed by the 
 remains of an enormous Sind boil on his cheek. This at one 
 time kept him under treatment, and, in a note to his wife 
 written from London, he mentions that his face is such a 
 figure he is ' ashamed to go ' even ' to the club.' From 
 Cheltenham he and Mrs. Outram moved to London before 
 the close of the season, and were presented at Court. It 
 was a great pleasure to them in those days to meet with 
 their old friends of Khandesh, INIr. and Mrs. Bax. After the 
 ceremony of presentation, in which both ladies bore a part, 
 Outram ran up to Scotland for a hasty visit of less than a 
 fortnight to his sister Mrs. Sligo at Seacliffe, and his father- 
 in-law in Fdrfarshire. This absence from TiOndon and the
 
 -1 845 OMISSION, XOT COMMISSION. 345 
 
 vicinity was the occasionof an unfortunate conireie^rips which 
 he imagined ever afterwards might have afforded grounds for a 
 misapprehension affecting his loyal courtesy — if such a term 
 be admissible. He received an invitation to a State Ball when 
 in Scotland, and having no skilled courtier at hand to point 
 out the command which the honourable compliment implied, 
 he took it as an ordinary civility, and excused himself on the 
 plea of absence from London. Had he understood the true 
 nature of the case he would, of course, have made a point of 
 hurrying up, at any cost, in obedience to the gracious 
 summons. Not only was the fault overlooked, but the 
 great honour was accorded him of an invitation to a second 
 State Ball immediately succeeding the first. This, however, 
 through some mischance, he did not receive until the speci- 
 fied day had passed; and in tendering his explanation he 
 unwittingly fell into the error of preferring it demi-officially, 
 through a personal friend among the nobility, instead of 
 submitting a formal apology, which he vainly regretted he 
 had foiled to do when too late conscious of the omission. 
 Those who knew him, and how deep and chivalrous were his 
 loyalty and attachment to the Sovereign, would rightly 
 .interpret acts such as these to be mere indications of a camp 
 and ' out-of-door ' training — results which men are accus- 
 tomed to consider the accidents rather than the incidents of 
 a career. 
 
 From the lodgings and distractions of London, and the 
 lionising, which he cordially disliked but now found himself 
 subject to, it was decided to move to Brighton. Mrs. 
 Outram preceded him; but he soon rejoined her, having 
 accomplished in the interim his journey to Scotland and 
 back. From Brighton, after a short stay, they crossed to 
 Dieppe and went on to Paris. The dweller among Bhils 
 and Brahiiis, Afghans and Sindis, not being an expert in 
 the French language, found little ])crmanent attraction in
 
 346 JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 Parisian theatres and other amusements ; and avoided 
 ' sights,' in the general sense of the term. His mind was 
 full of Sind ; and he had already, before coming to the Con- 
 tinent, placed certain papers in the printer's hands and 
 received the proofs for correction— processes which, when 
 once essayed, are seldom restricted to the one occasion. He 
 missed even the frequent official references made to his 
 knowledge and experience by the Directors, or by authorities 
 less immediately connected with India ; and he longed again 
 to talk over at the clubs, with men interested like himself 
 in the subject, past and passing events and possible future 
 contingencies affecting the honour and welfare of our still 
 growing British Empire in the East. Accordingly a sudden 
 return to lodgings in Brook Street took place before the end 
 of September ; and in London he remained, until quitting 
 England for India on December 1 of the same year. In 
 November, when he had been only six months in the en- 
 joyment of his furlough, intelligence was received in London 
 of the revolution of Labor and murder of the Maharaja Sher 
 Singh. War with the Sikhs was foreshadowed ; and Outram 
 indulged in the hope that his services would be made avail- 
 able in the North- West. 
 
 He addressed himself in the first instance to Lord Eipon, 
 expressing his desire to return by the next outgoing mail, 
 instead of awaiting the expiration of his furlough ; and 
 solicited his Lordship's good offices to enable him to find 
 employment under Lord Gough in the capacity of a mere 
 volunteer, without encroachment on the General's patronage 
 in respect of personal staff and field appointments. At the 
 suggestion of Lord Kipon, however, the application was 
 transferred (and with success) to the Duke of Wellington, 
 who, as Commander-in-Chief of Her Majesty's army, both at 
 home and abroad, would naturally have less scruples than 
 a civilian in recommending an officer for military service.
 
 -1 845 PREVEiVTIOX MADE UXAVAILIXG. 347 
 
 Nor was this the only communication that Outram had to 
 make to the Board of Control preparatory to re-embarkation 
 for the East. Circumstances had transpired to render advis- 
 able the submission in the same quarter of a memorandum 
 designed to counteract any injurious misrepresentation of 
 his proceedings in Sind which might possibly reach the Home 
 Government ; and this paper was given in, as a precau- 
 tionary measure, on the eve of his departure. The ' possible ' 
 misrepresentations had then, indeed, reached the Home offices, 
 but they were not shown to him whom, personally, they 
 chiefly concerned, nor was he favoured with any intimation 
 of their existence or arrival. Before he could learn anything 
 of them they were to be put before Parliament and the 
 country — a procedure which occurred in March 1844. The 
 memorandum which he had thought proper to prepare by 
 way of precaution had been returned in the previous January, 
 with an intimation that it should have been sent through 
 the Government of India ! 
 
 Fortunately we need not dwell at length on the painful 
 controversy occasioned by his strictures on the annexation 
 which followed the battles of JNIiani and Dabba, the utterance 
 of which at home was but a natural consequence of the situa- 
 tion in which the late political agent and commissioner in 
 Sind found himself placed on leaving Western India. When 
 Outram was at Bombay in March, just before embarkation, 
 the question arose as to the propriety of putting a full ex- 
 position of his views on the Sind complication before the 
 Governor-General. Nothing, however, was done in the 
 matter. Sir George Arthur, then Governor, did not think 
 that his Government could express any opinion on the subject, 
 and it was doubtful whether the submission of any indi- 
 vidual remarks, without an accompanying letter of comment, 
 might not lead to the writer's detention in India. But his 
 sympathy with the Amirs was well known to the authorities
 
 348 JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 both in Sind and Bombay ; and, when about to leave Sind, he 
 had placed before Sir C. Napier a full and clear statement of 
 our relations with those princes. After his arrival in England, 
 some of his Indian friends kept him au courant of local 
 events. Among them Major Gordon forwarded from time 
 to time an account of the captive Amirs, over whom he had 
 been placed as superintendent at Sasur, noting the affec- 
 tionate manner in which they spoke of ' Outram Sahib ' as 
 their best friend. Mirs Sobdar and Nasir Khan, and the 
 old Mir Rustam Khan of Upper Sind, all took advantage of 
 Major Gordon's correspondence to address their old acquaint- 
 ance, detailing their griefs, and assuring him, in their own 
 handwriting, of their kindly remembrance and regard. He 
 had, therefore, always at hand, the case of the Amirs of Sind 
 up to the latest dates ; and, in imparting freely to the Home 
 Government his information and opinions, he laid himself 
 open to no charge of secret or inconsistent action. He was 
 advocating a cause which he had before openly espoused in 
 India, and attacking a policy from which he had already 
 publicly dissented in the same quarter. That the difference 
 of opinion with his temporary chief, admitted at first in so 
 friendly a spirit by Sir Charles Napier, should have become 
 aggravated into a serious rupture, must be attributed to the 
 excitement of the times and the introduction of new elements 
 of discord as the controversy progressed — elements aggra- 
 vated by the intervention of partisans whose bitter pens 
 revelled in paper warfare. yVmple evidence has been recorded 
 on both sides to guide the impartial reader to a correct 
 judgment ; and if he wade through all the volumes that have 
 been printed on this one subject only, he will hardly fail to 
 regret the time spent and energy wasted by the litigants on 
 an argument which would better have been debated by 
 professional pleaders in the law court or council chamber. 
 Whichever view he take, we have no fear that the ability,
 
 -i845 BEHIND THE SCENES AT LAST. 349 
 
 integrity, or honesty of purpose of the subject of this bio- 
 graphy will suffer in his estimation. As regards the sentence 
 of history, Time, the great soother of contention and often 
 the fairest discriminator between public controversialists, 
 has already, in part, pronounced its judgment ; and the full 
 decision will follow in due course. One of those incidental 
 revelations which afford pregnant ' materials of history ' has 
 recently laid bare to us the secret councils of the powers 
 that were in 1843. An article by the Right Hon. W. E. 
 Gladstone, in the ' Contemporary Review ' of November 1876, 
 apropos of Russian proceedings in Asia, contains the follow- 
 ing most remarkable passage : — 
 
 A notable example occviried in 1843, when Sinde was conquered 
 by Napier, under the auspices of Lord Ellenborough. That 
 conquest was disappoved, I believe, unanimously by the Cabinet 
 of Sir Robert Peel, of which I can speak, as I had just entered it 
 at that time. But the ministry were powerless, inasmuch as the 
 mischief of retaining was less than the mischief of abandoning it, 
 and it remains an accomplished fact. 
 
 Under the unexpected light which thus breaks upon an 
 otherwise shrouded page of our annals, we see the Bayard of 
 India stand more than justified in his riskful championship 
 of the helpless Amirs. But the contest proved a long and 
 costly one for him. Allies able and not uninfluential took 
 up the cause with him, and eventually he emerged from the 
 struggle, firmer in the saddle than ever — scathed, indeed, and 
 weary, but with his modest scutcheon brightened rather than 
 blurred. For years the uncongenial paper warfare dragged 
 on, the incubus of a life — each day of which brought its full 
 burden of public care — and the source of misrepresentations, 
 misunderstandings, and aspersions peculiarly trying to a 
 sensitively honest nature. 
 
 For ourselves, long and close experience with the chiefs 
 and people of Sind under British rule has not shaken our
 
 3 so JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 faith, acquired at first sight, in the justice of ( )utram's argu- 
 ment. It shall now be our business, in these pages, to give 
 as much as possible an incidental character to this phase of 
 the Sind question. In the excellent spirit which has guided 
 a comparatively recent biographer in his allusions to it,' we 
 see a precedent and a model which may well and wisely be 
 followed as closely as circumstances permit. 
 
 There is one passage, however, in the book under reference, 
 which we may not leave quite unnoticed. "We do not revert 
 to it so much on account of its pertinency to our own bio- 
 graphy, as from the wish to complete a deeply interesting 
 correspondence which cannot but reflect lustre on the 
 memories of those between whom it arose. No reprint 
 of already published letters, or summary of their contents, 
 will now be given. The consciousness that certain feelings, 
 though essentially human, are too sacred, in some sense, 
 for repeated expression, forbids us to retrace, in any but the 
 faintest outline, the following occurrence of the year 1858. 
 The elder Mrs. Outram, then an octogenarian, wrote a letter, 
 full of sorrowful reproach, to General Sir William Napier, in 
 correction of a too hasty statement on his part as to the 
 death of her son PVancis, which had caused her much pain. 
 To this appeal the General sent a short but touching and 
 noble reply. We have now to add that this reply was for- 
 warded, with a copy of Mrs. Outram's generous acknowledg- 
 ment, to James Outram, then almost at the zenith of his 
 fame. Upon receipt, he addressed to his mother the follow- 
 ing letter, from which few portions have been omitted, lest 
 the force of the original should be impaired. It must have 
 
 ' Life of General Sir W. Napier, K.C.B. By H. A. Bruce, Esq., M.P., vol. 
 ii. p. 165: — 'This painful controversy, which thus arose between the two 
 brothers . . . and a man who has gained the respect and admiration of 
 thoni^ands, and who possessed in a very remarkabh; degree the quality of con- 
 ciliating the warm affection of those about him, is here dismissed.'
 
 -1845 THE HEART SPEAKS. 351 
 
 been ■written — and the text bears evidence of the accuracy of 
 the date — on the very day that its writer, at the head of the 
 1st division, retook the Eesidency, during that brilliant 
 series of operations which resulted in the final capture of 
 Lakhnao by Sir Colin Campbell : — 
 
 ' As you did not send me a copy of your first letter I can 
 only infer its substance and tone from the very meagre 
 allusions you make . . . and from the manly and touching 
 acknowledgment it drew forth from one who — may God 
 forgive me for the harsh and unjust judgment — I believed 
 incapable of acknowledging an error. Your reply to this 
 brief but affecting note was worthy of yourself, my noble- 
 minded mother, and due to your correspondent. And his 
 concluding note was worthy of a brave and good man. 
 
 ' I w^as veri) tnuch affected when I read these documents, 
 and my first impulse was to write a letter to Sir William Na- 
 pier expressive of the emotions their perusal had awakened — 
 and venturing a hope that there might henceforth be a cessa- 
 tion on his part of all hitter feelings towards your son. But, 
 on reflection, I abandoned the idea. For our controversies 
 have been so numerous, and so complicated, that I could 
 not, without writing a volume, have explained to him how 
 thoroughly he and his brother had misunderstood my feelings 
 and misinterpreted my conduct to the latter. Nor could I 
 have satisfied him how innocent I was of those unworthy 
 innuendoes and unmanly sarcasms which their over-zealous 
 partisans had persuaded Sir William and Sir Charles to dis- 
 cover in my writings. And I feared, moreover, that he 
 might attribute my communication to wrong motives — to a 
 dread of future attacks — or to a sneaking anxiety to get him 
 to modify, in future editions of his books, what he has already 
 written. But I am not even yet satisfied that I ought not to 
 have written to him. If to write was my duty, as a Christian,
 
 352 JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 no consideration of the trouble it would involve and no fear 
 of misconstruction, ought to have prevented my performing 
 it. Think over the matter, dear mother, and give me your 
 opinion. If you think that I ought to write, I %vill ; even 
 though my doing so were to bring down on me fresh attacks 
 from his powerful pen — though it is most ungenerous to 
 suppose that such would be the case. It would be a satisfac- 
 tion to me, situated as I now am — of whom it may em- 
 phatically be said that in the midst of life I am in death — to 
 feel assured that others were at peace with me. But it most 
 concerns me to be certain that I am at peace with them ; and 
 if I know my own heart, I can solemnly declare before that 
 great Grod at whose judgment-seat I may in half an hour be 
 called to stand, that I do, from the bottom of my soul, forgive 
 Sir William Napier all the harsh, and, as I believe, utterly 
 undeserved, epithets he has lavished on me, all the mon- 
 strously untrue statements regarding me which his ardent 
 temperament led him to believe without due inquiry, and 
 his fraternal affection to record as history — and all the 
 injury to my worldly interests and advancement which has 
 resulted from his own and his brother's hostility towards me. 
 As regards his brother, few have even heard me speak harshly 
 of him. All who have been much with me can testify to the 
 warmth with which I ever dwelt on his noble and generous 
 qualities, even when he was most bitterly assailing me. You, 
 mother, know the intensity of the love that I ever bore that 
 man. You know how deep the pain which the severance of 
 our friendship cost me. You, at least, know how little I 
 imagined that I was preparing for its severance when — im- 
 pelled by a sense of the duty I owed my ward,* and giving 
 effect to an intention of which I had apprised Sir Charles, 
 and of which he seemed to approve — I implored Lord Kipon 
 
 ' The Sirid Amir, Ilusain All, consigned to Outrani's charge by his father 
 Mir Nur Muhammad, ou his dying bed.
 
 -i845 THE HEART HAS SPOKEN. 353 
 
 to show that mercy to him, and tlie other Ameers, which I 
 thought it cruel in Lord EUenborough to withhold. And you 
 know that when Sir William accused me of seeking to injiu-e 
 my late chief — to intercept the gratitude of Parliament and 
 the favour of his sovereign from one whom it was then my 
 'proudest boast to call my friend — he accused me of that 
 which (though doubtless he believed it) was utterly the 
 reverse of true, as that I was under pecuniary obligations to 
 mercantile firms connected with the Indian Press, or any of 
 the other egregious fictions which he and Sir Charles were 
 persuaded to accept and promulgate as facts. It was not in 
 human nature not to feel indignant when misrepresented. 
 It was too much in consonance with fallen human nature to 
 regard and treat the misrepresentations as intentional — to 
 repay harsh words and unkind imputations with harsh and 
 unkind rejoinders — to return raiKng for railing. All this I 
 did ; but long ere Sir Charles was called away, I often bitterly, 
 and with a deep sense of humiliation, deplored the loose run 
 I had given to my irritated feelings, and the licence I had 
 allowed my pen. And when the grave closed over him, I 
 had, from the bottom of my soul, forgiven him in respect of 
 all I had thought he had done requiring my forgiveness. 
 Once, and once only, since then, have I spoken of what I 
 considered the wrongs he had done me. This I did in the 
 excitement of a speech delivered at a dinner given me at 
 Calcutta, ju3t at the time his posthumous work appeared. 
 And the words — such as they were — were hardly uttered ere 
 they were repented of. But this is too painful a subject to 
 dwell on longer. I have said enough to satisfy you as to the 
 state of my own feelings. Advise me as to whether I should 
 write to Sir William. If so, suggest to me what I should 
 say — and I will act on your suggestions.' 
 
 Assuredly, the seal has now been set to a controversy 
 VOL. I. A A
 
 354 JAMES OUT RAM. 1843- 
 
 so ill according with the heart-spoken sentiments of the 
 controversialists. 
 
 Armed with a letter from the Duke of Wellington to the 
 Commander-in-Chief in India, Colonel Outram left England 
 for the second time, bright with the sentiments of loyalty 
 cherished from his boyhood, but in far more serious mood 
 than on first setting out. He contemplated returning by 
 an early steamer from Bombay, should no prospect of imme- 
 diate service offer : and it is probable that a communication 
 from Sir Charles Napier, which only reached him at Malta, 
 confirmed him in this intention. It was now evident that, 
 owing to his statements to the Board of Control, and other 
 official quarters in London, aggression was threatened at 
 home, requiring measures of self-defence : and there would 
 at the same time be a hostile influence to counteract in 
 India. Writing from the outward-bound vessel near Aden, 
 on the last day of the year, he begged Mrs. Outram to form 
 no plans for joining him until she had received his letters, 
 or heard definitely of his movements, by the mail of Feb- 
 ruary 1. 
 
 By that opportunity, though he had no positive informa- 
 tion to impart of his prospective movements, he could show 
 that a return to old associations had worked a change in his 
 way of thinking. Disembarkation on Indian soil had had, 
 for the moment, something of the effect of the trumpet- 
 sound upon the war-horse. He now stated his resolution to 
 remain for a time in India. That resolution was made at 
 the instigation of men on whose judgment and friendship he 
 could rely, and its wisdom was evident, inasmuch as with- 
 drawal from the land of his professional career because he 
 could not find active service there, or employment to his 
 liking, would have been to avow himself an aggrieved man. 
 A letter addressed to his wife on January 23, told of his 
 arrival at Asirgarh, en route to the Governor-General's camp
 
 -1 845 AN INTERVIEW DECLINED. 355 
 
 at Grwalior. The battles of Panniah and Maharajpur had 
 been recently fought, and were still the subject of current 
 conversation at Indian mess-tables. To Outram's mind it 
 was not clear whether the result of those victories might not 
 rather encourage than discourage the Sikhs to face us, be- 
 lieving themselves, as they did, greatly superior to the Ma- 
 rathas. He could say nothing of his own chances of field 
 service until reaching Sir Hugh Grough's head-quarters ; but 
 the Bombay friends with whom he had held personal com- 
 munication since his return, were not sanguine of his success 
 in the teeth of opposition from an authority higher than that 
 of the military chief. A still deeper cause of distress to him 
 was the indifference expressed by so many of his brother 
 officers on the annexation of Sind, coupled with subversion 
 of the native rule in that province — a proceeding which he 
 looked upon in the light of usurpation. His rate and mode 
 of travelling at this time were not such as to soothe his 
 temper, or lead him to forget his cares. Bearers could not 
 be procured to carry him at all stages, and between Aurang- 
 abad and Asirgarh he had to ride on village tattoos, putting 
 his palankeen in carts. From Indore he anticipated having 
 recourse to camels. 
 
 Three weeks later, he thus wrote to his mother from 
 Fathpur : — ' Fancy my being in the same camp yesterday 
 with Lord Ellenborough, to whom I proffered my attendance 
 as in duty bound, and to show I did not shun to meet his 
 Lordship, after all I had done at home. He, however, . . . 
 declined the interview, unless I would state my reasons in 
 writing ; so we did not meet,^ and now he is on his way to 
 
 ' The draft of a letter to Mr. Melvill on this subject is more explicit, and 
 may here be quoted: — 'With a view to lay my proceedings in England before 
 Lord Ellenborough, if allowed the opportunity, and to show the resppct due to 
 the Governor-General, being in the neighbourhood of his Lordship's camp, I pro- 
 ceeded there to solicit the honour of an audience, intimating to the private 
 secretary that I had no ofic'a! objects, but that I was ready to display all that 
 
 A A 2
 
 356 JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 Calcutta, having previously sent me the offer of an appoint- 
 ment.' 
 
 The inferiority of this post,' political charge and revenue 
 management of Nimar, an appendage to Indore, compared 
 with the offices which he had previously held, certainly gave 
 a warrant to the supposition that its refusal was anticipated ; 
 but Outram had the good sense, acting under the advice of 
 Colonel Barnewell and others, to conquer his personal objec- 
 tions, and accept the offer. He thus describes the scene of 
 his impending labours : — 
 
 ' It is situated on the banks of the Narbudda, on the 
 road between Asirgarh and Mhow, called Mandlesir. There 
 we shall have a good house and garden, a doctor and his 
 wife, and one or two officers. A detachment of troops is 
 always stationed there ; it is a pretty place also . . . but 
 there are jungles to pass between it and Khandesh, which are 
 not safe till January. ... 1 had fully made up my mind to 
 return home for another year, when I found there was no 
 chance of anything to do in the Punjab, and in the supposi- 
 tion that I should never be restored to the political depart- 
 ment during Lord E.'s regime. Having now been replaced in 
 it, however, I trust he will see the necessity ... of raising 
 me to my proper position, a year or two in which will enable 
 
 I had advocated or communicated at home relative to Sind before the Governor- 
 General, if required to do so. The interview was declined on the ground that 
 no private audiences are granted, except under certain rules (with which, by 
 thebye, I had already complied). . . . His Lordship ha%ang previously objected 
 to my joining Sir Hugh Gough, a situation was then oifered to me of a very 
 nferior nature to what I had held (an assistantship under Indore), but which 
 under my peculiar circumstances, and denied military service — with which view 
 I had returned to India before the expiration of my furlough — I was necessi- 
 tated to accept, and did so, I trust, in sufficiently submissive and becoming 
 language.' 
 
 ' Both in salary and importance, it was less than that which he had held 
 ten years before. Thus, the whole of his services since leaving Khandesh in 
 1835, as political agent in the Mahi Kanta, political agent in Lower Sind, and 
 political agent in Sind and Baluchistan, became, as it were, annulled.
 
 -1 845 LIFE AT MANDLAISIR. 357 
 
 me to return to you, for I declare I am determined to do so 
 in two or three years at furthest.' 
 
 His journey from Bombay to the Upper Provinces, and 
 back to Mandlaisir, occupied a period of nearly two months. 
 This, for a part of the country where there were no facilities 
 for locomotion, was considered quick travelling. He reached 
 his new destination on March 10, having seen Gwalior and 
 the Taj at Agra — ' which alone,' he wrote, * would repay the 
 journey ' — and having ' met with much civility and attention 
 from everybody except Lord Ellenborough.' We obtain 
 some insight into his daily life after a fortnight's experience 
 of his Nimar head-quarters, in a letter again addressed to 
 his mother : — ' I go to office at sunrise, stay there till 1 
 o'clock, receiving petitions, and transacting business person- 
 ally with the natives ; breakfast at 10; then remain in my 
 office at home, doing official correspondence, &c. till dinner 
 at 4 ; ride out after dinner ; then have tea, and read till 
 bed-time.' He was in anxiety at this time about Mrs. 
 Outram's health, and desirous of ascertaining through his 
 mother whether she would be strong enough to join him in 
 India after the rains, so as to guide his own prospective 
 movements. As to the position which he had advisedly 
 accepted, he comes philosophically to the conclusion that he 
 is 'banished in this quiet corner until Lord Ellenborough 
 goes home.' 
 
 His craving for active service may in a measure have 
 been abated by the consciousness that his military rank was 
 insufficient to obtain for him high command in the field ; 
 but he could not shut his eyes to the fact that, had his good 
 work already performed met with the reward bestowed on 
 his comrades for far less brilliant achievements, this obstacle 
 would not have existed. ' I can scarcely hope,' are his words 
 in a draft letter to Mr. Melvill, written during his first
 
 358 JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 montli at Mandlaisir, ' that I may be so fortunate as to obtain 
 the honour of a Queen's A.D.C., but the sooner you do confer 
 it on some of your lieutenant-colonels, the better, to afford 
 a few active officers sufficiently high in army rank for the 
 secondary commands in the field. . . 
 
 We have already stated that Outram's precautionary 
 memorandum, left in the hands of the authorities in London, 
 was returned to him in January 1844. Let us now add 
 that the option of withdrawal was part of the same proce- 
 dure, and that the honest-hearted soldier, ignorant of 
 coming blue-books, and of publications more or less con- 
 demnatory of his views and actions, did as his masters at 
 home e\ddently wished him to do, and cancelled the 
 'jpiece justificative which was so soon to reappear as an 
 essential instalment of after volumes. And what was the 
 bitter sequel? In his comparative seclusion the news 
 reached him that Parliament had discussed the affairs of 
 Sind and its Amirs, the debaters having been guided by 
 the light of incomplete despatches and papers wholly unaf- 
 fected by his anticipatory comments, although these, in 
 some instances, had the full force of counter-statements. 
 This was a severe blow to him, and hard to bear. He had 
 foreseen that the fate of the deposed chiefs was sealed, and 
 he daily became more sensible that neither could voice be 
 raised, nor pen or brain exercised, with any practical 
 success on their behalf. But the manner in which his efforts 
 to benefit them had been received at home, and the little 
 regard paid to his Sind experiences and long Indian service 
 in the acceptance of a decision which ought in fairness to 
 have been directly influenced by both, disheartened and 
 hurt him. His personal character, was, moreover, involved ; 
 and to remain silent looked to him like admission of error. 
 Yet, while he felt in possession of ample material wherewith 
 to establish his case, and defeat his opponents, he was de-
 
 -1 845 FRIENDLY LETTERS. 359 
 
 barred from defending himself without official permission ; 
 and he doubted whether such permission would be granted in 
 compliance with any request on his part.' Write an appeal, 
 however, he must to the Secret Committee. If not to get 
 abroad, it might, he reasoned, be placed among the secret 
 archives: and he consoled himself with the reflection that 
 his heir might extract it thence at a time when his own 
 contemporaries had passed away from the busy world around. 
 Meanwhile he would submit in silence to the injurious con- 
 demnations to which he had been subjected, and to the ruin 
 which he not unnaturally, if somewhat impulsively, conceived 
 had befallen him as a public man. 
 
 The residence at Mandlaisir was not of a protracted cha- 
 racter, nor were the duties of the post which kept him there 
 calculated to draw out the high qualities of the holder. Yet 
 if it be regarded for him as an episode of repose, the notion 
 must be restricted to the exigencies of official routine, for 
 beyond giving due attention to local requirements, his mind 
 was busy and ' perplexed in the extreme.' In his home and 
 Indian correspondence the tone is less buoyant than of old ; 
 and the mood is occasionally the reverse of cheerful. He 
 goes so far as to complain that his friends forsake him in his 
 difficulties ; he laments the waste of days in the, to him, 
 inaction of Nimar life. That this gloomy picture was 
 mainly that of a harassed isolation we may judge from the 
 many letters of the period addressed to him from various 
 quarters in terms of evident affection. Friends and advisers, 
 such as Colonel Barnewell, and Messrs. Tucker ^ and Melvill 
 
 ' Permission was solicited for publication of his letter to Sir Charles 
 Napier, in reply to one wiiieh that officer had published, but the request was 
 declined by the Government of India, 
 
 ■-' Mr. St. George Tucker, the well-knowTi Director of the East India Com- 
 pany, Outram, hearing that one of this gentleman's sons (8t. George), a young 
 civilian, had been wounded in a gallant encounter with Dacoits, about the time 
 that lie liinisclf was going to the Governor-Generarscamp in 1844, posted more
 
 36o JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 in England, and Mr. Willoughby in India, showed that he 
 possessed the sympathy of the old Company's best and truest 
 S3rvants. Mountstiiart Elphinstone always expressed an 
 interest in his career, and at this period of it, as before and 
 after, proved himself his sincere well-wisher. But he 
 dreaded for him the threatening paper-warfare. ' If he were 
 sure of complete success,' he wrote to Colonel Barnewell, ' it 
 would be no compensation for devoting himself to a life of 
 obscure controversy, instead of going on in his career and 
 forcing people to acknowledge his former services by fresh 
 instances of his zeal and ability.' The distinguished states- 
 man, however, who gave such sound counsel, would never 
 have lent his sanction to the confinement of his 'protege to 
 the obscure limits of an assistant-political's duties at Mand- 
 laisir. Out of the circle of civilians and his ' native infantry ' 
 companions, he found a valued correspondent in his old 
 acquaintance, Major Orlando Felix, whose shrewd, cheery 
 letters have in them much of solace and sunshine. 
 
 Lord Ellenborough's recall in May, and the succession of 
 Sir Henry Hardinge to the Grovernor-Greneralship, did not 
 restore his equanimity or fill him with new hope. He had 
 reason to believe that his name had been favourably men- 
 tioned to the latter ; but he was conscious at the same time 
 that the endeavours of his friends might succumb to a power- 
 ful hostile influence. On September 10, 1844, the day on 
 which he had completed a six months' service at Nimar, 
 Outram resigned his appointment, and proceeded to Bombay 
 with the intention of returning to England. The resignation 
 had been contemplated from the time of his acceptance of 
 the office, but the resolution to go home was sudden. It 
 had not been mentioned in his August letter to Mrs. Outram, 
 on the arrangement for whose outward passage he had then 
 
 than 100 miles nxit of his way to visit him and offer a twofold trilmtc of con- 
 dolence and conffi-atulation.
 
 -1845 SOUTHERN MARATHA COUNTRY. 361 
 
 written at length. Had the application for leave been 
 answered in time from Calcutta, he would have left by the 
 mail in the beginning of October ; but delay in the receipt 
 of the reply ' necessitated his waiting for that of November 
 
 I, when he would take leave, in the first instance, only to 
 Egypt — afterwards, to Europe or not, according to circum- 
 stances. 
 
 The detention proved a fortunate one, for, meanwhile, an 
 outbreak in the Southern Maratha country, and in that part 
 of Western India which is situated within the coast line 
 between Bombay and Goa, had assumed a greater import- 
 ance than had originally belonged to it in the eyes of the 
 local government. A detachment of troops under Colonel 
 Wallace of the Madras army, sent from Belgam for the 
 restoration of order, had been checked in an attempt to take 
 from the Garhkaris (or hereditary occupants) the fort of 
 Samangarh on September 24 ; and, two days before, the 
 troops of the Kolapur Eajah had retired from the fort of 
 Budahgarh after a sally of the rebel garrison. The British 
 commander was awaiting reinforcements and battering 
 guns ; alarm was spreading throughout the disturbed tract ; 
 and fears, in some cases amounting to panic, were entertained 
 for the stations of Ratnagari, Vingorla, and even Belgam 
 itself.'-* As might have been expected, Outram, with alacrity, 
 placed his services at the disposal of Government. They 
 were accepted : he was put on ' special ' duty ; and on October 
 
 II, he appeared in Colonel Wallace's camp.^ On the morn- 
 
 ' By notification in the Calcutta Gazette, dated September 24, 1844, 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Outram, C.B., Assistant in charge of Nimar, obtained per- 
 mission to resign his appointment, preparatory to applying to the Government 
 of Bombay for permission to proceed to Europe on furlough on urgent private 
 affairs. 
 
 ■' Calcutta Review, No. 7, Article 7, volume iv. (1845). 
 
 ' He had left Bombay in a patamar, or large native boat, disembarking at 
 Vingorla, whence to Samangarh, he describes his journey to have been a very 
 unpleasant one, ' in a deluge of rain the whole way.'
 
 362 JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 ing of the 13th he was present at the taking of Saman- 
 garh ; and in reporting that event the next day to division 
 head-quarters, the officer in command of the troops wrote 
 thus : — ' I cannot conclude without giving expression to the 
 feelings of pride and gratification I could not but entertain 
 when an officer of Lieutenant-Colonel Outram's high cha- 
 racter, well-known gallantry, and established farae, placed 
 his services at my disposal, not only during the storm of the 
 Fort of Samangarh,' but during the subsequent operations 
 on the same day of the wing of the 5th light cavalry, under 
 Captain Graeme, against a large body of the enemy. On both 
 these occasions Lieutenant-Colonel Outram's services were 
 valuable ; and I have requested Lieutenant-Colonel Outram, 
 C.B., in this day's orders, to accept my best thanks and 
 grateful acknowledgments.' The despatch from which this 
 is an extract, was supplemented by Captain Grasme's report, 
 expressing his sense of the obligations under which he felt 
 himself to Colonel Outram, who had accompanied him 
 throughout' the cavalry affair noted, and to whose 'experi- 
 ence and guidance ' he attributed much of the success ob- 
 tained. 
 
 The fall of Samangarh was, however, by no means the 
 termination of these disturbances. A few days prior to this 
 event, the detachment from Belgam became a part only of 
 the force brought together to crush the rebellion against 
 authority, which now threatened to spread far and wide ; and 
 Major-General Delamotte, commanding the southern divi- 
 sion of the army, had been placed at the head of the troops 
 in the field. Outram had reported himself, as in duty 
 bound, to the General ; and Ave are told that he joined his 
 camp ' in a political capacity,' - But this definition of the 
 
 ' There is good authority for stating that he was the first man in at the 
 assault. 
 
 - Calcutta Review.
 
 -i845 SOLDIER AND CIVILIAN. 363 
 
 ' special duty,' on which his official designation showed him 
 to be authoritatively employed, would give but a faint idea 
 of the work he had actually to perform. The term, be it 
 said, is a vague one at all times, and is not unfrequently 
 used in the case of officers whose zeal and intelligence in 
 responsible positions are more trusted by Government than 
 are the judgment and capability of its own secretariat in 
 providing them with distinct instructions. It is, moreover, 
 convenient in its very vagueness ; for, while allowing to the 
 ruling powers the full merits of an agent's success, it saves 
 them from a too direct responsibility in the event of failure. 
 In the present instance, irrespective of a distinction in grade, 
 Outram's duties were practically those of a joint special 
 commissioner with Mr. Eeeves, the recognised commissioner 
 or political agent for the Southern Maratha country : for 
 the two officers advised together, or acted independently, 
 according to circumstances. He was also an improvised 
 chief of the stafi", or head of the intelligence department, 
 to the General commandirig, careful to take advantage of 
 his military role to join in all active operations in the field. 
 It was the intention of Government to set aside the civihan 
 * inter arma,' and place him under Colonel Outram ; but to 
 this the latter objected, in recollection of many a well-con- 
 tested ' first spear ' in hog-hunting days long gone by ; 
 and he was accordingly appointed in conjunction with his 
 old friend. AVhile the detailed tactics of the British autho- 
 rities and their native opponents at this early stage of the 
 imbroglio are not without interest, they involve too compli- 
 cated a story to be here repeated. A glance at the main 
 incidents will suffice to illustrate generally the part taken in 
 the campaign by Outram until his return to Bombay in 
 December. We learn from a distinguished and trustworthy 
 writer, reviewing the events in the year following their
 
 364 JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 occurrence,' that this officer, ' wherever employed, threw into 
 all proceedings that moderation, energy, and ability which 
 have everywhere so strongly marked his career ; ' that he 
 and Mr. Keeves ofifered at a iitting opportunity, and with 
 certain exceptions, an amnesty to all who would wilHngly 
 return to their allegiance,' but that ' few, if any, accepted the 
 terms : a strong presumptive proof that the unfortunate men 
 had real grievances.' Further, that • the day after the capture 
 of Samangarh, Colonel Outram, with Colonel "Wallace and 500 
 men of his brigade, proceeded to Kaghal, one march from 
 Kolapur, to procmre the release of the minister,' a certain 
 Daji Pandit, whose training in an Anglo-Indian kachchari 
 may have rendered him obnoxious to the Eajah's refractory 
 subjects ; but that it was not until October 24, when the 
 detachment had been strengthened, that the prisoner was 
 set at liberty from the strong fort of Panala, on which occa- 
 sion ' the young Kajah of Kolapur, with his aunt and mother 
 and the majority of his chiefs, left the city, and joined the 
 British camp.' The real leader of the rebellion, Babaji Ahir- 
 akar — who had imprisoned the minister, usurped the govern- 
 ment, and instigated a raid into British territory, with the 
 robbery of a local treasury — absconded at the head of 500 
 Kolapur troops to the fort of Budargarh, whence, on the 
 subsequent surrender of the place to the general command- 
 ing, he again found means of escaping to Panala. Six days 
 afterwards. Colonel Ovans, the British Resident at Satara, 
 who had been appointed special commissioner in the South- 
 ern Maratha country, and would, on joining, have taken the 
 place of the joint commissioners, was captured on a dak 
 journey from Satara to Kolapur, and carried prisoner to the 
 
 ' Calcutta Review. The article is attrihuted to the late Sir Henry 
 Lawrence. The reviewer prefaces his remarks thus : — ' The tone of our remarks 
 upon Colonel Outram may savour of partial panegyric to those of our readers 
 who have not followed Outram's aircer as we have done ; but no personal 
 feelings can mingle in our praise of a man whom wc Inive never seen, and whom 
 we know only by his public acts.'
 
 -1 845 MISTAKEN MEDICINE. 365 
 
 same Panala stronghold. A clever expedient was resorted to 
 on this occasion. The Eesident's dak had been laid for 
 Kolapur, and at the nearest stage to Panala the Kolapur 
 relay was quietly taken charge of by the bearers, who con- 
 veyed their load to the Fort. 
 
 A few words of comment are here necessary. Colonel 
 Outram had been just a fortnight in camp when Sir George 
 Arthur wrote to offer him the appointment of political agent 
 in the Southern INIaratha country, subject to the confirma- 
 tion of the Grovernment of India, explaining that the situa- 
 tion contemplated was ' a post of honour, the duties of which 
 required great decision and vigour, combined with discretion.' 
 Knowing, however, his strongly-expressed intention to take 
 advantage of his unexpired furlough, unless required for 
 particular service, the Governor considerately stated that if 
 that intention were still unchanged, he need not, of course, 
 consider himself under any obligation to remain in the 
 Southern ]Maratha country. The wound was now reopened ; 
 Outram respectfully declined the offer, not on the ground 
 surmised, but from a sense of self-respect. Pleading the 
 unremedied wrong, he briefly drew attention to the parti- 
 culars of his treatment in Sind, and since his last return to 
 India. He had been ' removed from one of the highest and 
 most responsible situations under the Government of India — 
 the political charge of Sind and Baluchistan' — notwithstand- 
 ing the expressed approval of his services in it by high 
 authority, and he had accepted an inferior position to prove 
 his zeal and loyalty. Circumstances had occurred to obviate 
 the necessity of his return home ; ' but, on completion of the 
 
 ' His friend, Colonel Barnewell, MTote strongly to dissuade him from the 
 step, and lie had reason to believe that the appointment of Resident at Baroda 
 might be offered to him if he remained. This he coiild accept -with honour, 
 and would be some kind of compensation for bis late treatment at the hands of 
 Government. Above all, Mrs. Outram's health had so much improved that 
 she proposed joining him very shortly in India.
 
 366 JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 work in hand, he would be grateful for permission to revert 
 to regimental duty. ' I do hope,' he wrote, ' that when I 
 have restored quiet, and have placed matters in this country 
 on such a footing that they can be satisfactorily transferred 
 to any person whom you may appoint permanently to the 
 office, I may be allowed to join my regiment, there to 
 remain in humble repose after the incessant wear and tear of 
 body and mind which I have had to undergo for so many 
 years past ; for I consider that by accepting permanently 
 any situation inferior in rank, importance, and emolument to 
 what I have heretofore filled with — I presume to think — 
 advantage to the State, although the contrary to myself, I 
 should sign my own admission of the justice of the treatment 
 to which I allude.' Upon receipt of this reply, intimation 
 was made to Outram that Colonel Ovans, Kesident at Satara, 
 had been appointed special commissioner for the settlement 
 of the Kolapur state and territory, on whose arrival he was 
 requested to return to Bombay. 
 
 It is important that these facts should be clearly under- 
 stood, because the proceedings of the special commissioners, 
 Mr. Eeeves and Colonel Outram, were not all approved by 
 the Bombay Grovernment, and the impression may have been 
 left on the minds of some persons that this disapproval had 
 to do with the nomination of Colonel Ovans. As to the 
 particular acts which elicited adverse comment, it appears 
 that objection was taken to the division of forces at Kolapur, 
 when concentration had been desired ; as also to the move to 
 Kaghal ; but above all to the proclamation of the amnesty, of 
 which mention has been made above, and which the au- 
 thorities erroneously inferred had been so worded as to 
 include all the leaders. The responsibility for these mea- 
 sures was not merely accepted, but actually claimed by 
 Outram.' More characteristic of his chivalry than illustrative 
 ' The subsequent despatch of the Court of Directors, dated September 17,
 
 -1 845 BLAME ME, NOT MY ERIEND. 367 
 
 of his worldly wisdom, was the reply to the despatch which 
 first communicated the doubts of Government on the pro- 
 priety of the action of the joint commissioners. He therein 
 says : — ' Had the responsibility . . . rested avowedly with 
 me, I should have left the result to prove the policy, but 
 as my immediate superior, Mr. Keeves, has alone incurred 
 the displeasure of Government for those proceedings, I feel 
 myself bound to say that if blame is merited, I at least ought 
 to share it ; for I cannot but be conscious that I advocated 
 the course which has been thus condemned ; and, under the 
 circumstances in which I was placed, when I so advised, it 
 is possible that that gentleman may have been somewhat in- 
 fluenced by my opinion.' He then continued an elaborate 
 defence of the line of conduct pursued by himself and his 
 colleague, which eventually brought upon him the severe 
 strictures of the Governor-General, as well as of his own 
 immediate superiors. The tendency to justify his acts was 
 displayed on this occasion in so marked a manner, that we 
 can hardly wonder at the sequel ; and explanations of his 
 boldness, if it be not indiscretion, must be looked for in the 
 circumstance that the chief blame had been laid on other 
 shoulders than his own, and that he was rather censured by 
 implication than directly. 
 
 But, however open to question was the decision of error 
 in judgment passed upon the joint commissioners, the un- 
 expected seizure and imprisonment of Colonel Ovans on 
 November 16 kept them for some time longer in their 
 responsible posts. It was not until December 1 that Colonel 
 Ovans was released by the Gadhkaris on the reduction of 
 their stronghold ; and Outram did not take his departure 
 from camp before the 17th of that month. In the interim 
 
 1845, reviewing the whole proceedings in the States of Kolapur and Sawant- 
 Wari, satisfactorily explains Colonel Outram's conduct, and attributes the 
 disapproval of his measures to the imperfect information obtained on the 
 subject by the local government.
 
 368 JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 he had won fresh laurels in the field, as we find from the 
 following extracts. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Poole, of H.M. 22nd regiment, re- 
 porting to Major-General Delamotte, on November 29, 
 1844, the capture of the Pettahs near the gate on the north 
 side of the Forts of Pawangarh and Panala, writes : — 
 
 ' On ascending the hills, the enemy, who were in consider- 
 able numbers, commenced firing on us from behind rocks 
 and other cover, and were immediately driven into the Pettah 
 by the skirmishers. The main body of the party were there 
 halted under cover on the edge of the Pettah, the advance 
 parties, half European and h If Native, moving on under 
 Ensign Budd, H.M. 22nd regiment, and Ensign Black, 2nd 
 grenadiers, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Outram, and attended 
 by Captain Clarke, 2nd grenadiers, acting brigade-major. 
 The enemy were speedily driven into the Fort of Panala ; 
 the pt^rty then passed close under the gate of the Fort, 
 enabling Colonel Outram to make a full and satisfactory 
 reconnaissance ; then, moving on, took post under cover just 
 below the neck of land connecting the two Forts, whence 
 Captain Clarke was despatched by Colonel Outram to the 
 main body, which was conducted by that officer, under 
 Colonel Hickes's orders, through the whole of the Pettahs in 
 succession to the spot where Colonel Outram was posted, the 
 enemy during the whole time keeping up a heavy fire of 
 artillery and matchlocks from the walls.' 
 
 Lieutenant -Colonel Brough, of H.M. 2nd regiment, re- 
 porting, on December 2, the storm of Panala on the previous 
 evening, remarks : — 
 
 ' The heroic Lieutenant- Colonel Outram, C.B., was in his 
 accustomed place, the front rank.' 
 
 And Major-General Delamotte, in his own despatch of 
 December 3, says : —
 
 -1 845 CERTIFICATES OF HONOUR. 369 
 
 The difficulty of reaching the walls was very great from 
 the rugged and steep ascent which led to a ledge or path 
 by which they (the storming party) were obliged to proceed, 
 flanked by a very heavy fire from the walls, and large stones 
 hurled down upon them as they advanced, which they did in 
 the most gallant manner, to the breach. Among the first 
 and foremost I noticed : — 
 
 * Lieutenant-Colonel Brough, commanding the storming 
 party ; Lieutenant Graham, leading engineer after Major Peal 
 was disabled ; and the gallant Lieutenant-Colonel Outram, 
 C.B. I beg now to bring to the favourable notice of his 
 Excellency the Commander-in-Chief . . . Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Outram, C.B., who, on all and every occasion, tendered 
 his services, and from whom I received valuable information 
 and suggestions.' 
 
 A Government notification, of December 9, announcing 
 the storm and capture of Panjila, thus recognises the services 
 here alluded to : — 
 
 ' The Honourable the Governor in Council begs in parti- 
 cular to offer his best thanks to . . . and to Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Outram, C.B., of the 23rd regiment of Bombay 
 N.I., who volunteered his services and was among the fore- 
 most who entered the Fort of Panala.' 
 
 That he had, at this time also, regained the full appro- 
 bation of Government for his political work may be inferred 
 by perusal of the Secretary's two despatches to his address, 
 dated December 2 and 12 respectively. The first, referring 
 to his reception of a delegate from the rebel camp, states : — 
 
 ' The Honourable the Governor in Council entirely ap- 
 proves of the whole of your proceedings now reported. The 
 letters addressed by you to the Sirdars and to the Gadhkaris 
 of Panala and Pawangarh are written exactly in the proper 
 
 VOL. I. B B
 
 370 JAMES OUT RAM. 1843- 
 
 spirit.' The second bears upon his prolonged detention on 
 special duty : — 
 
 * The seizure and confinement of Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Ovans, the officer appointed to relieve you, having still kept 
 you for a longer period than was intended in your position 
 at Kolapur, the Honourable the Governor in Council has 
 much gratification in recording his great satisfaction that 
 you have thereby had an opportunity, during the military 
 operations that have been in progress, of displaying those 
 high qualities as a soldier, for -which you have been ever dis- 
 tinguished ; whilst your subsequent proceedings at Kolapur, 
 more particularly after the seizure of Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Ovans, have generally been marked with prudence and firm- 
 ness.' Finally, the Government of India thus addressed 
 the Governor of Bombay in a later despatch on the same 
 subject : — ' The Governor-General in Council entirely concurs 
 in the opinion of Lieutenant-Colonel Outram's conduct since 
 the capture of Colonel Ovans, and while the latter officer 
 was retained by the garrison of Panala, as mentioned in the 
 fifteenth paragraph of your letter to Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Outram ; and it is with much satisfaction the Governor- 
 General in Council records his entire approbation of that 
 conduct, and his opinion of the temper, judgment, and 
 discretion which have marked Lieutenant-Colonel Outram's 
 proceedings on every occasion subsequent to the occurrence 
 above alluded to.' 
 
 During the imprisonment of Colonel Ovans, Outram 
 begged repeatedly that he might, on public considerations, 
 be allowed to take his place, but the former officer would 
 not entertain the idea for a moment. Outram argued that 
 the rebels, knowing how favourably their prisoner was disposed 
 towards them, would readily consent to his release, in the 
 belief that he might, when at large, effect an arrangement in
 
 -i845 LET ME TAKE YOUR PLACE. 
 
 371 
 
 their favour ; but Ovans thought that the exchange would 
 only place his substitute in danger, do him himself no good, 
 and be injurious to the character of Grovernment.' 
 
 WTiile yet en route to Bombay, the receipt, at Satara, 
 of a letter from Mrs. Outram, intimating her proposed de- 
 parture irom England on February 1, confirmed him in his 
 resolution of remaining in India; but he still entertained 
 the idea of going to Egypt, for he could meet his wife at 
 Alexandria. Scarcely, however, had he reached the Pre- 
 sidency when his services were placed at the disposal of the 
 Commander-in-Chief, and his presence was required to aid in 
 the suppression of serious disturbances in Sawant-Wari — a 
 tract south of the country which he had just quitted. 
 Writing to his mother on December 29, he tells her that 
 the quarter to which he is moving is so ' inundated with 
 troops' that he expects to find 'all warfare over' almost 
 before he gets there ; that he has ' a month to spare ' before 
 proceeding to meet Mrs. Outram, and will occupy it with the 
 portion of his regiment then employed in the field ; and that 
 
 ' We are enabled to supply two of the letters which passed on this occa- 
 sion, dated November 21 and 22 respectively : — 
 
 ' My dear Ovans, — I again beg that you will propose to the garrison to take 
 me as your substitute ; they see you are favourable to them, and they deem 
 me inimical ; the hope, therefore, that (were you) at liberty you might eiFect 
 something for them, while they would consider me nearly equal security in 
 their hands, will induce them readily to accede to this arrangement which, for 
 private as well as public considerations, I earnestly implore you to consent to. 
 
 ' J . Outram.' 
 
 ' My dear Outram, — As I said before, your coming to take my place liere is 
 quite out of the question. It would only place you in danger, and would do 
 no good, and would be injurious to the character of Government. My object 
 is, whatever may happen, to uphold our name and fame. But these men havo 
 not, as yet, by word or deed, thrown any indignity on me or the Government. 
 It is natural enough their keeping me here for their own safety, but this is the 
 extent of their present offence. But, under no circumstances will I consent to 
 your coming here, or to any other person coming hero, in my place. 
 
 ' C. Ovans.' 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 his sudden departure that evening must account for a hurried 
 letter. But he had not attached the importance to his new 
 military duties which they merited. It was no matter of 
 mere regimental command, for which his services had been 
 required by the head of the Bombay army. On January 4, 
 we trace the first of his detachment orders, dated Vingorla, 
 appointing his staff; a week later, he is at Sawant-Wari, 
 detaching a hundred men under an English officer back to 
 Vingorla ; and three days afterwards, he is, under instructions 
 from division head-quarters, organising a light field detach- 
 ment of his own, 1,200 strong, composed of European and 
 Native infantry, sappers, artillery, and local troops. 
 
 The truth is that the insurrection had taken a shape that 
 foreboded all sorts of evil consequences, unless the prestige 
 of British power were at once asserted and maintained by 
 strong, decided action. The fugitives from Kolapur had, on 
 the destruction of their forts, and about the time that Outram 
 was relieved from his joint commissionership, sought to 
 avoid the detachments of troops overrunning the surround- 
 ing lands by taking refuge in the nearest jmigals, whence 
 they effected a junction with some two thousand of the Wari 
 people under the Tambulkar, Desaes, and Anna Sahib, eldest 
 son of the chief of the State. These two chiefs had become 
 notorious by acts of violence and lawlessness, and were then 
 engaged in stopping the roads and laying waste a great part 
 of the Konkan. Their strength was mainly in the difficult 
 nature of the country they occupied ; but there were not 
 wanting other obstacles to the successful progress of invaders 
 than inaccessible rocks, impenetrable forests, and impassable 
 ravines. Miasma, which had ceased to affect them, was a 
 powerful element in checking the advance of their foes. 
 Frustrated attempts to reach the more prominent offenders — 
 including the defeat of one of our detachments, with a heavy 
 casualty roll — had already given confidence to the rebel
 
 -i84S OUTRAM IN THE FIELD. 373 
 
 forces, in spite of defective organisation and the absence of 
 discipline ; while, owing to their readiness to scatter on all 
 occasions, it was not easy to assail them with an effective or 
 decisive blow. To an officer directing operations against 
 such an enemy, experience with Bhils, Kiilis, and even 
 Afghans would not have been thrown away. He of whom 
 we are writing possessed this qualification, and natural gifts 
 besides peculiarly suited to the due accomplishment of his 
 task. ' Never,' says the before quoted writer in the ' Cal- 
 cutta Eeview,' ' was the magic power of one man's presence 
 more striking than on Outram's return to the seat of war. 
 ... PVom January 14 matters took a different turn ; . . . 
 hitherto the three brigades had been playing bo-peep with 
 the enemy. But now, at length, a decided movement was an- 
 nounced for hemming in the rebels in the valley of Sirapur. 
 Twelve hundred men were placed under Outram, with orders 
 to beat up the low ground from Wari towards the forts of 
 Manohar and Mansantosh ; Colonel Carruthers, with a 
 brigade, was to occupy the Seevapoor valley on the other 
 side of the ridge on which those forts are situated ; while 
 Colonel Wallace was on a given day to descend the 
 Ghats. . . .' The date named was that on which the de- 
 tails of the light field detachment were assembled at Sawant- 
 Wari. On the morning of the 16th their movements had 
 been planned, their marching arrangements completed, and 
 they advanced upon the enemy. 
 
 If there has been controversy on the merits of certain 
 commanders engaged in the operations that ensued, and in 
 respect of certain of those operations, there has been no 
 question raised as to the good work then done by James 
 Outram. If there had been complaints of delay and in- 
 activity in attacking and dispersing the rebels before his 
 appearance on the scene, when he did appear no such charges 
 could be laid at his door. His progress in suppressing the
 
 374 JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 rebellion was rapid : his movements were well considered 
 and well executed ; and his success was brilliant. Cutting 
 his way through thick and hitherto unexplored jangal; 
 ascending high and steep passes ; seeking, where practicable, 
 to co-operate with his brother leaders, but generally compelled 
 to act on his own sole discretion ; marching, in one stretch 
 of twenty-four hours, a distance of forty-six miles — in fine, 
 allowing no moral or physical obstacle to be insuperable — he 
 drove the enemy from one stockade after another, occupied 
 their villages, and, on the 8th day after setting out, stationed 
 himself before the fort of Mansantosh.' On January 24, 
 disappointed in not obtaining two expected mortars, his 
 energies were restricted to watching the play of the single 
 howitzer which his old friend Captain Pontardent had 
 brought up the previous evening, and was now directing 
 against the stronghold. His own report may be quoted for 
 the proceedings of the next day : — 
 
 ' Two 5^-inch mortars, having arrived during the night, 
 were placed in position 600 yards from the Fort, and the 
 howitzer moved up to the same. Having determined on 
 storming the stockades, lest longer delay should enable the 
 enemy to strengthen them still further, I sent Lieutenant 
 Peyton with the company of 23rd regiment to occupy a 
 
 ' It is only right to add the summary of occurrences at this particular 
 period, supplied by Sir Le Grand Jacob. Read immediately after the words 
 ' But now, at length,' in the preceding page, the following passage should be 
 quite intelligible : — 
 
 '. . . the movement for hemming in the rebels in the valley of Sivapur 
 was communicated to Outram who, with upwards of a thousand men from 
 diiferent corps placed under his command as a Light Field Force, was directed 
 to beat up the rebel villages lying between Sawant-Wari and the forts of 
 Manohar and Mansantosh on his way to invest their southern side, whilst the 
 remainder of the force gathered to their east and north. A joint attack 
 was planned for January 20 on the S.E. outwork of Manohar; but it was carried 
 by Outram, and its defenders were being driven into the Fort, before the 
 difficulties of the lofty intervening ridge permitted assistance from the brigade 
 at Sivapur, which, however, relieved his post nearesfthe Fort.'
 
 -i845 MANOHAR AND MANSANTOSH. 375 
 
 belt of jungle running up to the scarp of the Fort to the left of 
 the stockades, with orders to ascend till within forty or fifty 
 yards of the scarp, where the cover was sufficiently dense to 
 shelter his men from the stones hurled from the Fort above, 
 or shot from the stockades in flank.' 
 
 Here let us explain that Manohar and Mansantosh are 
 situated on a lofty serrated ridge, thrown out rather than 
 descending from the Grhats, on which at a distance of nearly 
 half a mile two rocks rise to the level of the Ghats themselves 
 with a perpendicular scarp of about 1 60 feet. The larger, of 
 triangular shape, is Manohar, with re-entering angle for its 
 front face, where is the only entrance. The small rock 
 Mansantosh rises as precipitately as the other, about 100 
 paces from it, the only communication between the two being 
 the natural berm at the base of these rocks. They constitute 
 in themselves, and from their position, natural forts, impreg- 
 nable save perhaps from vertical fire ; and even from this 
 Manohar was in some way protected. Outram, perceiving 
 with rapid glance that the only vulnerable point was the 
 small fort, took up his position on the west of the ridge that 
 continues for some distance from it into the interior. This 
 measure was facilitated by the circumstance that all the 
 stockades on the western side of the ridge had been previously 
 carried by Colonel Carruthers's brigade, when sweeping their 
 way to Sivapur. On this ridge, not broad enough to pitch a 
 tent, he made his head-quarters, distant half a mile from the 
 Fort. The stockades at its foot were successfully carried by 
 assault, with small loss ; but the storming party, after reach- 
 ing the gate by the zigzag steps, so narrow as only to admit 
 of single file, more or less exposed to stones from the top, 
 and shot from both Forts, were overwhelmed by an 
 avalanche — seemingly the whole parapet wall of that curve 
 of the rock loosely constructed of etones, and doubtless kept 
 in reserve for the last extremity. So far, therefore, the
 
 376 JAMES OUTRAM. 1843^ 
 
 attack that day failed, but the lower part of the Fort re- 
 mained in our possession. 
 
 The loss during these operations — which comprised, more- 
 over, a feigned attack in support, on the other side, by men 
 of the 3rd Madras Light Infantry, posted nearest Manohar, 
 — was of some fifty killed and wounded. Among the latter 
 were Captains Pontardent, Hume, Le Grand Jacob,* and 
 Allan ; Lieutenants Peyton, Munbee, and Gardiner. Other 
 names might perhaps be added, but official returns are not 
 available. 
 
 Circumstances would not have justified any hasty instruc- 
 tions for a second experiment of the kind. Meanwhile, at- 
 tention was given to prevent the egress of the garrison pre- 
 paratory to repetition on the following night. One party was 
 left in possession of the steps leading to the gate; a second 
 party was placed under shelter in the gap between the two 
 Forts, to prevent the despatch of succour from Manohar ; 
 and the third side of Mansantosh was secured by the occu- 
 pation of the stockades and a cave at the bottom of the 
 scarp on the west. Outram had had no opportunity of recon- 
 noitring the scarp on the fourth side, which was not within 
 the limits of his charge ; but it was generally understood to 
 be so perpendicular as to prevent the possibility of escape in 
 the face of the troops co-operating in that quarter, whose 
 mortars had opened fire on the previous day.^ 
 
 ' This officer led the storming party — preceded by its advance under 
 Lieutenant Munbee (who had gallantly volunteered to apply powder-bags to 
 the gate) — and Outram's appreciation of his services is shown in the following 
 extracts from his letter to the Assistant Adjutant-General of the field Force, 
 dated January 28, 1845 : — ' I beg to be permitted to bring to the notice of the 
 Major- General . . . my extreme obligations^to Captain Jacob, 2nd Grenadiers, 
 his aide-de-camp . . . and to add my conviction that had that officer not 
 been disabled at the moment when ascending to the support of Lieutenant 
 Munbee at the gateway of Mansantosh, that fortress would have been gained.' 
 He also states his inability suitably to acknowledge his obligations to Captain 
 Jacob ' for his zealous and indefatigable exertions ' previous to the affiiir 
 under reference. 
 
 - The garrison escaped by a secret way known only to themselves, called
 
 -1 845 ESCAPE OF GARRISONS. 377 
 
 Accordingly, at an hour after dark on January 26, Lieu- 
 tenants Munbee and Schneider, supported by Lieutenant 
 Mardell, who had volunteered his services with some native 
 riflemen, were in position on the steps ; but the storming 
 party had miscalculated the time necessary to reach the spot, 
 and did not arrive until the rising moon made their purpose 
 too apparent for successful accomplishment. The enterprise 
 was therefore again deferred for another twenty-foiur hours, 
 at the end of which time Outram, confident in the secure re- 
 tention of the garrison of Mansantosh, hoped to see effected 
 a complete investment of Manohar as well, by the exertions 
 of his brother commanders. He was, however, greatly sur- 
 prised and chagrined to find in the morning that both Forts 
 had been evacuated ; their garrisons having slipped out 
 on the sides supposed to be watched by the co-operating 
 brigades. 
 
 Writing on the date of this unlooked-for event, Outram 
 says : — 
 
 ' The escape of the garrisons, including, I believe, the 
 young Kajah and all the chiefs of the rebels, at a time when 
 their capture was so possible ... is most deeply to be 
 regretted. I hear that they have made their way down the 
 jungle in front of the Menohur gate, and coming over the 
 Sassudroog ridge, some distance beyond the post which I 
 established thereon (and made over to the other brigades), 
 passed on to the Visla jungles, where they were seen at four 
 o'clock this morning. I shall now direct my endeavours to 
 follow them up.' 
 
 He did follow them up, and there was more fighting in 
 the \h\Qk jangol^ in which some sipdhis were killed on our 
 
 chorwat (lit. thief track), invisible to outsiders, because in semblance the pre- 
 cipitous scarp only, and scarcely available to any unpractised person. Forest 
 and janrjal reached nearly to the scarp of the Forts on the north side throupfh 
 which the Gadhkaris made their escape.
 
 378 JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 side, and much loss of life occurred on that of the enemy. 
 Eventually the resistance subsided, and negotiations were 
 opened with the Portuguese authorities of the bordering 
 State of Goa for the delivery of those insurgents who had 
 sought a refuge there. By the end of April the campaign 
 was at an end. We have attempted no account of it as an 
 historical narrative ; but, in confining ourselves to Outram's 
 own operations, we have certainly not drawn the reader's 
 attention to the least stirring part of the whole. In the 
 article before quoted from the 'Calcutta Review ' it is stated : — 
 
 The nature and value of his services during the operations 
 . . , are not to be measured by the actual opposition or loss 
 sustained, but by the estimate formed by other commanders of the 
 obstacles and enemy to be encountered . . . the promotion 
 bestowed on him amply proves that Government took the same 
 view of his conduct throughout the campaign as did General 
 Delamotte, Colonels Brough and Wallace, and indeed all his 
 comrades. 
 
 His proceedings at Goa were distinguished by tact com- 
 bined with firmness, and a straightforwardness which, though 
 natural and void of effort, was highly effective. In the first 
 instance. Captain Arthur, military secretary to the Governor 
 of Bombay, had been deputed to confer with the Governor 
 of the Portuguese settlement on the best means to be 
 adopted for preventing insurgents from Sawant-Wari finding 
 an asylum in his territory, and for apprehending those 
 already there. F'urther personal communication becoming 
 necessary. Major Stevens, Outram's able staff officer, was sent. 
 Then Outram himself had to go ; and the letters which he 
 addressed at this period to Mr. Secretary Gomez are instruc- 
 tive and interesting, read in connection with his reports to 
 Government. The question under discussion was a delicate 
 one, and all the more so because, independently of British 
 prestige, the credit of a second European Power was involved
 
 -iS45 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS OF SERVICE. 379 
 
 in its solution. On April 15, Colonel Outram was enabled 
 to report, for Sir George Arthur's information, that all the 
 objects of his mission to Goa had been satisfactorily con- 
 cluded by the surrender to that Government of all the 
 insurgent Sawant-Wari chiefs, and most of the inferior 
 leaders in the insurrection. 'The Hon. the Governor in 
 Council has great satisfaction,' wrote the secretary in acknow- 
 ledging this report, ' in now recording his approbation of the 
 temper, ability, skill, and judgment which you have evinced 
 in all your communications with the Goa Government. I 
 am at the same time desired to intimate to you that the 
 Governor in Council chiefly attributes to your exertions the 
 present favourable prospects of the immediate restoration of 
 tranquillity in the recently disturbed districts.' 
 
 But this was a small part only of the publicly-expressed 
 recognition of services rendered. Official acknowledgments 
 were indeed multiplied. The Governor in Council recorded 
 his opinion that 'the energy, boldness, and military skill 
 displayed by Lieutenant-Colonel Outram, and the rapidity 
 and success which characterised all the movements of his 
 detachment in a particular degree, entitle him, and the 
 officers and men under his command, to the thanks and 
 approbation of Government.' The Commander-in-Chief of 
 the Bombay army. Sir Thomas MacMahon, expressing the 
 pleasure felt in communicating the praise thus bestowed 
 ' for zeal, activity, skill, and gallantry,' added the words 
 * which you have so conspicuously evinced on all occasions.' 
 Not only did Lord Hardinge endorse the approval of Sir 
 George Arthur, bvit the Home Government also ; and we 
 learn that Her Majesty's Ministers considered that ' but for 
 the conciliatory policy adopted by Colonel Outram, they might 
 have been involved in a disagreeable misunderstanding 
 with the Government of Portugal,' The despatch on the 
 subject of the Kolapur and Sawant-Wari disturbances, which
 
 38o JAMES OUTRAM. 1843- 
 
 reached India from the Court of Directors near the close of 
 the year, was highly eulogistic of the share taken in their 
 suppression by * this distinguished officer.' ' As an instance 
 of how universally admitted was his high character through- 
 out India, even at this stage of his career, the Adjutant- 
 General of the Madras army — referring to his favourable 
 notice, for the Marquis of Tweeddale's information, of the 
 services of an assistant-surgeon of that Presidency — writes : — 
 * His Lordship receives with much pleasure a testimony of 
 merit from an officer whose praise is so honourable to Dr. 
 Forester.' 
 
 As early as February 3^ — when intelligence of the 
 events immediately following the evacuation of Mansantosh 
 and Manohar must have just reached Bombay — the appoint- 
 ment of Eesident at Satara was offered to Outram by the 
 Governor, through his military secretary. Acceptance having 
 been notified in the interim, the formal nomination was 
 communicated in the following terms : — 
 
 ' The Honourable the Governor in Council having observed 
 with great satisfaction the gallant and energetic spirit in 
 which your late operations in the Sawant-Wari territory 
 have been undertaken, and the ability with which they have 
 been carried into execution, I am desired to inform you 
 that, to mark the approbation with which these services are 
 regarded by Government, he is pleased to appoint you to the 
 office of Eesident at Sattara and commandant of the troops 
 at that station.' 
 
 Owing to the work still before him in Sawant-Wari, his 
 orders to join were not issued until May 3, when they were 
 forwarded by the Commander-in-Chief, writing in his own 
 name to express the satisfaction with which he made the 
 
 ' See Appendix H.
 
 -1 845 SAWANT-WARI.TO SATARA. 381 
 
 communication. Again did his Excellency avail himself of 
 an opportunity to publish his * high sense ' of the ' zeal, 
 ability, and energy ' evinced by Outram throughout his 
 services in the Southern Maratha country and Sawant-Wari — 
 thereby signifying how fairly and honourably the promotion 
 accorded had been earned. 
 
 It was now stated that the presence of the new Eesident 
 was m-gently required at Satara. Transferring, therefore, to 
 Captain Le Grand Jacob, political superintendent of Sawant- 
 Wari, a heavy load of responsibility, but imperfectly expressed 
 in the form of official records, he left for his new destination, 
 and joined his appointment on May 26, 1845.
 
 APPENDICES.
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 GENERAL WASHINGTON AND DR. JAMES ANDERSON, page 7. 
 
 The following letter, from a copy foimd among the papers of Mrs. 
 Margaret Outi-am, will be read with interest : — 
 
 'Mount Vernon, July 25, 1798. 
 
 * Esteemed Sir, — Your favour of February 8 came safe, and 
 would have received an earlier acknowledgment if anything had 
 sooner occurred worthy of communication. I hope you have not 
 only got relieved of the fever from which you were then recovering:, 
 but of the languor with which it had afiected you, and that you 
 are now engaged in the literary pursuit of which you gave the out- 
 lines ; and which, with your pen and arrangement of the subjects, 
 must be curiou^^, entertaining, and instructive. Thus persuaded, if 
 you propose to carry the work on by way of subscription, it would 
 give me pleasure to be numbered among the subscribers. I little 
 imagined when I took my last leave of the walks of public life, and 
 retired to the shades of my vine and fig-tree, that any event would 
 arise in my day that would bring me again on a public theatre ; 
 but the unjust, ambitious, and intoxicated conduct of France to- 
 wards these United States has been, and continues to be, such that 
 they must be opposed by a firm and manly resistance, or we shall 
 not only hazard the subjugation of our government, but the inde- 
 pendence of our nation also, both being evidently struck at by a 
 lawless, domineering power, who respects no rights, and is re- 
 strained by no treaties, when it is found inconvenient to observe 
 them. Thus situated, sustaining daily injuries, even indignities, 
 with a patient forbearance, fiom a sincere desire to live in peace 
 
 VOL. I. . C C
 
 386 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 and harmony with all the world, the French Directory, mistaking 
 the motives and the American character, and supposing that the 
 people of tliis country were divided, and would give countenance to 
 their nefaiious measures, have proceeded to exact loans (or in other 
 words contributions), and to threaten us — in case of non-compliance 
 with their wild, unfounded, and incoherent complaints — that we 
 should share the fate of Venice and other Itahan States. This 
 has roused the people from their slumbers, and filled their minds 
 with indignation from one extremity to the other of the Union ; 
 and I trust, if they should attempt to carry their threats into efiect, 
 and invade our territorial as they have done our commercial rights, 
 they will meet a spirit that will give them more trouble than they 
 are aware of in the citizens of these States. 
 
 ' When everything sacred and dear to freemen is thus threat- 
 ened, I could not, consistent with the principles which have actu- 
 ated me through hfe, remain an idle spectator, and refuse to obey 
 the call of my country to head its armies for defence ; and therefore 
 have pledged myself to come forward whenever the urgency shall 
 require it. 
 
 ' With what sensations, at my time of life (now tvirned of sixty- 
 six), without ambition or interest to stimulate me thereto, I shall 
 rehnquish the peaceful walks to which I had retired, and in the 
 shades of which I had fondly hoped to have spent the remnant of 
 a life worn down with cares in contemplation on the past, and in 
 the enjoyment of scenes present and to come of rui^al growth, let 
 others, and especially those who are best acquainted with my ways 
 of thinking, decide ; while I, beheving that man was not designed 
 by Providence to Uve for himself alone, shall prepare for the worst 
 that can happen. 
 
 ' The gardener you were so obhging as to send me continues 
 to conduct liimself extremely well ; he is industrious, sober, and 
 orderly, and undel^stands his business ; in short, I never had a kind 
 servant that pleased me better ; and what adds to the satisfaction 
 is, that he himself is content, having declared that he never was 
 happier. 
 
 My best wishes always attend you; and, with great esteem 
 and regard, I am. Sir, 
 
 ' Your most obedient and obliged humble servant, 
 (Signed) 'Geo. Washington. 
 
 'Dr. Jiis. Anderson, in or near London."
 
 APPENDICES. 387 
 
 And again : — 
 
 'Philadelphia, Dec. 10. 1798. 
 * E.steemed Sir, — Hearing that the ship (" Suffolk ") by which 
 tlie enclosed letter was sent was captured by the French, who 
 never restore any of mine, I do, to avoid the imputation of inatten- 
 tion to your favoui's, and the correspondence with which you 
 honour me, send a duplicate, being, with very gieat esteem and 
 regard, Sir, 
 
 ' Your most obedient and obliged humble servant, 
 
 (Signed) ' G. Washington.* 
 
 c C '^
 
 388 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 KHANDESH AND THE BHtLS, page 51, 
 
 The area of Khandesh, roughly estimated in 1833 at 20,000, and 
 in 1843 at 13,000, is recorded in the latest published reports at 
 10,162 square miles. Official statements make the population 
 1,070,000; or an average of 105"33 to the square mile. The 
 Trigonometrical Survey has yet, we understand, to publish the 
 full results of its work for this particular subdivision of Western 
 India ; but the unhealthiness of the country at cei'tain seasons, and 
 physical difficulties encountered, have been productive of delay. 
 Much is in progress, or remains to be done, on the western side, 
 and something on the south-east of Khandesh to complete the 
 survey. 
 
 Khandesh once played an important, if a brief, part in Indian 
 history. At the dawn of the fifteenth century, it became an inde- 
 pendent State ; and one Malik Raja, son of Khan Jahdn, to whose 
 family belonged some of the most respectable of the Dehli nobles, 
 under Allahu Din Ghilzai, is considered by Farishta the first of its 
 thirteen Faruki kings. Entrusted by Firuz Toghlak with the 
 command of 2,000 horse he was afterwards granted by the same 
 monarch the districts of Talnair and Kerind. He was also made 
 Sipah SaUr, or chief military commander, of the whole province, 
 and, the 2,000 horse having been authoritatively raised to 3,000, 
 he found means to increase the number of his mounted retainers 
 to 12,000. On the death of Firuz he invaded Gujrdt, laying waste 
 the districts of Nandurbar and Sultdnpur. In 1399 he was suc- 
 ceeded by his son Nasir, and up to the close of the sixteenth 
 century, when the province became absorbed in the Imperial terri- 
 tory, and its affairs were administered by Abul Fadhl, Wazir of 
 Akbar the Great, Khandesh remained a separate State, or, as we 
 read it, kingdom.' 
 
 • See vol, iii , 'passim, Elliot's History of India, edited by Professor Dowson.
 
 APPENDICES. 389 
 
 Low, bare hillocks, sinking gradnally to the valley beyond, 
 mark the south-eastern boundary of the ' Collectorate ' of Khan- 
 desh, which contains sixteen tdlukas, independently of recent 
 transfers to Nassik. Of these, Sauda, Ydwal, and Chopra, on tho 
 east, touch the Northern or Satpura hills, while the Chilisgdon 
 district is merged in the Southern or Satmala range. The land 
 revenue is estimated at 40 lakhs (40,000Z.) : total gross revenue 
 about 50. Although Khandesh is stated by Thornton to be a 
 great valley, or basin, traversed throughout, from east to west, by 
 the Tapti, the passage of this river is through the more northei-n 
 of its territorial divisions, and therefore hardly answers the 
 description of a central line. According to the same authority, 
 the lower part of the Collectorate is in general fertile, ' the soil 
 consisting principally of a rich mould of a dark reddish-brown 
 colour, formed, apparently, for the most part, of the disintegi-ation 
 of the Trappean rock. There is indeed a considerable portion of 
 sand as well as hard, unkindly soil mixed with gravel ; yet the 
 better descriptions predominate.' ' 
 
 Farishta, in his account of the Kings of Khandesh, associates 
 the Bhil with the predatory Kuli of Gujrdt. According to this 
 historian, they both suffered severely from the famine in the days 
 of Malik Raja, the first king ; and had habitually infested the roads 
 and disturbed the peaceable inhabitants of towns prior to the reign 
 of Adil Khan Faruki I., at the close of the fifteenth century. 2 
 
 Noting the local tendency to limit the term ' Bhil ' to lawless 
 and savage men who live separate from their fellows. Captain 
 Graham explains at the same time that it is also given to many 
 who do not acknowledge it. He is of opinion that, irrespective of 
 the common Bhils of Khandesh who vauntingly merge all class 
 distinctions in the one generic name, there are no more than seven 
 clans in the province which merit mention. These are the Tarvis, 
 a fine race of Muslim converts, with the dark, diminutive, and 
 barbarous Nahals in the north-east ; the fierce and surly Muham- 
 madan Hindhis in the south-east ; the milder Matwaris, Burdas, 
 and Dorpies in the north-west ; the wild Khotils of the Satpura 
 mountains ; and the unmitigated savages of the Ddng, or DAngchis, 
 who reside below the Western Gh4ts. Mr. Boyd makes three 
 divisions of Bhils only : i.e. those of the hills, almost all under 
 
 ' Gazetteer, under the head ' Candeish.' 
 - Briggs : transUition of Farishta.
 
 390 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 different chiefs or Naiks ; those of the plains and villages ; and the 
 Tarvis or Mvihammadans in the east. The Nahals and others, he 
 does not consider sufficiently important for separate notice. 
 
 With regard to the amnesty generally offered on the inaugura- 
 tion of the hvimane policy adopted in 1825, there was diversity of 
 opinion as to the degree of blame to be attached to offenders. Some 
 thought the Bhil a victim of treachery and cruelty in the past, and 
 attributed his ruffianism and malevolence to misconception of his 
 fellows : believing that if he could only discriminate between the 
 humanity of the newly -arrived Western ruler and that of the dis- 
 placed Oriental despot, he would readily recognise in the first 
 a benefactor and fiiend. Others again were less disposed to whole- 
 sale judgment in favour of a white and in condemnation of a dark- 
 visaged administrator, and these naturally threw the onus of 
 misdoing on the Bhil himself, setting down his mistrust and 
 estrangement to his conviction that he deserved no forbearance at 
 the hands of any Government under the control of which he might 
 chance to come. This was the view of Colonel Robertson, an able 
 and experienced officer of the old and justly-honoured school of 
 Indian politicians. His opinion on the Bhils may be further 
 quoted with advantage : — 
 
 ' They had in general no property, and Avhat they had thei-e is 
 no instance of their having been deprived of. The Government 
 would not, I think, from mere wantonness, have selected this class 
 as the objects of crviel and merciless persecution. ... To relin- 
 quish the life they were leading was a course very far from the 
 wishes of the Bheels. ... If for the Naiks siich a change was 
 unpalatable, it was more so for those who adhered to them ; who, 
 comparatively speaking, i-ioted in the plenty which theii' leaders' 
 courses yielded, and who, by forsaking them, returned not only to 
 a listless life, but also to an income not more than sufficient for 
 their support, as well as to a humble station in the community and 
 corresponding duties — none of which would be agreeable to them, 
 after passing a long time in a state of the rudest independence 
 (almost of all restraint) — who, in the hills, beyond yielding a very 
 slight obedience to their leaders, were under no control, and camo 
 and went as they chose ; they were all equals, and they shai-ed in 
 all that was got by plunder, the extent of which was only limited 
 by theii" own exertions. We may fancy how unpleasantly the call
 
 APPENDICES. 391 
 
 to leturn to their proper stivtion and duties must uudei- such 
 circumstimces have sounded to tlie Bheels in the hills ; and how, 
 even if tempted by prospect of a provision their leaders felt inclined 
 to yield, their adherents must have thwarted their intentions.' 
 
 The town of ChdlisgAon bears the name of a tdluka or district, 
 containing in 1863 a population of between thirty and forty thou- 
 sand, and more than one hundred and forty registered Government 
 villages. To the natural advantage of a river on its northern and 
 eastern side, it adds the possession, by artificial endowment, of a 
 railway in its centre.' But its contiguity to the Nizam's territory 
 on the south — where a high wall-like range of hills, supporting on 
 their summit an extensive table-land, extends to almost the entire 
 breadth of the district — has made it, even in recent years, a difficult 
 ground for satisfactory settlement : and in the days of which we 
 write, it had none of the benefits of more modern skill and appli- 
 ances. The revenue commissioner, Mr. (now Sir Bari'ow) Ellis, 
 in repoi'ting of the locality in question some sixteen years ago, 
 sjjeaks of the ' turbulent characters ' of this frontier, whom he 
 would suggest keeping in order by a more effective police super- 
 vision than theretofore exercised. 
 
 Exclusive of the small nucleus of regulars, Outram's light 
 infantry consisted of Bhils only ; the pay of the men being fixed at 
 five rupees monthly, with an additional rupee for outpost duty. 
 Clothing was supplied by Goveinment. At the outset only 4^ 
 rupees was actually paid over, and that in daily instalments of two 
 annas, the balance of twelve annas in a long and ten in a short 
 mouth being given on the last day when acquittances were taken. 
 The clothing consisted of a j)agi'i (pagiya), or turban, dyed green ; 
 a white angrikha (angarkha), or vest ; and a gurgi, a kind of knee 
 breeches, made double and of strong cloth. This was found suited 
 to their tastes, and gave them a respectable appearance. In 
 Outram's report of September 1, quoted in the text, are the follow- 
 ing p;xssages, regarding his new levies : — 
 
 ' They are daily improving in cleanliness, and beginning to 
 
 ' The reader, desirous of becoming acquainted with this part of Khandesh, 
 can do no better than refer to the published papers on the assessment proposed 
 for the Dhulia and Chalisgam talukas contained in the Selections from the 
 Bomhay Government Records, No. Ixxii., New Series (1863).
 
 392 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 expend their surplus pay at the end of the month in purchasing 
 shoes or ornaments. This dress will last about six months, and is 
 well calculated for a police, being uniform and looking well with 
 native arms ; it is also the cheapest that could be given, the whole 
 expense being 3|^ rupees. 
 
 ' 1 was unable to proceed in hutting more than thirty men, 
 grass not being procurable so late in the season ; the rest I have 
 quartered in empty houses in the town without infringing on any 
 prejudice of the inhabitants, who were, at first, very averse to their 
 neighboui-hood, and had many causes of complaint against the 
 Bheels, who were then rather disorderly ; but latterly such com- 
 plaints have entirely ceased, and their behaviour is to the satisfac- 
 tion of every one. 
 
 ' I have, for the present, divided the corps into two classes : the 
 one consisting of the men for general police duties, the other of 
 those whom I hope to train and discipline as light infantry. The 
 latter are selected from the youngest and most intelligent; of this 
 class there are only at piesent about twenty. 
 
 * The duties I yet exact are light : from the former a daily and 
 nightly guard of a Naick (or lance) and six privates; from the 
 latter, whom I wish to attach as much as possible to my person, 
 two orderlies are supplied daily. 
 
 ' In pursuance of what I deemed prudent, i.e. exacting early 
 service from them, I detached several parties to recruit. The ill- 
 success of two which were sent to the greatest distance I have 
 already shown, but the fidelity they evinced on that occasion was 
 more gratifying than the most complete success. I have reason to 
 be equally well pleased with all the parties I detached in the 
 neighbourhood, all of which, though meeting with little success, 
 deserved the tiust I placed in them, and exerted themselves to the 
 utmost.' 
 
 The following interesting particulars from the pen of Sir Bartle 
 Frere came to hand at too late an hour for embodiment in the text, 
 but in time to be here added : — 
 
 ' Candeesh is one of the richest provinces of Western India, 
 formed by the basin of the Taptee river, somewhat lower and more 
 sheltered than the general table-land of the Deccan, with better 
 soil and better water. It had been rich and populous during the 
 flourishing days of the Delhi empire ; but as that empu-e fell into
 
 APPENDICES. 393 
 
 decrepitude, Candeesh suffered from being on the great roads lead- 
 ing from the cradle of the Mahratta race in the southern Deccan 
 to the fertile plains and cities of Hindoostan. From the i-ise of 
 the ]\Iahratta power every year saw the Mahratta hordes advancing 
 northwards to then- annual plundering expeditions, or returning 
 with their plunder to the safer recesses of the Deccan ; and, as the 
 province possessed but few great fortresses between the range of 
 Ghauts on its western border and Asseeghur on the east, Candeesh 
 gradually became devastated by passing bands of plunderers to 
 such an extent, that the jungle ovei'powered the cultivation, and 
 the greater part of the province lapsed into a state of forest — while 
 the few inhabited portions sviffered from almost annual inroads of 
 Pindarees or Mahrattas, or from the incursions of Bhils. This 
 wild mountain race had in previous ages been driven to the rocky 
 fastnesses of the ranges which encircle Candeesh on all sides ; but, 
 encouraged by the distracted state of the countiy after the rise of 
 the Mahratta power, they plundered what little was left to the 
 defenceless villagers, and perpetuated the desolation caused by the 
 passage of armies. 
 
 ' To such an extent had the devastation of the land and the 
 increase of jungle pi'oceeded when the country came into our pos- 
 session rather more than sixty years ago, that Mr. Chaplain, the 
 first Commissioner who took over that part of the Mahratta Peish- 
 wa's dominion after its conquest in 1817-18, reported that the first 
 year's police returns showed a total of 30,000 cattle destroyed by 
 tigers within the province. It soon after fell to the Hon. Mount 
 Stuart Elphinstone to arrange for measures required to render life 
 and property secure in Candeesh, and to restore its ancient pios- 
 perity. He selected for this purpose two men whom he used to 
 name " his sword " and " his plough." Outram was " the sword," 
 and Captain Chai'les Ovans was " the plough," and to both were 
 allotted young military oflicers carefully chosen for their enter- 
 prise, courage, and other military qualities. I know of only one 
 who still survives, Colonel Patrick French, who assisted Captain 
 Ovans from the fii-st, and subsequently succeeded him as Bhil 
 agent, his business being to make the acquaintance of the wild 
 Bhil tribes, to settle them down to agriculture, train them, and 
 teach them to use the ploughs and cattle which Avere given them 
 by the Government. 
 
 ' Whilst this was the work of " the plough," Oulram was to raise
 
 394 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 and command a corps of Bhils, who wei-e to be employed as military 
 police in the wilder parts of the country, to stop mai-anding and 
 gang robbery, to rid the country of tigers and other wild beasts, 
 and to do whatever else was required to render life and property 
 in the province secure. 
 
 * It is difficult to convey an adequate idea of the difficulties 
 which beset both classes of oflficei-s. The country, unsurveyed and 
 imperfectly known, was everywhere covered with dense jungle ; 
 the climate was often malarious and dangerous to health ; but the 
 great difficulty of all was the seeming impossibility of gaining the 
 confidence of the Bhils, and inducing them to accept the well-meant 
 measures devised for them by the British Govei-nment. 
 
 * This was mainly owing to the manner in which they had been 
 treated by our predecessors, the Mahratta governors of the pi-ovince, 
 who had adopted a system of forcible retaliation, often accomjianied 
 by treachery, which had rendered the Bhils suspiciovis of every- 
 thing offered to them by their civilised fellow-men. The following 
 anecdote may illustrate the kind of treatment the Bhils used to 
 receive from their Mahratta rulers. About forty-five years ago I 
 was trying, as assistant magistrate, a magisterial case, in which 
 two Bhils were accused of theft, when a Brahmin of high rank 
 under the Mahratta government came in to draw the pension which 
 had been assigned him after the conquest. He sat and listened 
 with some interest to the proceedings till the case was concluded, 
 and then remarked that "the sahih was taking a great deal of 
 unnecessary trouble ; that these kind of people would go on thieving 
 as long as there was anything to steal ; and that formal trials and 
 civilised punishments were altogether misapplied in their case." I 
 asked him how he would deal with them, and he said, " Well, I 
 was once employed in Candeesh myself, when I was a young man, 
 under a Soubedar famous for the vigour of his administration and 
 the peace he maintained in the country. These Bhils were then 
 very troublesome, and after sundry expeditions, with very little 
 result, the Soubedar came to the conclusion that formal military 
 operations were useless against such an enemy. He, therefore, 
 desisted from sending out detachments of troops, and having 
 managed to communicate with some of the Bhil chiefs, invited 
 them to a conference. At the conference he told them that he had 
 become convinced of the necessity of making it worth their while 
 to abstain from plundering, and that if they and all the chiefs of the
 
 APPENDICES. 395 
 
 neighbouring forest coimtry would meet him, lie would arrange terms 
 by which they woidd be in the receipt of fixed money allowances. 
 The bait took, and on the day appointed they all assembled to have 
 a grand feast to ratify the arrangement made, when the Soubedar 
 caused troops who had been in concealment to fall upon them, and 
 they were all exterminated." In answer to my expressions of 
 horror at such a proceeding, my visitor informed me " that it would 
 doubtless have been wrong had they been reasonable beings, but 
 they were little better than monkeys, and had all the attributes of 
 wild beasts, and could only be dealt with by measures similar to 
 those necessary for exterminating beasts of prey " — and he left me 
 with evident pity for the philanthropic weakness which prevented 
 a young Englishman fi'om agreeing to the lessons of age and 
 experience, 
 
 ' Such had been the treatment to which the Bhils had been used 
 under our predecessors, and it was long before Outram and those 
 who joined him in the imdertaking could regain the confidence of 
 the Bhils, even sufliciently to induce them to join his camp. 
 
 ' One young officer who gave me graphic accounts of his early 
 life with Outram was Douglas Graham — afterwards well known as 
 one of the most daring huntsmen in Western India ; some thirty- 
 five years ago, the companion of Sir William Harris in his mission 
 to Shoa, the southern kingdom of Abyssinia ; and later again, 
 political agent at Kolapoor in the southern Mahratta country. 
 Graham had come out strongly recommended by some of his Scotch 
 connections to the Govei-nor, the Hon. Mount Stuart Elphmstone, 
 and as soon as Mr. Elphinstone had gauged the capacity of his 
 young lyrotege, he told him that he thought he could not do better, 
 in order to make a man and a soldier of him, than send him up to 
 assist Outram in the task on which he was then engaged, the 
 civilising of the Bhils, and raising a corps for the protection of 
 life and property in the wilder parts of Candeesh, to be composed 
 entirely of that race under officers, some native and a few Europeans, 
 carefully chosen from the ranks of the Bombay army. 
 
 ' Young Ensign Douglas Graham accordingly journeyed up to 
 join Outram (mounted on a pony, the only means of conveyance at 
 that time), by paths through jungles, which are now traversed by 
 the gi-eat railway from Bombay to Calcutta over the Thul Ghaut. 
 Nassik, the famous Hindoo city of pilgrims, and Maligam, the head- 
 quarters of the troops which garrisoned Candeesh, were almost tho
 
 396 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 only towns lie saw till he joined Outram at a village on the verge 
 of civilisation on the eastern skirts of the great chain of the Syadri 
 Ghants, Outram had come to this village at the earnest request 
 of the inhabitants, who represented to him that — suffering as they 
 always did from the depredations of the tigers, who had almost 
 the whole of the country between that and the Surat coast to 
 themselves — their existence had been made quite intolerable by a 
 huge tigi-ess, who preyed upon their cattle and occasionally their 
 women and children. She had taken up her abode in a long 
 tunnel, cut through a spur of a hill, in more prosperous times, by 
 the Mogul rulers of Baglan, to convey to the village the water of 
 a distant stream. Douglas Graham found Outram with a few Bhils 
 recently attached to him by what they had heai'd of his hunting 
 prowess, planning with the villagers his scheme of operations 
 against the tigress. She had ensconced herself in the tunnel, a 
 passage of considerable length through a hill composed of soft tufa, 
 which had been cut out sufficiently to enable two men, stoojiing, 
 to walk abreast and clear the water channel of obstructions. The 
 water was, at that dry and intensely hot season, only a few inches 
 deep, and afforded a pleasant lair to the tigress after her nightly 
 foi'ay. The villagers could not tell, as she had walked along 
 the watercourse, by which end she had entered, and there 
 were places inside large enough for her to turn, so that it was 
 impossible to say which way she might be lying in watch for 
 anything she heard approaching. Outram's first question to his 
 young friend was, " whether he had brought his gun." Of course 
 he was answered in the affirmative, and the single-barrelled fowling- 
 piece, duly inspected, was pi'onounced to be strong enough to be 
 loaded with ball ; in fact, Graham, for the last two days of his 
 journey, had been convinced that there were beasts of prey behind 
 every bush, and, like a brave young Scot, had charged his piece 
 with a bullet, determined to do his best in any encounter which 
 might offer. He saw that Outram was evidently musing whether 
 it was fair to deprive his young assistant of a chance of distin- 
 guishing himself, or whether it might not be better to wait till he 
 was more practised as a shot. Graham felt bound in honour to 
 press his right to accompany his chief, so Outram explained to him 
 that they would have to walk in with the water over their ankles, 
 and stooping, with the certainty that the tigress would hear their 
 approach, and would turn round and enable them to see her
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 397 
 
 position by the glare of her eyes. " We will go in as quietly as we 
 can," he said : " bnt if you catch a sight of her eyes, take a very 
 steady aim and fire between them : take care not to fire too hi^h, 
 and you will be sure to hit her in some bad part. If she cannot 
 turn round in the tunnel she will come sti'aight to us, and you 
 must throw yourself flat on your face ; do not mind the water, 
 but keep your head low, and she will to a certainty make for the 
 light behind us, and get out into the open ; be sure you take good 
 aim between the eyes." This was a comfortable position for a boy 
 perhaps of sixteen ; but Graham begged not to be left behind, and 
 accompanied his chief, devoutly praying, as he afterwards confessed, 
 that the tigi-ess might go out at the other end and give them a 
 chance on more equal terms. This she did, and Graham had the 
 gratification of putting a shot into her before she was killed among 
 tlie bushes on the outside, having satisfied his chief that the youth 
 was made of the right stuff for a Bhil agent's assistant.'
 
 398 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 PACIFICATION OF THE MAHI-KANTA, page 150. 
 
 The following extract fx'om the ' Bombay Gazette,' published in 
 ' Allen's Indian Mail' of March 1, 1879, appears to be a fitting 
 addendum to a chapter relating Outram's experiences and work in 
 the Mahi-Kcinta, Though the name of this distinguished officer may 
 not have been mentioned by the framer of the addi'ess presented to 
 Sir Richard Temple, it is probable that among the Europeans and 
 natives in whose presence it was read and responded to, there may 
 have been one, or more than one, to whom it would naturally 
 occur in connection with the reforms inaugurated at the dawn of 
 the preceding half century : — 
 
 ' Sir Richard Temple and the Mahi Kanta Chiefs. — 
 During his recent tour in Guzerat H.E. the Governor of Bombay 
 held a durbar at Sacha, which was attended by thirteen chiefs of the 
 Mahi Kanta, headed by the Maharaja of Edar. One Thakore was 
 offended at the place assigned him and went away, and a second 
 was accidentally absent. After the presentation, H.H. the 
 Maharaja of Edar read the following address with a strong, clear 
 voice, and distinct, tolerably correct pronunciation, showing a 
 fairly good knowledge of English : — 
 
 ' " To his Excellency the Honourable Sir Richard Temple, Bart., 
 G.C.S.I., CLE., Governor of Bombay. — May it please your 
 Excellency,- — I beg on my own behalf, and on that of the other 
 chiefs, sirdars, and people of this province, to bid your Excellency 
 a hearty welcome to the Mahi Kanta. Your Excellency is the 
 second Governor of Bombay that has visited this province. We 
 hail your arrival, and rejoice that you should see and judge with 
 your own eyes the vast changes and various reforms that have 
 taken place since the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone paid a
 
 APPENDICES. 399 
 
 visit to the Mahi Kanta more than half a century ago. Owing in 
 a great measiu-e to the jxjlicy adopted by that statesman, i-apme 
 and violence have given way to peace and tranquillity. Where 
 there were marauding bands of robbei'S and outlaws, a thri\'ing and 
 prospering agricultural population now till the ground, secure of 
 reaping the fruits of their toil, and the habits of nearly all classes 
 have changed for the better, while education is extending even 
 to the Kolee. We cordially acknowdedge that to the protection 
 of the Bi-itish Government the Mahi Kanta is indebted for this 
 happy change, and we trust that under its fostering care the 
 people of this province will rise still higher in the scale of civilisa- 
 tion. We rejoice in your Excellency's visit, not merely on official 
 grounds, but also because we are glad to meet thus face to face 
 the statesman whose administrative ability and untiring energy 
 are so renowned throughout India. In conclusion, we beg to 
 express our sincere and grateful thanks for the kindness you have 
 show^n, and to assure your Excellency of our firm loyalty and 
 unswerving devotion to our gracious Sovereign Queen Victoria, 
 Empress of India, and we pray that you will be pleased to lay 
 these our sentiments at the foot of the Imperial Throne." 
 
 * In reply his Excellency said that he was glad to make the 
 personal acquaintance of the Mahi Kanta chiefs in their own 
 province, and to hear an address in English so well read by the 
 Maharaja of Edar. His Excellency was aware that an English 
 education was not within the reach of all of them at present, being 
 more or less expensive, but hoped that such vernacular education 
 as was obtainable would be availed of for the rising generation. 
 His Excellency was glad to be able to visit the My hi Kanta, and to 
 see for himself the state of the province. He enjoined the Thakores 
 to make it then- business to increase the productiveness of then" ter- 
 ritories and ameliorate the condition of their subjects, by carrying 
 out irrigational projects, by the careful study of agriculture, and 
 by introducing reforms. His Excellency animadverted on the 
 Byad system, regretting the frequency of disputes between the 
 Thakores and their relations and dependents ; and ascribed it to 
 the faulty system of allotting to the Byads some portion of land or 
 village property, whilst reserving the right of levying certain local 
 imposts on the produce or tenure of these allotments. His Excel- 
 lency advised the Thakoies to accord to the Byads some means of
 
 400 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 subsistence less calculated to cause trouble and dissatisfaction, 
 averring that a small allotment free of reserve was much better 
 than a large assignment bui'dened with some bond of contention. 
 On the other hand, his Excellency admonished the Byads not to 
 embarrass their tribal rulers, the Thakores, by factiousness, and 
 warned them that such conduct would be gravely discountenanced 
 by Government. In conclusion his Excellency congratulated the 
 Thakores on the complete abolition of female infanticide.' — Bombay 
 Gazette. 
 
 What a contrast does the educated Mahardja of Edar present to 
 the Fath Singhs and Sui'aj Malls of Captain Outram's time !
 
 APPEy DICES. 401 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 FIRST ADVANCE INTO AFGHANISTAN, page 170. 
 
 The occurreuces of April 1839, as regards the Bombay column, 
 were not of an impoi'tance or interest commensurate with the pro- 
 gress of an army of invasion or occupation in a country so disturbed 
 as Afghanistan. The experiences gained, however, were useful, 
 and hiay be studied with advantage by present and future soldiei-s, 
 merchants, or travellers. Let us examine them as handed down to 
 us, and select the more salient passages on the record. Attacks 
 and robberies, or attempted robberies, by Baluchis were very fre- 
 quent, and required to be met with spirit and promptitude. Severe 
 examples were made to deter the offenders; but theii- audacity 
 knew no bounds, and, on the very skirts of the camp, camels wei-e 
 driven off and camel-drivers stripped of their property in the broad 
 light of day. During the six marches through the Bolan, only on 
 one day, the second, were the troops with whom Outram proceeded 
 really opposed, and they suffered no loss in repulsing theii- adver- 
 saries by means of a cavalry charge. Not so with the Major- 
 General, who was a march or two in i-ear. His baggage was 
 attacked with considerable spii'it at the pass ; forty-niiie camel- 
 loads of grain were carried off, five horses killed, and three troopers 
 wounded. On the other hand, many of the enemy are said to 
 have been then slain by our men. Beyond Kwatta, at Haikalzai, 
 the rejir guard was fired on and a camp-follower missed, but no fur- 
 ther harm done ; beyond Haikalzai, a peon was cut down and thi-ee 
 camels and an officer's horse were abstracted without redi'ess 
 ol^tained ; but few, if any, like misadventures, between the Bolan 
 and Kandahar, have place in Outiam's journal, as coming under 
 his own observation. He mentions, however, that, as at the Bolan, 
 so, before and after joining the artillery at the Kohjak Pass, 
 General Willshirc was subject to molestation, and that his Ijrigade 
 VOL. 1. D D
 
 402 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 had had several affairs with horsemen hoveiiug about the baggage, 
 in which upwards of fifty of the assailants were killed, with the 
 loss of only two or three on our side. 
 
 The Bengal column and Shah's contingent had been harassed 
 by these attacks on a larger scale ; and their losses must have been 
 more considerable. With reference to the proceedings of the mixed 
 force in its integiity, it was estimated that at least five hundred 
 Baluchis, K^kars, and Afghans, had fallen before ovir soldiers since 
 leaving Shikarpur and Lai'khdna ; the casualty roll on our side 
 showing thirty or forty killed in open combat, besides some hundreds 
 of follow^ers murdered. The loss in baggage animals, owing to death, 
 desertion of drivei's, abandonment., robbery, and the many causes 
 presenting themselves in a country where forage was scarce, water 
 not always procurable, and travelling dangerous and difficult, must 
 be set down at a very high figure. Sir "Willoughby Cotton's 
 regiments and detachments had so suffered from defective commis- 
 sariat arrangements that, on arrival at Kwatta, the men composing 
 them were placed on half-rations, and the camp-followers on an 
 allowance barely sufficient to support nature. If, in such case, 
 human beings died of starvation, the lot of beasts of burden could 
 hardly have been less cruel.
 
 APPENDICES. 403 
 
 APPENDIX E. 
 
 HONOURS AWARDED TO OUTRAM, page -iW. 
 
 But for the General's unexplaiued silence regarding bis varied ser- 
 vices as extra aide-de-camp, Outram's brevet for Kaldt would bave 
 been a lieutenant-colonelcy, jirobably accompanied by a C.B.-sbip. 
 Indeed, be was actually on the list for promotion to tbat rank, but 
 at the eleventh hour some occult influence in London prevailed to 
 cancel it. As it was, be remained a major till 1843, much to the 
 prejudice of after- advancement, for his regimental promotion was 
 exceptionally slow, and always lagged far behind his brevet rank. 
 
 It is pleasant to remark that among the most active of those 
 admirers whose kind exertions, twenty years later, secm^ed the suc- 
 cess of the ' Outram Testimonials,' was one whose warm friendship 
 for him dated from the time when they served together on the 
 Commander-in-Chief's staff in Afghanistan, viz. the second Lord 
 Keane of Ghazni. And although both Sir William Macnaghten 
 and Lord Auckland had been fully aware of the Jiombay captain's 
 outspoken condemnation of their Afghan policy, it in no way 
 affected their generous recognition of his merits. They not only 
 showed their confidence by selecting him for responsible duties, but 
 they omitted no opportunity of expressing their unreserved appro- 
 bation of his manner of fulfilling them. A friendly correspondence 
 with the high-minded Envoy continued till his tragic death. His 
 last official letter is that noticed in the text, intimating the grant 
 of the Order of the Durdni Empire. 
 
 The Governor-General's approbation did not evaporate in public 
 and private expressions of commendation. It marked out, for the 
 young Bombay 'political,' a wider and more responsible field of 
 action than any available within his own Presidency. 
 
 U D 2
 
 4U4 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 MR, ROSS BELL, page 226. 
 
 Mr. Ross Bell, of the Bengal Civil Service, was designated by 
 Lord Auckland as ' an officer of tried energy and intelligence.' 
 Much has been said and written of this gentleman's love of display 
 and of the pomp and parade attendant on his movements from 
 place to place, in the fulfilment of his official duties. Contrasted with 
 the simpler ways of Colonel Pottinger and his assistants, it is quite 
 intelligible that the style of living and moving of the Upper Sind 
 magnate was considered by many to be unnecessarily costly and 
 luxurious. But we believe the difference to have been as much one 
 of Englishmen's habits generally in the two Presidencies of Bengal 
 and Bombay, as of idiosyncrasy. In other respects. Lord Auck- 
 land was well satisfied with his nominee ; and from first to last, 
 throughout the late Mr. Ross Bell's short career in Sind and 
 Baluchistan, did not hesitate to express himself in the strongest 
 terms of the importance and value of his services. Unfortunately, 
 a weak state of health, brought on by an ungenial climate, greatly 
 aggravated the difficulties of his position. Regulation and prece- 
 dent, which commonly guide and render smooth the routine of 
 Indian kachahris, were almost wholly wanting within the limits 
 of a Baluchistan political agency. Their place would here be sup- 
 plied by common sense, knowledge of native character, moral and 
 physical courage, tact, energy, and sound discrimination : and no 
 amount of high principle and zeal could atone for the absence of 
 qualities such as these. 
 
 It may be well here to say a few words on our relations with 
 Upper Sind at the time of Mr. Ross Bell's agency. If Lower 
 Sind was important as the seat of the higher class local government, 
 the Amirs of Khairpur, or the Upper Sind districts, were far 
 from insignificant members of the Talpur clan, and could boast a 
 family history quite as interesting as that of their cousins lower 
 down the river. One * Kaka,' or 'Bijnn,' was the common an- 
 cestor, from whose son, Hotak, sprang the respective founders of 
 the two houses of Haidarabad and Khairpur, and whose other 
 son, Manik, numbered among his immediate descendants the first 
 ruler of Mirpur. His grandson Shahdad, eminent among the 
 Baluch settlers in the country during the rule of the Kalhoras 
 (who preceded the Talpurs), Avas perhaps more than an ordinary 
 landholder, and exercised a sort of feudal sway in tlie land
 
 APPENDICES. 405 
 
 of Ins sojoixrn. First of tlie family to quit his native hills and 
 take servace in Hind, he had hrought many Baluch followers 
 to the newly adopted standard. These had not the patience to re- 
 main long in obscurity ; and stirring times were near to test their 
 prowess and nationality. On the death of Shahdad, his sons Chdkar 
 and Bahram became the recognised heads of the Sind Talpurs. The 
 murder of the latter, and other acts of violence and oppression 
 committed by the chiefs in power, brought about a revolution ; the 
 government was subverted ; and eventually Sohrab the son of 
 Chd.kar, in Upper Sind, and Fath Ali, Ghulam Ali, Karm Ali, and 
 Murad Ali, sons of Bahi-am in Lower Sind, together with Tara in 
 JNIirpur, became the de facto sovereigns of the country. 
 
 It is of Sohrab and his children we have now to speak. He 
 had aided in the expulsion of the Kalhoras from Haidarabad, and 
 might therefore reasonably claim a shai'e of the spoil in the general 
 partition of the province ; but the tract which fell to his lot wjis 
 insufficient to satisfy his ambition, and he was not long in extend- 
 ing its limits. To this end, both Bbawalpur and the Afghans were 
 destined more or less to contiibutea quota ; the first, on clear com- 
 pulsion ; the second, with comparative indifference to the transfer of 
 ownership. 
 
 One hundi'ed and forty years ago, the Persian conquerors of 
 Dehli, under the leadership of Nadir Shah, possessed themselves of 
 extensive lands west of the Indus, The helpless Sindians were 
 driven to Umarkot and the Eastern deserts. On the death of 
 Nadir in lT-i7, Ahmad Shah Abdalli raised up a new kingdom be- 
 tween Northern India and Persia, which, while it saved the former 
 country from the aggi-essions of the latter, made little change in it 
 otherwise, for it merely i-eplaced there one plundei'er by another. 
 The Afghan monarch was an awkward neighbour ; invaded on his 
 own account, and scattering his followers over Sind and the Punjab, 
 demanded a certain amount of black mail from the inhabitants in 
 return for holding his hand. In Sind this tiil:)ute became here- 
 ditary, both to givers and receivers. Thxoughout Ahmad Shah's 
 reign every art and evasion was called into play to get lid of the 
 incubus ; but the Afghan was needy and could never dispense with 
 the money. When taking the province from the Kalhoras, the 
 Talpurs had also taken the debt, but, more fortunate than their 
 predecessors, they found means of staving oil" the liability. The 
 relief, however, was not permanent, nor was the claim sulllMvd to
 
 4o6 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 become obsolete. Taimur Shah, the less formidable successor of 
 Ahmad, had been quieted by pretexts; the next king, Zam^n, had 
 accepted a shabby settlement in lieu of arrears; and Shiija-ul- 
 Mulk, brother to Zamdn, had followed the latter's example. Nay 
 more, the Amirs of Sind had so far turned the tables on their old 
 oppressors, as to abstract Shikarpur from the hands of its local 
 governors, and make that important possession their own. Sud- 
 denly, new interests arose ; the question of Sind tribute was 
 revived with a piu^pose hitherto unknown ; a new power had 
 interfered to exhume the buried accounts ; and the debtors were 
 consigned to so-called justice. We have already shown the nature 
 of the tribunal before which the Amirs were arraigned, and the 
 sentence passed upon them. British mediation is a serious aflliir 
 in circumstances such as these. 
 
 But Sohrab himself had retired from public life in 1811, and 
 made over the dignity and cares of government to his eldest son 
 Rustam, with whom, twenty yeais later, Alexander Burnes 
 opened treaty relations. This popular and kindly chief not only 
 suffered from his hospitable attention to strangers, but was doomed, 
 through the intrigues and ambition of a near relative, to experience 
 hard treatment in his own home. Even prior to the negotiations 
 of 1831, he had begun to be involved in domestic and dynastic 
 perplexity. His father had but I'ecently died at a very advanced 
 age — probably in his ninetieth year — and, before dying, had con- 
 trived, by wills and codicils, to throw disorder into his succession. 
 Abdication of the riydsat, or office of Rdis, had been followed by 
 marriage with a young wife, and this wife had presented old 
 Sohrab with a son, when the son of a former wife, Rustam, was a 
 quinquagenarian, and busily engaged in dii-ecting the affairs of State. 
 In process of time the child became a man, and a covetous and 
 very aspiring man, who rested not until he had 1:»rought his vene- 
 rable half-brother to ruin. Indian history knows the youngest son 
 of Sohrab as Mir Ali Murad of Khairpur. His career affords a 
 remarkable illustiation of Sindi-Baluch charac^ter, and may be 
 studied with advantage by our own political officers in India, as 
 well as by native candidates for Government service. To the first 
 it should supply an incentive to imdeistand our subjects as closely 
 as these strive to imdeistand their ruleis, ajid with better lesults. 
 To the second it should be a caution to deal heedfully and, as
 
 APPENDICES. 407 
 
 much as iu Ihfiii lies, honestly, \\ ilh iudividual lepresentatives of 
 the British Government, w ho are not all cast in the same mould, 
 nor professors of one and the s;ime political ci-eed. 
 
 ESTABLISUMENTS IN SIND AND BALUCHISTAN, page 231. 
 
 With reference to Outram's scheme, submitted to Mr. Colvin iu 
 August 1840 — of the first-class assistants in Sind and Baluchistan, 
 Captain Edmunds was already in the KaUt State, Lieutenant 
 Leckie was at Haidarabad, and Lieutenant Postans at Shikarpur. 
 It was proposed to complete the number by nominating Captain 
 Fi-ench to Upper Sind. Of second-class assistants, as there were 
 six {i.e. Captains Kennedy, Gordon, and Kynvett, with Lieutenants 
 Eastwick, Hammersley, and Whitelock) at the time, on the roll of 
 officers employed in the agency, one was in excess of the proposed 
 number. But the supernumerary officer would be available to fill 
 one of the vacancies in the third class, in which four new names 
 were submitted for approval, viz. Captains Hart and Christal, 
 Lieutenant Pelly and Lieutenant Agar. Under the old system of 
 sepaiate agencies for Upper and Lower Sind, Captain Bean was 
 the political agent at Kwatta (for Shdl) ; bvit, as he might not elect 
 to remain under the arrangement wliich placed his office among 
 the limited agencies, his tenure was not treated as a permanent one. 
 Three officers, Messrs. Brown, Varden, and Wallace, then employed 
 in Sind and Baluchistan, were not included in the programme, 
 because it was understood that the fii'st had resigned, and the two 
 last would be compelled, by ill-health, to leave the country. Lieu- 
 tenant Eastwick, a second-class assistant, had, moreover, gone on 
 sick leave to Karachi. 
 
 EVENTS IN AFGHANISTAN, Jjage 24.3. 
 
 The busy Political Agent's voluminous correspondence aboimds 
 in suggestive comments upon Afghan events generally, but space 
 forl^ids lengthened quotation. In a letter to Colonel Sutherland, 
 d;ited December 26, 1841, for submission to the Governor-General 
 if deemed advisable, he reviews the existing situation : —
 
 4o8 JAMES OUT RAM. 
 
 ' I had long contemplated the possibility of the Afghan explo- 
 sion, and revolved in my mind the most creditable, and least dis- 
 advantageous, way of shaking oif the Cabool connection, if it should 
 become necessary ; and, in that case, what arrangement would best 
 secure our influence in Afghanistan. ... To allow ourselves to be 
 driven out, or to withdraw, under present circumstances, Avould, I 
 really think, be tantamount to throwing up our hold on India, for 
 such a declaration of weakness would be a death-sti'oke to power 
 principally based on opinion. That, therefore, is not to be thought of, 
 I trust : neither will the necessity occvir, I confidently hope, for humi- 
 liating capitulation by any of our garrisons throughout the country, 
 every one of which is capable of holding its position on the defensive 
 until spring, if provided with ammunition, of which, I trust, every 
 post has a sufficiency, at least for mere defence, behind walls which 
 need not call for much expenditui-e ; and I have eveiy expectation 
 that, among so mercenary a people, provisions will be obtained with- 
 out difficulty, after the first enthusiasm of the revolt abates, and the 
 vigilance of the besiegers begins to i-elax and dissension to arise, 
 as inevitably must i-esult from delays in attaining their objects. I 
 rely upon it, that by the time for our ti'oops to advance on Cabool, 
 from Jellalabad and Candahar, the league will be greatly weakened, 
 if not entirely broken ; and that little or no opposition will be 
 oflered, or, if so, nothing that will not be ovei'come by fresh and 
 eager troops, at infinitely less cost than the weak and worn-out 
 biigade under Sale suffered on i-etii'ement from that capital. . . . 
 I would, after the resubmission of the chiefs, admit their light to 
 choose a king for themselves, since the national voice has declared 
 against Shah Soojah, ... on the condition of a British i-epi'csenta- 
 tive being retained at that court, and pledges for dvxe deference to 
 British counsels. A Barukzye would most likely be nominated ; 
 and if Dost Mahomed, it would be to our advantage.' 
 
 How accurately these anticipations were in accordance with 
 actual facts, the events of 1842, the journals of Eyre, of INIohuu 
 Lall, and of Lady Sale fully testify. But the ' military crime ' (as 
 he expressed it) witnessed at Kabul, and the non-piovisioning of 
 Cliazni, were beyond the ken of those who, like himself, had based 
 their predictions of the safety of the lai-gc and well-pi-ovided force 
 u[)on knowledge of place and peo}>le, and upon ordinaiy military 
 considerations. He writes to Sir J. Carnac on February 1 0, 1 S 12 : — 
 ' I have proved a false pi-ophet, alas ! as regards the issue of
 
 APPENDICES. 409 
 
 affairs at Cabool ; but wlio could conceive that five thousand 
 British troops would deliberately commit suicide, which literally 
 has been the f;ite of the Cabool garrison % From first to last such a 
 tissue of political and militai-y mismanagement the history of the 
 world has never shown.' 
 
 After commenting in detail upon the errors committed, he con- 
 cludes : ' Within my own charge, I confidently trust to all going 
 on well, in spite of the volcano around us . . . you will see that 1 
 then (in 1839) predicted everything that has come to pass so far 
 as the Afghans are concerned, though cei'tainly I never could have 
 believed that our troops in that country could be humbled to such 
 a depth of degradation.'
 
 410 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 APPENDIX F. 
 
 TREATMENT OF MAJOR OUTRAM, page 293. 
 
 In reference to the peculiar treatment of Major Outram described 
 in the text it would be unfaii* to his memory xo pass by altogether 
 the spontaneous expressions, however eulogistic, of two such com- 
 ])etent observers as Henry Lawrence and Mountstuart Elphinstone. 
 The former remarks in his already quoted article in the ' Calcutta 
 Review ' of September 1845 : — 
 
 ' In the year 1838, Outram carried to Affghanistan a character 
 such as could not be paralleled by any officer of his standing in India. 
 His services during the first Affghan war were second to those of 
 no officer then and thei-e employed. And had he remained in the 
 Ghilzee country, or at Khelat, many of our disasteis might have 
 been averted. But it is by his civil management, first of Lower 
 Sind, and then of both the Upper and Lower Provinces, and of all 
 Beloocliistan, that Outram has won our highest admiration. 
 
 ' When the European inhabitants of Calcutta trembled for our 
 Indian Empire — when, in the highest places, men grew pale at the 
 evil tidings from Aftghanistan — Outram held his frontier post 
 with a firm hand, a brave heart, and cheerful tone that owjht 
 to have been contagious. Vigilant, conciliatory, courageous, he 
 managed, with his handful of troops, not only to prevent the Ameers 
 from taking advantage of our disasters, but to induce them to aid 
 in furnishing supplies and carriage for the rel'wvia'j, then considered 
 the retreatincj , army. The merits of his exertions on that occjxsion 
 are little understood. He obeyed as was his duty ; but he did not 
 the less clearly perceive the I'uinous tendency ot" the Government 
 oi'ders. He had the moral couiage to sacrifice his own immediate 
 interests by stemming the then prevalent tide of cowardly 
 counsel.' 
 
 Regarding Hammersley's fate. Sir Henry remarked : 'Outram's 
 chiv.ilrous defence of his assistant, Lieutenant llannutn-sley, is
 
 APPENDICES. \\\ 
 
 one of the many instances in which he advocated the right, at the 
 peril of his own interests, llanuuersley was as brave, as honest- 
 hearted a young soldier as ever fell a victim to his duty. We knew 
 him well ; and no man who did so need be ashamed to shed a tear 
 over his fate. He was literally sacriticed for telling the truth — 
 a truth, too, that was of vital importance to the beleaguered 
 Candahar army — nay, to the interests of British India ! Peace be 
 to the memory of this noble fellow ! ' 
 
 Ml-. Elphinstone thus wi-ites to one of the Directors of the East 
 India Company in 1843 : ' Besides his ample share in the planning 
 and conduct of various militai-y enterprises, his political services 
 for sevei'al years have been such as it would be difficult to parallel 
 in the whole course of Indian diplomacy. We forced a sul)sidiary 
 grant and tribute on Siud ; we made open war on the Brahoes of 
 Khelat, killed their chief, and took theii" capital ; and on these two 
 powers, all our communications with Candahai- depended. To keep 
 them quiet, and prevent them thwai-ting our measures, would have 
 been difficult even in times of peace and prosperity ; yet such was 
 Colonel Outram's management as to obtain their cordial co- opera- 
 tion duiing the whole of our dangers and disasters in AfTghanistan. 
 Our movements in every direction from Candahar depending 
 on the country supplies we I'cceived from them, all of which they 
 might have withheld, without any show of hostility or ground of 
 (|uarrel with us, had they been disposed for more open enmity — 
 Genei'al England's detachment could neither have retii-ed or 
 advanced, as it did ; and it is doubtful whether Nott himself could 
 have made his w;iy to the Indus, through the opposition and 
 privations he must have suffex-ed in such a case. In an advance 
 towards Cabul, he certainly could not, without the assistance he 
 I'eceived through the Sind and Khelat country.'
 
 412 JAMES OVIRAM. 
 
 APPENDIX G. 
 
 CONDITION OF THE AMIRS IN UPPER SIND, page 315. 
 
 The letter fi'om which extracts ai-e given in the text was Avritten 
 fi'om Khairpur on Januaiy 26. One of two days' earlier date from 
 the same place, had put the General in possession of certain facts 
 and figures, illustrating the reduced circumstances of the Upper 
 8ind Amiis — brought about by oui- intei'fei-ence — which Sir Charles 
 frankly acknowledged to have ' grieved him exceedingly.' The 
 following extract will convey some notion of the money value of 
 the territory and revenues lost to the chiefs : — 
 
 ' The balance which now remains to the Ameers of Upper 
 Sinde is rupees 14,29,000, and you ai-e bound, I undei-stand, to 
 make good to Ali Moorad his shai-e of the ceded countiy, which 
 he claims to the value of 1,50,000 and which, in addition to his 
 original territory of 2,95,000, gives him rs. 4,45,000. Added to this 
 you are, 1 believe, pledged to give him one-fourth of the I'cmaining 
 pi-operty of Upper Sinde (or, of rujiees 14,29, 000)=rupees 3,57,250 
 — Total rupees 8,02,250. Cunse(|uently, all that will remain for 
 the support of the other Ameeis and theii- families and feudal 
 chiefs and dependents, as well as most of the Belooch chieftains 
 who have hithei'to enjoyed Jaghires in the portion of the territory 
 to be made over to INIeer Ali ISIoorad (who will undoubtedly eject 
 them all sooner or latei' to make room for foreign mercenaries, 
 I'elatives, and countrymen of his minister Ali Hoossein, and 
 Afghans whom Ali Moorad particularly 2)atronises) — will be I'upoes 
 6,26,750, who formerly enjoyed rupees 17,44,000, the revenue 
 shared among them previous to our entering the country (exclusive 
 of Ali JMooiad's portion).
 
 APPENDICES. 413 
 
 APPENDIX H. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM A DESPATCH OF THE HONOURABLE THE CWURT OF 
 DIRECTORS OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY TO THE GOVERNMENT 
 OF BOMBAY : DATED SEPTEMBER 25, 1845, NO. 25, page 381. 
 
 10. After the capture of Samunghur and the defeat of a 
 party of the Kolapoor insurgents who were on their way to relieve 
 that place, the primaiy object was to suppress the insurrection at 
 Kolapoor itself. For this purpose Lieutenant-Colonel Outram 
 (who, having volunteered to proceed to the scene of disturbance, had 
 been placed by your Government under the orders of Mr. Reeves) 
 moved forward with a light detachment towards Kolapoor, and in a 
 few days succeeded in obtaining peaceable possession of the town 
 and foi-t and of the Rajah's person. A large portion, however, of the 
 Sebundy, headed by Babajee Ahirakur left the place and continued 
 in arms. Before Lieutenant-Colonel Outram was admitted into 
 the town he had promised (on condition of immediate submission) 
 what was called an amnesty, and this measure, being in the first 
 instance imperfectly reported to you, appeared to you extremely 
 objectionable. On further explanation, however, it appeared that 
 (besides the exception made of all who were concerned in the affair 
 at Chickodee, or who had committed any other act of aggression 
 against British territory) the chiefs themselves had received no 
 promise of paitlon, in case they should afterwards prove to have 
 instigated the rebellion, and the amnesty altogether was conditional 
 upon establishing the existence of grievances. Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Outram gave every facility and even encouragement to the troops 
 and people to make their grievances known. Very few complaints, 
 however, were made, and these were not only trifling, but appeared 
 on examination to be unfounded. The Karbarree Dajeo Kristna 
 came out with unblemished chai'acter from the investigation,
 
 414 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 and tlie amnesty was nullified by the failure of an essential con- 
 dition. 
 
 Paragi-aph 13, referring to the imprisonment of C!olonel Ovans, 
 states : ' We must express our satisfaction . . . that Mr. Reeves 
 and Lieutenant-Colonel Outram refused to listen to any propositions 
 from the insurgents previously to his release. That release, when 
 it took place, not having been accompanied by any offer of sub- 
 mission, except upon conditions which could not be granted to 
 armed insv^rgents, it unhappily became necessary to storm the 
 fort ; and the chief insurgent leader, Babajee Ahirakur, fell in the 
 assault.' 
 
 1 6. The territory of Kolapoor contains thirteen forts, twelve of 
 them hill-forts, and in point of situation among the strongest in 
 the world. Of these thirteen, eleven have on this occasion been in 
 arms against our Government, the exceptions being the two 
 forts of Gunjundurgur and Sewghur, belonging to the dependent 
 Chief of Bowra. The resistance has in general been obstinate ; no 
 less than six of the forts were either taken by storm or evacuated 
 after a first unsuccessful assault. Besides this, all, or nearly all, 
 its troops were concerned in the establishment of the unauthorised 
 Government at Kolapoor. 
 
 17. According to your statement, ' there are strong reasons for 
 believing that there is not a single person of any note connected 
 with the Kolapoor State who will not be found more or less 
 implicated in the late unlawful proceedings in that territory.' 
 
 18. Such a display of hostility cannot in our opinion be 
 explained by the intiigues of a few persons, or by any partial or 
 local dissatisfaction. The feeling must have been national. What 
 has taken place is not an insiuTection of disaffected subjects against 
 the Kolapoor Government, but a general rising of the Kolapoor 
 State against the British power. 
 
 19. The British Government had given no just cause for any 
 such manifestation of animosity. Its inteiference in the affairs of 
 Kolapoor had been entirely disinterested, having no other aim than 
 the benefit of the Rajah and of the State. Nor had it attempted 
 any fundamental alteration of existing institutions. Its object had 
 been to correct gross abuses and to secure the better woiking of the 
 existing machinery of government.
 
 APPENDICES. 415 
 
 20. 'riie motives of tlio Kolapoor Sivdiirs aiul lliose ot Ghiid- 
 kurees require to bo distinguished. 
 
 21. Mr. Reeves and Lieutenant-Colonel Outram have made a 
 careful investigation in relation to both. 
 
 43. Finally, Lieutenant-Colonel Ovans having resigned the 
 offices of Resident at Sattara and the command of the troops at that 
 station, you have conferred those appointments upon Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Outram, in consideration of the gallant and energetic 
 spiiit in which his operations in Sawunt Warree have been under- 
 taken, and the ability with which they have been cari-ied into 
 execution. 
 
 44. To all these measures we have the satisfaction of giving 
 our entire approbation.
 
 4i6 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM SIR JAMES OUTRAM'S MINUTE 
 OF JANUARY 2, I860.' 
 
 ON THE AMALGAMATION OF HER MAJESTY's INDIAN FORCES WITH 
 
 THE BRITISH ARMY. (75 Paragraphs.) 
 
 The so-called miitiny. — Bear in mind how unspeakably great 
 had been onr recent obligations to the European troops of the East 
 India Company, as well as to their glorious comrades of the Royal 
 Ai-my, who had cheerfully laid down their lives to save an empire 
 that then appeared tottering to its fall. Think of the marvellous 
 deeds of valour they had just performed, of the privations and 
 hardships they had endured, and of the (to them) heavy losses 
 which many of them had sustained, beyond the destruction of that 
 kit for which alone they could hope to obtain compensation. Re- 
 member that the Press had long teemed with denunciations of the 
 Government on the ground that we were cruelly negligent of the 
 claims of our own countrymen, while, as was alleged, we were 
 needlessly caressing and eni'iching natives who had but scanty 
 claims on our consideration. Recollect that for years past a pain- 
 ful conviction had pervaded the Ai-my that the Government had 
 not behaved fairly to it in the matter of prize — a conviction which 
 led to the destruction, in Lucknow alone, of property to the extent 
 of many tens of thousands of pounds — to the destruction, indeed, of 
 all frangible property which could not be appropriated by the 
 captors, who (and the men were not Company's soldiers) declared 
 that ' Government should make nothing by it.' Keeping all these 
 facts in view, let us place ourselves in the position of the Comjjany's 
 European soldiers, when informed that, owing to financial difficul- 
 ties arising out of that mutiny which they had so zealously and 
 successfully aided in subduing, they were — on what they regarded 
 as a lawyer's quibble — to be deprived of that re-enlistment (with 
 
 ' Tliosc Minutes are rufurrod to iu Book III. cli. vi., near the close of the 
 Second Volume.
 
 APPENDICES. 417 
 
 the bounty which that re-enlistment implied) to which the Prime 
 Minister of England had declared them fully entitled. And doing 
 this we must admit that some allowance should be made for their 
 conduct. 
 
 Injustice to India of amalgamation. — But granting, as I readily 
 do, that for all the purposes of real soldiership — for marching, for 
 bivouacking, roughing it in the field, and fighting — Indian regiments 
 are superior to those that have not had the like experience of the 
 real and distinctive elements of military life ; 1 cannot admit either 
 the policy or the equity of upsetting the military system under 
 which India was gained and has been maintained — dealing a grie- 
 vous blow at our Eastern Empire, imposing vast burdens on our 
 Eastern native fellow-subjects, and inflicting cruel wrongs on six 
 thousand English gentlemen who have well acquitted themselves 
 of theii" duties, though, unfortunately, they have but little aristo- 
 cratic interest, and no Parliamentary or Press influence, simply 
 that an increased number of the regiments of Her Majesty's Line 
 may acquire a greater practical knowledge of their profession. If 
 the real objects of the proposed amalgamation be merely to give 
 Indian experience to a gi^eater number of Royal regiments, let the 
 twenty-four corps of the line and four regiments of cavalry which 
 before the mutinies were found sufiicient to supplement the local 
 force be relieved every ten, every seven, or, if need be, every five 
 years, the Imperial Treasury bearing the additional cost. 
 
 Comparative cost. — It is a fact that the local European corps of 
 India actually cost less than the line regiments supplied from 
 England. The pay of ofiicers and men is alike — their rations, 
 clothing, &c., the same. But, partly owing to the costliness of the 
 separate depot system (two companies of each regiment being kept 
 up in England) ; partly owing to the greater sickness to which, as a 
 rule, they are subject for the first few yeirs of their service, the 
 fact is as I have stated it. The average number of line regiments 
 coming out to India before the mutinies was If per annum : under 
 the amalgamation system it would, even with reliefs only after 
 fifteen or twenty years' service, be five or six per amium, involving 
 a proportionably increased cost to the State. 
 
 The cadets of the old regime. — They have come out to India as 
 boys — healthy, ingenuous, manly boys, ignorant of the enjoyments 
 and dissipations of * life ' in England, and fall of eager expectations 
 in respect of the country which is to be their home for the next 
 
 VOL. I. E E
 
 41 8 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 twenty or thirty years. On their arrival they have been thrown 
 into close contact with men who had resided long in India and ac- 
 quired a knowledge of its people, its languages, its religions, and 
 its civil and military history. From these they have taken their 
 tone — acquiring from them a vast fund of information not to be 
 obtained in books, and practical maxims, the result of the experience 
 of many generations. Associating with such men, they have early 
 become * ambitious to emancipate themselves from griffinhood ' — in 
 other words, to acquire a thorough familiarity with the country, 
 its customs, and its concerns. Taking readily to field sports, they 
 have necessarily been thrown into intimate intercourse with the 
 natives iinder circumstances which begot in them kindly feelings 
 towards the latter. They have thus early learned to penetrate 
 below the surface of the native character, to admire its good 
 features, and to understand and guard against its less amiable pecu- 
 liarities ; and thus did they acquire that knowledge of the work- 
 ings of the native mind which enabled them in after-life to 
 discharge with efficiency, and- in kindness, the various military, 
 political, departmental, and administrative duties assigned to them. 
 Such were the men, and such was the training of the men, who 
 have hitherto commanded the regular and irregular corps of the 
 local army ; who have been the private friends and official counsel- 
 lors of the chiefs and nobles and gentry of India ; who have managed 
 and controlled those enormous commissariat and other military 
 establishments, through the working of which the native masses are 
 brought into contact with Europeans ; who have wandered amongst 
 the rural population, and been brought into intimate relations 
 with it in the pursuit of sport, and when officially engaged in con- 
 ducting surveys, adjudicating disputes, constructing bridges, roads, 
 and tanks, suppressing violence, redressing wrongs, and performing 
 those numberless miscellaneous duties that so constantly devolve 
 on military officers in this coimtry. Deeply interested in the native 
 masses, such men were to be found sitting for hours under the 
 shade of a village tree in earnest colloquy with the people — listen- 
 ing to their tales, answering their questions, clearing their minds 
 of misapprehensions, giving them advice, and rendering them prac- 
 tical aid in many ways. ... It may be said that when amalgama- 
 tion takes place, India will be supplied as before with young men 
 who, inspired by the prizes which the staff and departmental 
 offices hold out, will exert themselves as^ earnestly and as success-
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 419 
 
 fully in the acquisition of local knowledge and experience as their 
 predecessors of the local army. I reply : — ' The thing is impossible ; 
 the lads may bring the same earnestness, but it is impossible they 
 can achieve equal success. They will not be placed under those 
 conditions of early association and local training to which, much 
 more than to formal study, the success of their predecessors was 
 due. . . .' 
 
 [The Appendices A and B to Sir James Outram's ' Amalgama- 
 tion' Minute of January 2, 1860, must be read as a whole in order 
 to obtain any idea of the elaborate scheme for the instruction of 
 both private and officer, and of the equally elaborate scheme of 
 organisation of the army staff in all gi-ades, military and medical, 
 which their one hundred and fifty paragraphs or clauses set forth. 
 The following are selected from those which in Appendix A relate 
 to the professional prizes to be held out for attainment by privates 
 of the Indian Local European Army.] 
 
 Commissions. — I desire to replenish the local force with a higher 
 class of men than those who form the present average of our British 
 armies — to entice into our ranks the steady, sober, and moral 
 peasants and artificers of Britain, and steady, sober, moral, and 
 intelligent men of a still higher parentage and education, but of 
 humble means and uninfluential connections. Such men I would 
 seek — in the interests of the State, and for the honour and moral 
 influence of our nation in this country — to attract to our colours by 
 opening to every private of high moral character and superior zeal 
 and ability the opportimity of working his way up to the highest 
 of our staff appointments and the highest of our military ranks and 
 commands. I propose to make such a feat difficult of accomplish- 
 ment — too difficult to awaken any reasonable jealousy of those who 
 enter the army as commissioned officers, but still sufficiently prac- 
 ticable to the worthy, the able, the resolute, the industrious, to offer 
 a strong inducement to such to enter the service. 
 
 Unattached commissions. — And I propose to allow steady, sober, 
 intelligent, and industrious privates to attain the dignity of a com- 
 mission on still lower terms. I propose to allow ann private who 
 by professional excellence and good conduct has raised himself to 
 the position of a non-commissioned officer, and who, having for a 
 certain length of time served with honour in that position, has 
 possessed himself of the accompILshments (general and professional) 
 required of an ensign as^iiring to a lieutenant's commission, to earn 
 
 B F, 2
 
 420 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 for himself, as of right, by honourable service as a non-commissioned 
 officer, an ensign's commission, with subsequent promotion according 
 to certain defined rules. Without contending against the conversion 
 of deserving non-commissioned officers into regimental commissioned 
 officers, I abstain from recommending it as part of my scheme. I 
 only ask that they should be furnished with unattached commis- 
 sions ; and I propose to employ them (with the position and all 
 the social considerations attaching to commissioned officers) in the 
 various departments and administrative posts now held by ' clerks,' 
 * deputy ' and ' assistant commissaries,' * condvictors,' etc., whose 
 monthly salary is equal to and above that of regimental ensigns, 
 lieutenants, and captains. . . . 
 
 Results of proposed scheme. — And what would not be the advan- 
 tage to India of the presence of such a body of men as our European 
 local corps would become under the moral influence of the class of 
 men I speak of, and under the influence of that fine spirit of emu- 
 lation in steadiness and mutual accomplishment which the adop- 
 tion of my scheme would induce ? In what respect is that scheme 
 impracticable ? As to its expense, even if it did to a small extent 
 increase the annual military outlay of the country, it would still be 
 cheapness itself as compared with the cost of the amalgamation 
 scheme ; and I am convinced that if fair play be given to my scheme 
 in its integrity — which involves superior sanitary arrangements, the 
 encouragement of industry, &c. — the health and longevity of the 
 troops would be so improved that a very considerable saving would 
 be annually efiected in hospital expenses {a terribly large item), 
 invaliding charges, &c. The retiring pensions I propose conferring 
 on unattached officers would probably be less, certainly not greater, 
 than the average amount of retiring pensions enjoyed by uncove- 
 nanted civilians. 
 
 [From ' Supplementary Minute ' by Sir James Outram, of 
 February 11, 1860, intended as an additional appendix to his 
 'Amalgamation' Minute of January 2, 1860. (114 paragi-aphs.) 
 On Sanitary and General Improvements for the well-being of the 
 European soldier in India,] 
 
 ^ Board ship ' arrangements — Officers. — Considei-able care should 
 be taken in the selection of the officei-s placed in command even of 
 the smallest detachments. I solemnly declare that I would rather 
 a detachment were put under the control of the captain of the ship 
 than subjected to the command of a military officer inexperienced
 
 APPENDICES. 421 
 
 in, or iinsiiited for, the management of European soldiers — of a 
 tyrannical, hard, unsympathising, foul-mouthed man — of a puppy 
 who, considering duty a bore, cares not to disguise his feelings; or 
 even of a good-natured, well-meaning man of indolent and slovenly 
 habits, given to the perfunctory pei-formance of his woi'k. Still 
 more do I deprecate recruits being placed under an officer who 
 cannot command himself, whether his inability to do so arise from 
 want of temper or from intemperance in the use of wine. Yet, 
 painful as it is, I am constrained to confess that I have known of 
 many cases in which such exceptionable men have been placed in 
 charge of recruits ; in fact, I know that I accurately describe the 
 present state of matters when I say that, in the nomination of 
 officers to the charge of troops, these special qualifications for the 
 officer are little considered. It is assumed that any man who has 
 served a cert;un niimber of years in the army and obtained a 
 certain rank is fit for the post. But this is a grievous mistake. 
 Thrown together as officers and men necessarily are on board ship, 
 no evasion of duty on the part of the former, no disingenuous fudg- 
 ing of work, no vicious habits, no deficiency in the qualifications 
 for command, no indifference to the feelings or comfort of the men, 
 can possibly escape the obsei'vation of the latter, who, poor fellows, 
 have not much else to observe. And little idea can be formed by 
 those who have not investigated and pondered over the matter of 
 the demoralLsation and permanent contempt for authority — nay, 
 of the positive vindictiveness towards all exercising it — which may 
 thus be acquired by soldiei'S in the course of a four months' voyage ; 
 to say nothing of the evil habits into which they fall, under the 
 ennui of a long confinement on board ship, when deprived of that 
 of which they never ought to be deprived— the ever-vigilant control 
 and paternal guardianship of a firm, but benevolent, conscientious, 
 and intelligent officer. . . . 
 
 Non-commissioned officers on hoard. — But, besides subalterns, the 
 commanding officer should have a staff of experienced and efficient 
 non-commissioned officers, in a proportion of not less than one to 
 every fifty men. And, as well to secure an adequate supply of 
 these for every batch of recruits as in acknowledgment of the great 
 merits of that most estimable body of men, I would recommend 
 that four non-commissioned officers per regiment should annually 
 receive an eighteen months' modified furlough to Europe. . . . 
 Instruction on hoard. — In mv former Minute I recommended
 
 422 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 that, so far as might be practicable, the systematic covirse of instruc- 
 tion in which the men had been engaged in depot should be con- 
 tinued on board ship, . . . But, in addition to the ordinary school 
 tuition thus recommended, it is, I think, desirable that the troops 
 should be instructed in matters specially relating to the country 
 whither they are proceeding : what to look for, and ' how to observe ' 
 that which will be presented to their eyes — the general geographical 
 and ethnographical features of India — its climatic peculiarities, the 
 influence of these on health, and the mode in which their morbific 
 tendencies may best be neutralised. These are topics on which the 
 medical and other ofiicers would generally be competent to en- 
 lighten the men. But, to avoid all risk of this species of instruc- 
 tion being neglected, I would recommend that a course of lectures 
 (prepared under authority by some competent person) should be 
 printed and supplied to the commanding officer of each detachment, 
 together with an adequate supply of maps, pictures, models, and 
 diagrams for their due illustration. . . . 
 
 Two or three hours per week devoted by each of the officers to 
 the instruction of those solicitous for it, in drawing, mathematics, 
 fortification, or such other branches as they might be qualified to 
 teach, would be but a slender tax on them, and might hereafter 
 prove a boon of exceeding value to some of their humbler fellow- 
 voyagers, A single hour per diem, devoted by each ofiicer to 
 friendly conversation with the men on the library books they wei-e 
 perusing, would not be missed by him, and could hardly fail to be 
 appreciated by them. 
 
 And no one who has seen much of the European soldier on his 
 first arrival in India can doubt that the lessons thus given (in Hin- 
 dustani colloquial phrases, &c.) would prove to him very useful, 
 smoothing away many of his early difficulties, and saving him from 
 many an imposition and many a fracas with natives. Wei-e the 
 medical officer to devote three hours per week, on a four months' 
 voyage, to the instruction of such men as chose to avail themselves 
 of his ofier in bandaging, in the use and application of tourniquets, 
 in the art of extemporising these by sticks and hau kerchiefs — and 
 in other such like minor items of surgical procedure, I feel assured 
 he would find an abundance of apt pupils. 
 
 Punishment of the ' brute ' on board. — Adequately aided by the 
 non-commissioned ofiiceis who I have recommended should be
 
 APPENDICES, 423 
 
 sent with each detachment, I believe it to be perfectly possible for 
 a firm and judicious commanding officer entirely to put a stop to 
 the use of that coarse and prurient language, intended for the 
 women's ears, which, too generally, I believe, is made use of in the 
 lower deck at night. I am as averse as any man can be to corpoi-al 
 punishment; but I do not hesitate to say that, were I in command 
 of troops on a sea voyage, I would for the third offence of this 
 nature scourge the filthy scoundrel's back till he howled in very 
 agony. The first offender I would put on bread and water for 
 forty-eight hours, keeping him a prisoner near the wheel the whole 
 time, if the weather permitted : the second I would additionally 
 subject for a week to fatigue work of the hardest and most menial 
 character : the third, as I have said, I would appeal to in the only 
 way in which such a degraded animal could be successfully appealed 
 to on board ship — by the torture of his unmanly carcase. The 
 offence is a brutal and cowardly one — its possible results very 
 di-eadful ; and the punishment should be that suited to a brute and 
 a cowai-d, and one calculated by its severity to prevent a repetition 
 of the offence by the same man, or by others. 
 
 Effect of careful attention to ' hoard ship ' life. — And I maintain 
 that, under a judicious system of training duiing a four months' 
 voyage, very much may be done to invigorate the constitutions of 
 our men, and to repair the evil effects of previous enervating habits 
 — very much to enhance theii- efficiency as soldiers — veiy much to 
 beget in them a tixste for I'eading and simple and innocent I'ecrea- 
 tions — very much to fortify them against the temptations and 
 moral and constitutional dangers to which they will be exposed 
 on landing — and very much indeed to awaken and foster in them 
 kindly, grateful, and revei-ential feelings towai-ds their commissioned 
 superiors, by practically demonstrating to them that their present 
 comfort and futui'C welfare are objects of affectionate solicitude to 
 the latter. 
 
 Refinement in barracks. — But I confess myself one of those who 
 believe that external circumstances very powerfully influence the 
 inner man — that there is a very intimate connection between ma- 
 terial and moral refinement. Every argument in favour of sub- 
 stituting neatness for squalor in the dwellings of the humbler 
 classes in civil life appears to me as logically establishing the pro- 
 priety of elevating mere neatness into elegance. And every
 
 424 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 argument in behalf of uncostly and modest elegance which is valid 
 in respect of the civil population I conceive to be a fortiori 
 applicable to their military brethren. . . . 
 
 I ask not for the dandyism, but for the decencies, of the mess- 
 house — for extreme cleanliness, and for such little elegancies as 
 matting for the floor, chicks for the doors and windows, uncostly 
 but artistically commendable prints for the walls, chairs and 
 benches a little above the roughest products of bazaar manufacture, 
 trays (be they of the coarsest tin) to preserve the tables from the 
 stains of poi'ter mugs and coffee cups, metal plates for receiving 
 pipe-ashes, and decent spittoons. . . . 
 
 Canteens. — Whatever decision be arrived at as regards the ap- 
 pearance and furniture of our military canteens, let us, at all events, 
 do our utmost to induce our soldiers to seek such refreshments as 
 they require (or fancy they require) where wholesome beverages 
 are supplied to them, rather than go in quest of them to the vile 
 dens which are, and ever will be, accessible to them, be our canton- 
 ment regulations ever so stringent. Give them in our own can- 
 teens shade and coolness (by punkahs and tatties when necessary) 
 in the day-time — abundant illumination in the evenings — light, 
 unadulterated beer to any extent they choose to pay for — wholesome 
 spirits (that is, sphits as little prejudicial as absolute purity can 
 render them) when only spii'its will satisfy their morbid ciavings — • 
 and though they may at times exceed, their excesses will injure 
 them less than if practised in the hot dirty bazaars, where the 
 veriest poison is sold under the name of liquor, and where the 
 drinking den and the brothel, when not identical, are conterminous. 
 In the canteens they will, at least, be under surveillance and con- 
 trol, and when tipsy they can be at once removed to their barracks, 
 thus avoiding the scandal and injury which the jiulilic display of their 
 deV)auchery inflicts on the British name and the Christian faith. 
 And just in proportion as we cax-ry out the recommendations I have 
 made in this and my previous Minute, and supplement these re- 
 commended measures by compelling our canteen-keepei-s to furnish 
 rich, strong, delicious coffee, genuine and well-made tea, and good 
 and cheap ginger-beei-, lemonade, and soda-watei' — by bestowing on 
 our canteens the comforts, in the EngUsh-loohing elegancies for 
 which I plead — by supplying them with the means of innocent and 
 sedentary recreation^and by covering their tables with the lightest 
 of light and amusing, but wholesome, ];)eriodical literature— just
 
 APPENDICES. 425 
 
 in the same proportion shall we win our soldiers from the love of 
 alcohol, and gradually give them a distaste for those coarser ex- 
 citements in which only at present can the rougher of them realise 
 what they call ' life and fun,' but from which not a hundred- 
 brigadier-power, however energetically exerted, could drive them 
 until substitutes are provided such as I have suggested. 
 
 Mental culture. — I would endeavour to supply stimuli to mental 
 culture, and to furnish its means, to those whom the regimental 
 school and the prizes it holds out fail to attract thither. And I 
 look, in the event of the arrangement above recommended being 
 adopted, to the officers of our military stations supplementing the 
 eflforts of Government by the delivery of lectures to the men on 
 many interesting subjects. 
 
 Effects of such a system. — That, by providing him with amuse- 
 ments and offeiing him remunerative emplo\Tnent, you will con- 
 vert a drunkard into a sober man, or a bad soldiei- into a good 
 one — inspire a grumbler or a ' lawyer ' with contentedness and the 
 spirit of pi'ompt and willing obedience — drive out invincible in- 
 dolence from a lazy fellow, or confer smartness on the man of 
 slovenly tastes and habits — I do not for a moment suppose. But I 
 do believe that you may reclaim those who are only negatively bad, 
 and confii-m those who have good and healthy principles, and keep 
 in the right path an overwhelming majority of those who here;\fter 
 join the army ; elevating them in their own and the world's esti- 
 mation, preserving their health, vastly enhancing their efficiency, 
 and bestowing upon our military service a prestige which shall 
 make it popular amongst classes higher in the social scale than 
 those from which its ranks ai'e now mainly recruited.
 
 426 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 FROM A MINUTE BY SIR JAMES OUTRAM, 
 OF FEBRUARY 21, 1860. 
 
 ON ' MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS AFFECTING THE ORGANISATION AND 
 
 EFFICIENCY OF THE INDIAN ARMY.' (30 Paragraphs.) 
 
 The ' individuality ' of the soldier. — I believe that the tendency 
 of our military system has been mischievously to repress his indivi- 
 dualism, to weaken his sense of personality, and thus to check the 
 development of that intelligent consciousness of personal capacities, 
 and of that desire to multiply his resources of independent action, 
 the want of which is apt to prove most lamentable in many of the 
 contingencias of active service, ... I believe that much more 
 could (and ought to) be done to augment the individual efficiency 
 and practical knowledge of our men. ... I would not leave the 
 matter one altogether of choice. I would compel our men to ac- 
 quire a practical knowledge of everything that could inflvience their 
 individual comfort, safety, and efficiency, in every conceivable con- 
 tingency of active service. I would take care that each soldier 
 was thoroughly indoctrinated in all such practical expedients and 
 their philosophy, as are, for example, laid down in Mr. Galton's 
 useful little book, ' The Art of Travel.' . . . He should, moreover, 
 be made thoroughly to understand the rationale of all the move- 
 ments, formations, and evolutions, to the mechanical peifoi-mance of 
 which he is drilled. He should be habituated to contemplate and to 
 frame for himself rules of action in trying emergencies, which may 
 at any time occur on field service — such, foi- instance, as those in 
 which detached posts lose their commissioned and non-commissioned 
 officers, or pickets aie cut oft' from their supports (as has happened 
 sometimes in jungly districts during the recent c;impaigus and in 
 the immediate neighbourhood of the enemy, for houis, and even
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 427 
 
 days together). He should be not only theoretically, but practically 
 trained to the procedure and precautions indispensable in that 
 street, suburb, and jungle fighting to which no judicious leader 
 will ever unnecessaiily expose him, but which it is impossible 
 always to avoid in the conduct of military operations. Very much 
 more attention should be paid to his perfection in marksmanship than, 
 I fear, is, or at all events used to be, the ctise. ... I conceive, 
 moreover, that eve,ry infixntry soldiei- (and not merely a percentage 
 of each corps) should be taught artillery di-ill, and often exercised in 
 it, so as to keep him qualified to act as a gunner on any sudden 
 emergency. . . . Four or six hours per week, in the hot season, 
 devoted to (what for want of a better term I shall call) ' the theo- 
 retical instruction of their men * would not be an excessive demand 
 on the captain of a company and his subalteins. . . . 
 
 Practical drills. — I believe that they might be advantageously 
 substituted for some of the regular ' horse in the mill ' battalion 
 parades, in which zealous commanding officers luxuriate morning 
 and evening in the cold season, and which in some regiments are 
 carried to an extent that not only wearies, but positively stupefies 
 both oflScers and men. It is amidst ruined buildings, and the 
 debris of old villages, hedges, coi-nfields, topes of trees, broken 
 ground, the unequal banks of nvillahs, &c., &c., that the 'light 
 infantry diill ' of the smooth parade-ground can alone be perfected 
 into that which will often be demanded of the soldier in the 
 field. . . . 
 
 Military tofogra'phy. — I hold it to be a primary duty with each 
 officer above the rank of lieutenant, on the ariival of his regiment 
 at any station, to familiarise himself most thoroughly with its 
 military topography. I would that I could lay my hands on Sir 
 Henry Lawrence's remarks on this subject. . . . Like all his words, 
 they were words of wisdom ; and as the voice of that great and 
 good and sagacious man, speaking from his grave, they would have 
 an influence far beyond that which I can hope will be accorded to 
 my own feeble utterances. 
 
 Independent commands. — Most earnestly do I advocate — and for 
 the reiisons so ably and foi-cibly adduced by Sii' Baitle Frere — the 
 maintenance of the present arrangement by which each of the three 
 older Presidencies is provided with a separate army. And with 
 him I most sincerely believe, that the less we trammel our com- 
 manders — whether regimental, biigade, divisional, or chief — with
 
 428 JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 ' regulations,' and the moi'e we allow them full scope for the play 
 of their individual energies — so long as we scrupulously exclude 
 from commands of every kind any save those most Jit to hold them 
 — the more efficient will be our armies. 
 
 Bed-tape and suspicion. — When we catch a rogue let us punish 
 him with exemplary severity; but let us not perpetuate a system 
 which seems to assume that every officer would be a rogue if he 
 could, and, by its infinity of invidious checks, almost exonerates 
 our functionaries from any regard for the pecuniary interests of the 
 public not prescribed by the strict letter of the regulations. 
 
 Most of the details I have given involve prindj^las — all of 
 them I deem of practical importance — and when I have seemed to 
 tirge for adoption that which has been already adopted, I have 
 merely meant to express my conviction that it has not been carried 
 out as it might and ought to be carried out. 
 
 As regards Sir James Outram's forebodings of the evil results 
 of amalgamation of the Royal and Indian armies, we recall attention 
 to the following extract fi'om a letter which appeared in the ' Times ' 
 of September 15, 1864, from its Calcutta correspondent, writing 
 after a three years' experience of the dreaded measure : — 
 
 ' Every one acquainted with military affiiirs can perceive that 
 the " amalgamation " of the Indian and English armies has not 
 worked well. Indian officers used to take a sincere interest in their 
 labours : they knew their men well, they tiied to turn them into 
 efficient soldiers, they were content to spend their days here in the 
 discharge of duties of which they were proud. Be the cause what 
 it may, it is certain that this is all changed. Queen's officei^s hate 
 the country with a bitter hatred, and the army has been weakened 
 by illiberality and injustice. The disadvantages of destroying the 
 Indian army — disadvantages wliich such men as Lord Stanley, Sir 
 John Lawrence, Sir James Outram, Sir R. H. Vivian, and Colonel 
 Dm-and foresaw when they opposed the amalgamation— are work- 
 ing their full measure of evil. The army now shares the feeling 
 which is so prevalent in English society here of hating the countiy, 
 11 nd the ever-present desire to get home. Is it desirable to 
 streugthcn these views in the army % '
 
 APPENDICES. 429 
 
 A despatch from Lord Cornwallis, wiitten in 1795 to the Court, 
 of Directors, contains the following important paragraph, which, if 
 forgotten in the letter, is not obsolete in spiiit : — 
 
 ' The conditions on which the European non-commLssioned officers 
 and soldiers at present in the Company's service have enlisted 
 cannot be altered, and therefore those men who do not choose, on 
 receiving a new bounty, to re-enlist voluntarily on the usual terms 
 in the King's service can only be reqviired to perform the engagements 
 in India which they have contracted to the Company, subject during 
 those periods to the Articles of War (which in no essential point 
 differ from those of his Majesty) under which they enlisted, and after 
 the expiration of those engagements they are to be furnished with 
 passages to Europe in the Company's ships.' 
 
 The above extract, found among Sir James Outram's papers, 
 was on a proposal, in 1795, to transfer the Company's army to the 
 CroAvn. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
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 LIFE of Lieut.-General Sir JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 By Major-General Sir FREDERIC J. GOLDSMID, C.B., K. S.C.I. 
 
 SATURDAY REVIEW. 
 
 ' Sir P. Goldsmid has discharged liis task most creditably, has never degraded his subject by 
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 <HenTy Lawrence.' 
 
 DAILY TELEGRAPH. 
 
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 ' Decidedly above the average, both in literai-y merit and completeness of information. The maps 
 will be found very useful in elucidating the text.' 
 
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 ' Sir F. Goldsmid has done his work thoroughly and conscientiously, and the hook is one which 
 Will not only give pleasure to old Indians, but which we sliould like to see in the hands of elder 
 schoolboys.' 
 
 ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS. 
 
 ' The compiler of the biography has evidently done his work in a sympathetic spirit and with 
 great discretion. Let Ms life be read as set forth in the two volumes under consideration, and the 
 reader will be struck dumb with admiration, and left without a word to say against the " Bayard of 
 India." The two volumes, it should be added, are provided with several maps and illustrations, highly 
 useful and highly interesting." 
 
 THE OBSERVER. 
 
 ' The author is to be congratulated on having set before his readers a most complete and spirited 
 picture of the great soldier, the wise administrator, and the perfect gentleman.' 
 
 THE SCOTSMAN. 
 
 ' The literary merit of this book is considerable. Students of the history of British India will 
 find the work well worthy of their attention. No higher praise can be bestowed on it than to say 
 that it is a worthy literary memorial of its subject, and to say less than this would be to do it and him 
 injustice.' 
 
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 career. We can cordially recommend these volumes as equally pleasant and precious reading.' 
 
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 general's connection with public life, very excellent anecdotes are given, which will be read with the 
 greatest interest, especially by Scotchmen.' 
 
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