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MlCKNOW, FROM TIIF. RIVER'S SIDE.
MEMOIR
OF
JOHN LOVERING COOKE,
FORMERLY GUNNER IjST THE ROYAL ARTILLERY, AND
LATE LAY-AGENT OF THE BRITISH SAILORS'
INSTITUTE, BOULOGNE ;
"WITH
A SKETCH OF THE INDIAN MUTINY OF 1857-8,
UP TO THE FINAL CAFTURE OF LCJOKNOW;
BY THE
REV. CHARLES H. H. WRIGHT, M.A.,
OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN, AXD EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD,
CHAPLAIN OF TRINITY CHURCH, BOULOGNE S. MER.
LONDON:
JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET.
1873.
TO
THE BRITISH SOLDIERS IN INDIA
THIS LITTLE MEMOIR
OF ONE WHO
FORMERLY WAS ALSO A SOLDIER IN INDIA,
IS,
AS HIS DEATH-BED REQUEST,
Affectionately Ensitribet).
[See XT- 222-223.]
PREFACE.
Perhaps a preface is scarcely necessary for such a
work as this. The reason of this Life being written
will appear in the course of the Memoir itself,
especially in the closing chapter; God grant that
the perusal of the little history here detailed may
be a blessing to some souls.
But though a preface is not needed for the
Memoir itself, it may be well to state that the
sketch of the Sepoy Rebellion embodied therein,
with the exception of that part in which Cooke
was personally engaged, has been chiefly drawn
from the two valuable volumes already published
by Sir J. AY. Kaye on The Sepoy War. The other
works used in drawing up this sketch have been
the Life of Sir Henry Lawrence, by Sir H. Edwardes
and Mr. H. Merivale, Mr. Gubbins' book on the
vi
PREFACE.
Mutinies in Oudh, the Life of Major-General Sir H.
Haveloek, K.C.B., by Mr. J. C. Marshman, and the
pamphlets on the Mutiny of the Indian Army, by
" One who has served under Sir Charles Napier."
The frontispiece of "Lucknow from the river-side"
has been engraved by permission from the very
interesting set of lithographic views, published by
Day & Son, entitled " General Vicvjs and Special
Points of Interest of the City of Lucknow, from
drawings made on the spot by Lieut.-Col. D. S.
Dodgson, A.A.G-., with descriptive notices." This
work was issued in folio in 1860, and is well worth
its price.
C. H. H. W.
13 Boulevard Daunou, Boulogne s. Mek,
August 1, 1873.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
School-days—Convictions of Sin—Works as a Farm-servant—
As a Navvy—Joins Militia—Sin and Trouble—Enlists
in Artillery—Dissipation—Friendly Monitor—Punished
in the Cells—Arousing Sermons—Baptist Chapel-
Ordered to China .....
CHAPTER II.
Embarkation for China—Thoughts of Home—Storms-—In¬
cidents of Voyage—Arrival at Hong-Kong—Ordered to
India—Arrival in the Hooghly, and progress up the
Granges—Ordered to Luclcnow
CHAPTER III.
Lord Dalhousie—Annexation of Oude—Sepoy Army—
Greased Cartridges—Barrackpore—Nana Sahib's visit to
Lucknow—Disarmament at Lucknow—Meerut—Out¬
break of Mutiny—Mutineers flee to Delhi—Insurrection
there—Blowing up of the Magazine—Lord Canning—
General Anson—General Wilson—Battles on the Hindun
—Sir H. Barnard gains the battle of Budlee-ka-Serai—
Benares — Col. Neill—Allahabad— Jhansi—Cawnpore—
Viii CONTENTS.
rA(;E
Mutiny and Siege—the Nana Saliib—Attempts to rescue
Cawnpore—General Havelock—Surrender of Cawnpore
and Massacre—Battles of Futtehpore—Aong—Pandoo-
nuddee—Second Massacre of Cawnpore—Battle of Cawn¬
pore—Entry of British into Cawnpore—Havelock crosses
the Ganges—Battles of Onao and Busserutgunge—He-
treats—Battles of Boorhiya and Bithoor—At Cawnpore
again ....... 23
CHAPTER IV.
Sir C. Campbell's arrival—Approval of Havelock—Noble
Conduct of Sir J. Outram—Havelock recrosses the
Ganges—Battles of Mungulwar, of the Alumbagh—Action
of the Charbagh Bridge—Lucknow relieved—The state
of Lucknow—Lucknow strengthened—Rebellion else¬
where—Siege of Delhi—Engagements—Death of Sir H.
Barnard—The Punjab—General Nicholson—Battle of
Nujufgurh—Storming of Delhi—Sir C. Campbell pro¬
ceeds to the Relief of Lucknow . . .55
CHAPTER V.
Departure from Allahabad—Cooke's First Night on guard—
Toils of march—Night Alarms—Arrival at the Alum¬
bagh—Battle before Lucknow—Secunderabagh—Fearful
Night after the Battle—Renewed Battle—Outpost Work
—Soldier's Dream—Solemn Thoughts—Night Alarm
Lucknow relieved for the Second Time—Withdrawal
from Lucknow—Street Fights . . .67
CHAPTER VI.
Death of Sir H. Havelock—Cooke attached to the field force
operating towards Cawnpore—Battle of Cawnpore
Enemy driven out of Cawnpore—Cooke in Hospital—
Dissatisfaction in the company—Cooke sent to Prison—
Three Months Hard Labour—March towards Lucknow
—Siege begun—Cooke employed as a Scavenger—Final
Capture of Lucknow by British—Plunder of Lucknow—
CONTENTS. ix
PAGE
Defeat of Rebels—Sir C. Campbell divides liis Forces—
General Grant's Division—General Grant's Pursuit of
the Mutineers—Return to Lucknow—Cooke again a
free man — General Grant starts again in pursuit —■
Action with Rebels—A Night Alarm—Return to Luck-
now—Quartered in the Palace—Cooke's description of
Lucknow ...... 83
CHAPTER VII.
Cooke located in a Palace—Sickness among the Troops—
Seeking after God—Description of the Palace—Renewed
attacks of Fever — Recovery — Is again attached to
General Grant's Division — Fyzabad — Difficulties of
march — Sultanpore — Actions there — Further pursuit
of Mutineers — Cooke again takes sick — The Queen's
Proclamation—Return to Lucknow—Quartered at Dil-
koosha—Sickness of Soldiery . . . .97
CHAPTTR VIII.
Religious Impressions—Visited in Hospital by Baptist Mis¬
sionary—Visits a comrade in Hospital—Falls again into
sin—Arrival of American Methodist Missionaries in
Lucknow—Meeting for Soldiers—Cooke speaks at the
Class-Meeting—Impression produced on his comrades—
"He prayeth" —Sermon on Isaiah xliv. 22—Struggles
of Soul—Prayer of Mrs. Butler—The Burden removed
—The Chamber of Peace—Tells his comrades—Doubts
again—Retrospect of the Year^Misery arising from the
Sins of Youth ...... 107
CHAPTER IX.
Knot of Christians—Meetings of Christian Soldiers—Cooke
made an Exhorter—Love Feast—Watch-night at Luck¬
now—Solemn Thoughts—Cooke visits the Hospitals—
Work among the Soldiers—Extracts from Journal—
Temperance Meetings—Root of bitterness springing up
—Falls into Sin—Dream—Interpretation thereof-—Joy in
X CONTENTS.
PAGE
the Holy Ghost—A Tree for a Closet—Confined in the
Guard-room— Party Spirit—Division in the Ranks of Be¬
lievers—Declension and Fall—Secret Sin—Its fatal in¬
fluence—Week of Prayer—Defeats and Victories—Be¬
setting sins—Dark clouds overshadowing—Works under
Declension—Fearful Conflicts and Falls—Lamentations
of a Sinner—Reflections—Light in Darkness—Back¬
sliding—Giant Despair's Castle—Leaves Lucknow for
Futtehgurh—The terrible Sin—Return to God • 119
CHAPTER X.
Cooke actively engaged in Christian Work—Growth in Grace
—Death of a Comrade—Warning—Humbling Reflections
—Sin and Sorrow—Sickness—Presented with a Silver
Medal by his Bible Class—Work for the Temperance
Cause — Ordered to Gwalior — Leaves Futtehgurh —
March—Agra—Morar—Increasing Strength—Cheering
entry in Journal—Assaults of Satan—Fear of Death—
Renewed Sickness—Invalided—Proceeds Homeward—
Agra again—Lines on New Year's Day, 1866 — Cal¬
cutta ....... 143
CHAPTER XI.
Cooke leaves India—Voyage Home—Sabbath at Home—
Friendships in the Ranks—Cooke attends on a Sick
Friend—Cholera—Strange providence—Cooke obliged to
attend a Friend in Cholera—Nurses him—Answers to
prayer—His Friend restored—Cooke gets into correspon¬
dence with his Friend's Niece—Emma Plumridge Her
Grandfather—Verses of Emma Plumridge—Cooke Dis¬
charged from the Army—Proceeds to meet his Correspon¬
dent—Happy meeting—Mutual Lovers—Cooke's honesty
in disclosing his past life—Marriage—Visits his own
Home—The rejoicing Mother—Engaged in Farm em¬
ployment—Local preacher among Bible Christians—
Becomes a Policeman ..... 159
CONTENTS.
xi
CHAPTER XII.
PAGE
Police Duties—Highgate—Kind Treatment—Birth of Son—
Illness of his Wife—Deaths in Family—Opportunities
for Doing Good—Scene with Drunken Woman—Toil
and Reward — Unnecessary Trouble — Policeman and
Missionary—Looks about for other Employment—New
Sphere of Labour . . . . .175
CHAPTER XIII.
Work among Seamen in Boulogne in past years—Difficulties
—Memorial of Seamen in 1868 to the British Consul—
Negotiations with French Authorities—Rev. J. Gaskin
—Meeting at Sir H. Harrington's—Committee formed
to found a Sailors' Institute—Chaplain of Trinity Church
—Difficulties of joint action of Churchmen and Wesleyans
—Institute opened—Mr. S. Dyke—Appointment of J. L.
Cooke as first Lay Agent—Work at Boulogne—Visiting
Ships—Growth of Spiritual Life in his Soul—Trials
from within—Wesleyan Chapel—Temperance Meetings
—Cooke's Account of his Work . . . 185
CHAPTER XIV.
War between France and Germany—Cooke's despondent
view of his work at this time—Rooms of the Institute
occupied as an Ambulance—Institute housed temporarily
in Lecture Room of Trinity Church—Cooke's Lecture on
the Indian Mutiny—Return of Institute to its old
quarters—Mrs. F. tV*. Hope—Purchase of Site for New
Institute and Chaplain's House—Colonial and Conti¬
nental Church Society—Laying of the First Stone of
New Building—Opening of New Rooms—Cooke takes a
more cheering view of his Work — Domestic trials—
Death of Child and of his Wife—Character of Mrs.
Cooke—Cooke's Work after her Death—Illness—Last "
entry in Journal—Goes to London for Medical Advice—
Visit of the Writer to him on his Death-Bed—Spiritual
Darkness—Triumph through Christ—Death—Character
—Letter with Sketch of his Last Illness from Rev. S. D.
Stubbs ....... 203
CHAPTER I.
School-days—Convictions of Sin—Works as a Farm-servant—As a
Navvy—Joins Militia—Sin and Trouble—Enlists in Artillery
—Dissipation—Friendly Monitor—Punished in the Cells—
Arousing Sermons— Baptist Chapel—Ordered to China.
A
John Lovering Cooke, the subject of the present
memoir, was born in the parish of Tawstock in
Devonshire, on April 30, 1834. He was one out of
thirteen children. His father was a farm labourer,
and the son was brought up to follow the same call¬
ing. His father belonged to the Church of England,
but, though a man of good character, he does not
appear to have been decidedly religious ; his mother
was a pious woman, and a member of the Baptist
Church. Both endeavoured earnestly to impart to
all their children an acquaintance with the Holy
Scripture, and such an education as was within
their reach.
John attended the village school until he had at¬
tained the age of eleven years. Yet from his own
confessions he seems to have been a sad truant, and
very often to have been absent from school. Hence
his education was far from being as thorough as it
might otherwise have been.
He had in his youth several transient convictions
of sin. Having one day, in some boyish sport or
4
BOYISH CONVICTIONS OF SIN.
mischief, stayed away from home till late, and
being questioned on his return as to where he had
been, he told a falsehood on the spot. He had no
sooner told the lie than a cold shudder pierced
through his frame, and he thought that perhaps the
devil might forthwith come to take him away. The
thought made him start from his seat and glance
towards the door with such a terrified look, and
withal he turned so pale, that his mother perceived
that something was wrong, and said, " You are
telling a lie." He confessed his fault with tears,
and was forgiven ; but the recollection of this inci¬
dent abode upon his mind long afterwards, and
made him feel, even as a child, that " the ways of
transgressors are hard."
Another anecdote he relates of his boyish days.
He had at one time been playing truant from school
for several days in succession. The schoolmaster
accordingly called at the end of the week to inquire
concerning the boy. Ere he had quite finished his
visit to the parents the boy himself came in—when
the master spoke solemnly to him, and said, "John,
you have been serving the devil, and the devil, you
say, you will serve. I shall not punish you, but
God will." The schoolmaster's words sank deep
into his heart, and were not quite forgotten, even
amid all the dissipation and recklessness of his
later years.
At the age of eleven, as is too general with boys
of the working classes, he left school, and went to
JOINS MILITIA—WORKS AS A NAVVY. 0
service to a person who was a farmer and also a
Baptist preacher, though not a regularly ordained
minister of that body. In his service he remained
a year, and learned during that time much good
from his master, as he was not only kind, but also
kept the lad under strict discipline, and compelled
him to attend the Sabbath-school regularly, as well
as the other services in the Baptist chapel.
This kind of life, however, did not please the lad.
He accordingly gave up that situation, and wandered
from one place of service to another, and having a
longing for a roving life, and being, too, desirous to be
free to give license to his own sinful inclinations, he
thought of completely leaving such kinds of employ¬
ment. He thought of taking up a seaman's life, but
was not able to put that plan into execution. He
joined, however, the militia in April 1852, and went
to Exeter for a month's training. While here he
got into company of the lowest kind, and sank, ac¬
cordingly, even deeper in his own estimation.
On the breaking up of the regiment, John L.
Cooke went to work on a railway, and soon became
noted as one of the worst of the navvies. He de¬
lighted in the public-house; and yet withal he still
bore a good character as a good and willing
labourer, and took a pride in keeping himself clean,
respectable, and out of debt.
He, too, had during this period moments of deep
conviction, when he shuddered at the sin and folly
in which he was engaged, and in such times as
6
ENLISTS IN THE ARMY.
tliese the lessons learnt in childhood would recur to
his mind.
After working on the railway for a period of
twelve months, he resolved to enlist in the army,
and having been persuaded by an artilleryman that
the artillery was the best department of the service,
he enlisted as an artilleryman in Her Majesty's ser¬
vice 011 February 17, 1854. He did not enlist, as
too many have done, under the influence of drink,
but because he thought he would like that kind of
employment, and might acquire glory thereby.
Cooke left his parents' house in a very hasty
manner, after bidding his friends farewell. His
conscience, however, for a time, was ill at ease, but
it was soon lulled to rest by the thought that he
would come back, ere very many years had expired,
with money in his pocket, and that then he would
be able to do something for his parents, whose
counsel he had hitherto disregarded, and whose sup¬
port he had left to others.
After partaking of the " farewell glass" at the
public-house, he set forth on his road, and on the
way to Exeter kept all his comrades alive with his
singing and merriment. At Exeter he met with
many recruits like-minded with himself, and they
indulged themselves in drinking, and in all kinds of
dissipation. Woolwich was the head-quarters of
the regiment, and thither, of course, he had to re¬
pair. Military discipline was at first irksome to him
in the extreme, and he soon bitterly repented of the
DISSIPATION—FRIENDLY MONITOR.
7
life he had chosen. Yet he never admitted this
fact,—he told his friends that he liked it very well,
and though irksome at first, he confessed in later
life that the training was most beneficial to him.
His temper was quick and passionate, and brought
him often into trouble. He made resolutions to
himself of amendment in his course of life, but, as
might be expected, soon broke such resolutions, and
fell into all the low sins which had previously en¬
tangled him with their sinful delights.
One night as Cooke was returning home drunk,
and tottering about in the street, a young man
kindly took his arm and led him home to the bar¬
racks. This prevented him on that occasion from
being absent from night-roll, and so saved him from
military punishment. Drunk as he had been, he
could well remember that this young man, who was
a Presbyterian, spoke to him on the way about his
sin and about religious things, and that he had pro¬
mised on his part that he would try to become a
better man. But the promise was soon forgotten.
The next Sunday, however, Cooke met with the
young man again at the church at which he at¬
tended. He remembered him, and felt ashamed
when he called to mind the state in which he had
been seen by him. But the young man addressed
him kindly, and asked liim to take a walk with him.
He did so; and again the importance of religion
was pressed upon his attention, and promises were
made with the lips which were, alas! then never
8
PUNISHED IN THE CELLS.
designed to be kept. Cooke often sought to avoid
this friendly monitor, and sometimes on hasting
away from him would make straight to the public-
house, there to endeavour, and too successfully for
a season, to drown the voice of conscience by drink¬
ing and singing drunkard songs. His monitor did
not, however, give up the case as hopeless, but
sought, though with no apparent success, to turn
the poor soldier's heart to the Lord. The regiment
was soon ordered to move to Leeds, preparatory to
embarking for the Crimea, and so Cooke soon
parted for ever from his faithful adviser, whom he
treated at last more, however, as an enemy than a
friend. He promised, notwithstanding, that he
would write to him, but he soon forgot both the
promise he had made, and the kind advice he had
received. It came back to his mind in later years.
At Leeds Cooke still pursued his career of sin and
folly. An acquaintanceship formed there with a
family of a somewhat pious turn of mind tended to
keep him more steady for a time, and he had even
some thoughts of beginning in reality a religious
life. But he soon fell into some mischief, for
which he was punished with forty-eight hours im¬
prisonment in the cells. The punishment was
more than was perhaps deserved, but the offence com¬
mitted had been represented to the authorities in such
a strong light, that the punishment seemed in their
eyes to be a lenient one. The most bitter in¬
gredient in it to Cooke's feelings was that his hair
AROUSING SERMONS.
9
was cut after the prison fashion, which made him
for some time ashamed to he seen in the circle of
his friends and comrades.
A sermon he heard in a chapel at Leeds made at
this time a great impression on him. It was a fare¬
well discourse, in which the preacher spoke strongly
of sin, and faithfully warned his hearers against the
deceitfulness thereof. Cooke thought that the
preacher addressed his remarks specially to himself,
as he happened to be near the pulpit, and was un¬
able entirely to conceal the workings of a guilty con¬
science. The minister told an anecdote of a small party
who set forth one day on a boating excursion on the
coast of Norway, intending to view the celebrated
Maelstrom from as near a point of view as it could
be beheld with safety. He narrated how they let
the boat glide along towards the fatal spot, think¬
ing that they could turn it round whenever it was
necessary. But while they were carelessly enjoying
themselves, the current grew stronger and stronger,
until the whirlpool was distinctly seen at no great
distance. They then strove hard to return, but
were unable to do so despite all their efforts, so that
at last they were swallowed up in the raging abyss.
" Sinner," said the minister, " take lieed lest such be
thy fate at last, hurrying on from sin to sin, until
death appears right in view. You may then begin
too late to call for mercy, and too late think of re¬
turning to thy God."
This anecdote so much affected the soldier that
10
CONVICTIONS OF SIN.
he slied tears, and in order to repress his emotion
folded his hands across his breast. The preacher,
perhaps, noted the action, for he forthwith added,
" Some hardened sinners, when they hear anything
that for the time convinces them of the evil of sin,
and touches their hearts, fold their hands across
their breast in order to stifle their emotions—as
much as to stay, ' I will not hearken this time.'
Beware, sinner, beware, lest thou, too, may be lost
as the pleasure party were at last."
Cooke felt the truth of the preacher's remark, and
unclasped his arms, but he was very much annoyed
thereat. The sermon weighed, however, heavily on
his mind, but, though not forgotten, it was not the
cause of any real change in his character.
The troops were soon moved from Leeds to Dub
lin, and afterwards to Athlone, and on the march
and journey Cooke soon fell into sin as deeply as
before. From Athlone, after a very short time, the
detachment was ordered to head-quarters at Wool¬
wich. There Cooke was again entangled in the sins
of drunkenness and immorality; and there, too, he
was for a time arrested in his downward course by
the following incident.
He was going one Sunday as usual to some of his
old haunts of sin, when, as he passed along the
road, his attention was arrested by singing proceed¬
ing from a little chapel in the same street. At¬
tracted by the singing, he went first to the door,
and was then induced to go in and sit down. An
BAPTIST CHAPEL.
11
old minister preached, and though the sermon was
forgotten as a whole, and even the text was not re¬
membered, the solemn exhortations which the minis¬
ter addressed to careless sinners were not entirely
effaced from Cooke's memory, nor the words with
which the preacher concluded his discourse—" Sin¬
ner, sinner, remember heaven, "hell, judgment,
eternity."
These words sounded long in Cooke's ear, and
often recurred to him at later periods of his life.
He inwardly made resolutions to serve the Lord at
that time, and for a short period these resolutions
were attended to. He became a regular attendant
at the chapel, and began to seek after God. But he
had no moral, courage to come out and be separate,
nor was he willing yet to give himself wholly to the
Lord. His life, however, for a time was more
steady, and he gave up the evil practice of swearing.
One day, passing by the chapel, and seeing the door
open he went in, but found the meeting was only
for the enrolled members of the church, who were
partaking of the Lord's Supper. The conviction
flashed across his soul that he had no lot nor part
with them, and the words of our Lord, "Friend,
how earnest thou in hither, not having on a wedding-
garment," rushed into his mind. So he turned
homeward, feeling a load of guilt resting on his
heart.
On New Year's night 1857, Cooke went to the
Baptist Chapel. On that occasion two young
12
DESIRES TO BE A CHRISTIAN.
women and three young men were baptized. While
the service was being carried on, he felt that it must
be a happy thing to be a Christian indeed, and,
whilst tears ran down his cheeks, he wished that
even he himself was among the candidates for bap¬
tism. It must be noted that owing to his mother
having been a Baptist, Cooke had not been baptized
in infancy. One poor old man in the chapel saw
his emotion, and coming up to him shook hands
with him warmly, and said that he hoped he would
see him soon become a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
Moved by the emotions of the moment, Cooke re¬
plied that he heartily trusted he would.
These deep feelings and impressions were, how¬
ever, but transient. The detachment was ordered
to China for active service, and many of the men, in
anticipation of their long voyage, seemed resolved to
enjoy all the pleasures of sin they could while yet
on the shores of England. Cooke again became
entangled in such revellings, and the grace of God
soon seemed to have been quenched again in total
darkness.
CHAPTEE II.
Embarkation for China—Thoughts of Home—Storms—Incidents
of Voyage—Arrival at Hong-Kong—Ordered to India—Ar¬
rival in the Hooghly, and progress up the Ganges—Ordered
to Lucknow.
J. L. Cooke embarked with his regiment for China
on board the Moorsfort, on the 18th of April
1857, and at four o'clock on the same afternoon the
vessel sailed, and with three hearty British cheers
the soldiers quitted the shores of Old England for
work in a foreign land. Little did they know then
the hard work that was before them. When, on the
24th, the last bit of English land faded from view,
Cooke began to realise his position. The past
seemed to rush before him as a troubled dream, and
the memories of home and childhood, and the future
with its unknown dangers, urged themselves upon
his attention. Similar thoughts seemed to sober and
solemnise the minds of his companions ; but these
reflections were as soon as possible got rid of by
various amusements, which were devised to divert
the thoughts of the men from such sad considera¬
tions.
It was rough weather when crossing the Bay of
Biscay, and Cooke, who had never been on sea before
was rather at first nervous. He proved to be a
16 THOUGHTS OF HOME AT SEA.
good sailor, and was able to remain on deck wlien
most of his companions were prostrated with sea¬
sickness. He tlms describes his feelings during
part of the time :—
" I was at watch in the forepart of the night, and
when I went down to my hammock I could not
sleep, but again returned on deck, and planting my
back against one of the masts, held on to the ropes.
I was drenched by the waves which beat over the
vessel. It was very dark, and only the noise of the
stormy billows was heard. I thought how peace¬
fully my friends in England were taking their rest
in their beds, while I was thus tossed upon the
bosom of the ocean. ' Yet in the midst of such
thoughts as these I was somehow calm and happy,
nor was I afraid. I seemed to be assured of my
safety, and even wished that I was a sailor instead
of a soldier. I know not whether I had any
thoughts of the great Pilot who calmed with his
word the troubled ocean ; but one thing I remember
full well, that here again I made a solemn resolu¬
tion to become a better man, and to trust in the
providence of G-od, without whose knowledge not a
sparrow can fall to the ground, and by whom the
hairs of our head are all numbered."
The following extracts from his journal will give
some of the most striking incidents encountered in
the voyage out:—
"June 11, 12.—Doubled the Cape of Good Hope.
The sea rose mountains high. Our ship was tossed
ROUGH WEATHER AT SEA.
17
about like a feather on the water, the soldiers
tumbling about the deck, one could hardly keep
one's footing.
" loth.—A very heavy storm to-day—the sea
pouring over us in hogsheads, and we are like a lot
of ducks, sometimes rolling about the deck, at other
times holding fast by our ropes. All the hatchways
are battened down, with the exception of one; and
down that so much water came that it took us
several hours to bail it out. One wave in particu¬
lar came over the bows, which swept away all before
it from stem to stern, and broke in the cabin door,
and floated the table. All the glasses were broken
to atoms, and the watch on deck were floating about
from one side of the ship to the other. Had the
hatchways been open, I think the vessel would
have been swamped.
" 1 Mil.—Early this morning our ship was thrown
upon her beam-ends, and I thought, and so did.
many more, that she was going to the bottom. I
was in my hammock, and found myself jammed
against the upper deck of the vessel, she was so
much on her side. The roar of the storm was fear¬
ful, and with the creaking and tumbling of the
vessel, and the noise of the water pouring down the
hatchways, I thought the ship was being buried in
the sea. The captain rushed up in great haste from
his bed to see what had happened, as the vessel
was long in righting herself. But, thank God, she
did so at last.
B
18
incidents of voyage—china.
"July 5.—The ship is rolling very much, and we
cannot keep our feet. It is most difficult work to
eat our dinner. The plates and dishes go rolling
about, and the men go on all fours over the deck in
all directions. Our knapsacks and clothes are
floating about in all parts of the ship, and we are
half-way up our legs in water. But we are all as
merry and light-hearted as if we had been sitting in
a public house at home; and have many a good
laugh, as our comrades get some tumbles with
howls of soup in their hands."
Cooke's journal thus notices all the little inci¬
dents which occurred on board, and the various
places which were passed. At length, the vessel
nearedwhat was thought to be the end of the journey.
After having been caught in another heavy storm,
he thus writes :—
"August 8.—A great change to-day. The wind
dropped, and it was fortunate for us that it did, as
had the weather been rough we could not have
passed where we did to-day. The sea here is full
of rocks. Tn one place our passage lay right be¬
tween two rocks, where there was only just room
for the ship to pass. But we cleared them all,
and suddenly found ourselves in the harbour
of Hong-Kong. We anchored at four p.m., after
having been exactly sixteen weeks on our
voyage."
Three days afterwards news reached Hong-Kong
INCIDENTS OF VOYAGE TO INDIA.
19
of tlie fearful mutiny which had "broken out in
India, and the troops were ordered to proceed to
Calcutta with all speed. They- embarked accordingly
on the 1.5th 011 board H.M.S. Sanspercll, a three-
decker of seventy-four guns. There were eight
hundred soldiers on board. Next day early the
vessel weighed anchor, and steamed out of the har¬
bour of Hong-Kong.
Some extracts from his journal will not be unin¬
teresting :—
" August 21.—Very hot. Sighted land on the
port-bow, called Cochin-China. It is a very
mountainous place; we did not go near enough to
be able to note more of its features. It is laughable
to see us clad with nothing but thin trousers, and
the perspiration running down us in streams. But
the worst is we have not room for all our hammocks.
I have slept with a flock of ducks and fowl above
me, and a ilock of sheep under me, which I find is
not very pleasant. I was at last obliged to shift my
quarters, and take the lower deck, which was
awfully close."
Divine service was held on board regularly every
Sunday. The band played the hymns and psalms.
The sermons do not appear to have been of very
rousing character. To keep up the spirits of the
men, the band used also to play every night, and the
soldiers used to amuse themselves with singing,
dancing, and playing singlestick. Poor fellows !
20
arrival in india.
they little thought of the fate that was in store for
very many of them in India.
On the 15th September the vessel arrived in
sight of the Ganges, or rather of that arm of that
noble river which is called the Hooglily. There
were many ships lying at anchor. The Sanspcrell
went up the river as far as it could with the tide,
and the soldiers were then disembarked, and went
on board the gunboat Auckland, in which they pro¬
ceeded to Calcutta. There they disembarked at
three p.m. on the 17th. The scenery going up the
river charmed and delighted the soldiers,—the noble
trees and thick foliage 011 every side, and the fields
covered over with green corn and grass seemed to
rejoice and sing. All but the spirit of man was
divine. The soldiers were disembarked again on the
18tli, and many of them, enticed by the cheapness of
wine, got intoxicated therewith. Cooke fell again
into the same besetting sin.
On the 26th, the regiment having been embarked
on board a river steamer proceeded up country.
The steamer anchored by night, and proceeded on
its course by day. The soldiers were much crowded
together, and consequently uncomfortable. Tor the
first hundred miles the river seemed to wind through
nothing but woods and jungles on both sides. The
banks were so near that the fruit could be seen 011
the trees. The birds of various plumage amused
the men, and the monkeys as they skipped from
PASSAGE UP THE GANGES.
21
tree to tree. But their thoughts were naturally ever
and anon turning to the service on which they were
entering, and the warfare they had before them.
The musquitoes were so troublesome in the night¬
time, as the vessel was anchored alongside of the
woods, that many men were sent to hospital
from the effects of their bites, and Cooke had
to remain in hospital for a fortnight from this
cause.
Dinapore was reached on the 18th October, and
here a change of boats was made, and the soldiers
went on board a large two-decked boat by the name
of Dallah. Boxar was passed on the 21st. It was
occupied then by a few European troops, and by
many of the members of the Civil Service, who had
lied there with their wives and families. They all
turned out to see the vessel pass by with the new
reinforcement for the suppression of the mutiny, and
greeted the soldiers with enthusiastic cheers. Their
greetings were heartily responded to, and the hearts
of the men beat high as they thought that they
were going onwards to the rescue of their fellow-
countrymen—the tale of whose sufferings and
misery had reached their ears.
Allahabad was finally reached on the 27th, and
the men were disembarked and were quartered in
the fort. They were marched into camp on the
31st, and took in charge a battery of twelve mor¬
tars ; for orders were soon received that the detach-
22
ARRIVAL AT ALLAHABAD.
ment was to proceed forthwith to the relief of Luck-
now, under the leadership of the new commander-
in-chief, Sir Colin Campbell.
Here we close this chapter, as it may be useful to
give a slight sketch of the history of this great
rebellion ere we proceed with the personal nar¬
rative of the subject of this memoir.
CHAPTEE III.
Lord Dalliousie—Annexation of Oucle—Sepoy Army—Greased
Cartridges—Barrackpore—Nana Sahib's visit to Lucknow—
Disarmament at Lucknow—Meerut—Outbreak of Mutiny—•
Mutineers flee to Delhi—Insurrection there—Blowing up of
the Magazine—Lord Canning—General Anson—General Wil¬
son—Battles on the Hindun—Sir H. Barnard gains the battle
of Budlee-ka-Serai—Benares—Col. Neill—Allahabad—Jhansi
—Cawnpore—Mutiny and Siege—the Nana Sahib—Attempts
to ret cue Cawnpore — General Havelock — Surrender of
Cawnpore and Massacre—Battles of Futtehpore—Aong—
Fandoo-nudclee—Second Massacre of Cawnpore—Battle of
Cawnpore—Entry of British into Cawnpore—Havelock
crosses the Ganges—Battles of Onao and Busserutgunge—
Hetreats—Battles of Boorhiya and Bithoor—At Cawnpore
again. ,
There never was a Governor-General of India who
laid down his high and responsible office after having
accomplished so much as Lord Dalhousie. Sated
with glory, after having annexed large provinces to
the British Empire, and having successively battled
with foreign foes, Lord Dalhousie retired from his
office covered with renown. The Punjab had been
annexed after successful wars. Sattarah, Nagpore,
Jhansi and other states had became British by the
right of lapse, and, last of all, the great kingdom of
Oude had been added to the British dominions at
the conchision of his vice-royalty.
These annexations, however, it would appear,
created an uneasy feeling throughout India, and
stirred up much disaffection in several quarters
against onr rule. Some of the annexations were
clearly righteous acts of just retribution for abuse
of power, and for deeds of oppression ; others, again
cannot be so easily defended.
The case of the annexation of Oude seems to have
belonged to the former class. Sunk in vice and
26
ANNEXATION OF OUDE.
sensuality, the King of Oude had long abused his
high position, and the cries of his subjects could not
be left unnoticed. He had again and again been
warned that such a state of matters could not be
allowed to exist, but he had paid no heed to the warn¬
ings of the British Government. Sir J. Kaye thus
describes the position of the land as stated in the
reports of Col. Sleeman : " The whole presented a
revolting picture of the worst type of misrule, of
a feebleness worse than despotism, of an apathy
more productive of human suffering than the worst
forms of tyrannous activity. In the absence of
all controlling authority, the strong carried on
everywhere a war of extermination against the
weak. Powerful families waxing gross on outrage
and rapine built forts, collected followers, and
pillaged and murdered at discretion, without fear
of justice overtaking their crimes. Nay, indeed,
the greater the criminal the more sure he was of
protection, for he could purchase immunity with
his spoil. There was hardly, indeed, an atrocity
committed from one end of the country to the other,
that was not, directly or indirectly, the result of
the profligacy and corruption of the Court.
Such being the state of the country, it was im¬
possible long to resist active interference in its
affairs,—it was necessary that the British Govern¬
ment should take upon itself the responsibility of
governing it properly. Whether that result might not
have been effected in some other way than by the
TIIE SEPOY ARMY.
27
complete annexation of the province may well be
conceded to be a matter wbicli admits of question.
But even its annexation was not so unjustifiable and
unrighteous an act as has been maintained by some.
It produced, however, a deep feeling of dissatisfac¬
tion in many native circles throughout India. The
spirit of rebellion did not at once manifest itself, but
when the fires of mutiny were enkindled, they owed
much of their fierceness and violence to the prior
fact of the Oude annexation.
The utmost confidence had been long felt in the
Sepoy army. On many a field of battle those
swarthy soldiers had proved their prowess, their
loyalty and devotion to their leaders; and though
many circumstances had arisen which tended to de¬
teriorate the Sepoy, and render him less trustworthy
than before, still the confidence, which had been
shaken by some previous attempts at mutiny, had
been more than restored at the time of which we
speak; and scarcely any of the European officers who
served in the Sepoy regiments dreamed of insurrec¬
tion and mutiny. It seemed to have quite escaped
the memory of these officers that a large proportion
of the men of the Sepoy regiments came from the
territories of the King of Oude, and that they were
peculiarly liable to be affected by whatever dis¬
turbed the political arrangements of their own
country.
There were many circumstances, also, which
tended at this time to promote a feeling of appre-
28 DISAFFECTION AMONG THE SEPOYS.
liension and alarm among the native Hindoos, and
more especially among the Sepoys. The necessity
which existed that all the native regiments should be
available for service in all parts, not only of Hindostan,
but even for garrisoning Pegu, across the black
water of the Bay of Bengal—a service that was dis¬
tasteful to the Hindoo,—the onward progress of
social reform and of education in India, all these,
and many others also, gave strength to the convic¬
tion that the days of the old native faiths were
numbered; and that the religion of the Christian,
as well as the rule of the Christian, was destined
soon to be that of the land.
In such a period of excitement in the native mind,
—an excitement, however, which was perceived by
few, and the importance of which was understood by
still fewer,—the question of the greased cartridges
awakened the most dreaded fears in the minds of
the Sepoys. The old muskets had to be replaced by
an issue of improved firearms with rifled barrels,
which necessarily required greased cartridges.
Eight miles from Calcutta was the military
station of Dum-Dum, which had been turned into a
manufactory of small-arm ammunition. The En¬
field rifles in England were greased with lard, made
from the fat of cows or pigs. Orders were said to
have been issued that the cartridges for India should
be made up as in England—orders which, if issued,
were issued without reflecting on the fact that the
Hindoo imagined his caste would be gone, and his
STORY OF THE GREASED CARTRIDGES. 20
social status among liis fellows ruined, if in any way
the fat of those animals were to cross his lips. The
regulation enjoined also that the ends of the cartridges
had to be bitten off in the process of loading, so that
the defiling fat must needs touch the soldiers' lips.
One day in January 1857, a low-caste Lascar
asked a Brahmin Sepoy to give him a drink of
water from his "brass vessel. The Sepoy refused, on
the ground of his superior caste, which would be
broken were he to drink out of the same vessel as a
Lascar. The other tauntingly replied that liigh-
caste and low-caste would soon be alike, as car¬
tridges smeared with the fat of cows and hogs were
being served out to the army. The latter was not
the fact, as the Sepoys training in the musketry
school had not then advanced so far as to be required
to use the cartridges.
The Brahmin rushed horror-stricken to his com¬
rades and told them the story, which was soon
widely spread throughout the native army. The
agents of the ex-king of Oude, no doubt, had much
to do with the sudden and rapid transmission of this
report throughout the land. They had now got
something tangible wherewith to stir up the re¬
ligious animosity of the native soldiers,—something
which, in the minds of the natives, would demon¬
strate to them that the intention of the government
was to make them all Christians against their will.
The mistake, no doubt, was ultimately rectified, and
every care taken to prepare such a grease as would
30
DISAFFECTION AMONG THE SEPOYS.
not do violence to the religious scruples of the
native soldiery; but the explanations came too late
—suspicions were excited which could not be so
soon allayed. The secret political agents of the dis¬
possessed native princes were believed in preference
to the proclamations of those in authority. The
Sepoys' confidence in the British government was
gone.
Everything seemed most opportune for a general
insurrection. Never was there a time when there
were so few European soldiers in the country.
Never did the safety of British India seem to de¬
pend more entirely on the fidelity of the. native
army—and that army was rapidly becoming untrust¬
worthy.
Scarce did a week elapse before the uneasiness
felt among the native troops was openly manifested
by acts of incendiarism,—the telegraph office in
Barrackpore was burned down, nocturnal meetings
were soon held in the lines of the Sepoys, and their
excited feelings were evidently fanned by designing
persons for their own ends.
The efforts of General Hearsey at Barrackpore,
and his speeches to the men, kept the troops there
for some time from breaking out into insurrection,
and many thought that the threatened danger would
soon pass off and disappear. On the 25th of Febru¬
ary, the first real acts of mutiny were committed by
the 19tli Begiment at Berhampore. This emcute
was, however, brought to an end without effu-
FIKST BLOOD SHED—NANA SAIIIB. 31
sion of blood. In consequence thereof it was
resolved to disband the 19th, and for that purpose
the regiment was ordered to Barrackpore; but be¬
fore it arrived there, the first blood had been shed,
Mongul Pandy, a Sepoy, having shot down Lieuten¬
ant Laugh, the adjutant of the 34th, while the men
of the regiment looked on without interference.
This was on March 29th. The 19 th was disbanded
on the 31st, many of the men, however, exhibiting
strong signs of contrition. It was, however, but
the first of a long series of regiments destined to
meet a similar fate.
Meanwhile, however, the spirit of disaffection
was spreading everywhere; and in some way a
brisk intercourse was kept up among the Sepoys far
and wide. Letters were despatched in large num¬
bers to every regiment in the service, and the mys¬
terious flat cakes, or chupatties, circulated at this
time through the country, had most probably an in¬
timate connection with the mutiny which after¬
wards broke out.
In the month of April Dundoo Punt, afterwards
well known as the infamous Nana Sahib, the
adopted son of the late Peishwah of Bithoor, with his
former agent in England, Azim-oollah-Klian, visited
Lucknow and Cawnpore. The claim of the Nana
Sahib to succeed to the pension paid by the British
Government to his adoptive father had not been re¬
cognised by the Government; hence, despite of all
his seemingly impassive manners, a grudge against
Of)
MUTINY AT LUCKNOW.
the British rule remained deep seated in his bosom,
and, as the sequel shows, he panted for revenge.
Azim-oollali-Khan, his agent and adviser, had
been in the Crimea, and had noted the operations
there of the allied forces. His sympathies were
even then by no means on our side, and he had not
improbably held communications with Eussian
officers. These native gentlemen, the one a Hindoo,
the other a Mohammedan, no doubt came to Luck-
now at this peculiar crisis to take note of things there,
and from thence went on as far as to Delhi. Their
manner was so bold and audacious that it did not
escape the notice of the authorities, and Sir H. Law¬
rence and Mr. Gubbins warned Sir H. Wheeler in
Cawnpore to be on his guard against them, a warn¬
ing which unfortunately was not attended to.
Not long after the Nana and his companion
had quitted Lucknow, mutiny broke out in the Oude
Irregulars, which were stationed there. Whether
they had been ensnared by emissaries from the
Nana or from others, or whether some of the
soldiers from the regiments disbanded near Calcutta
had reached Lucknow, and had fanned the embers
of sedition there, cannot be known with any degree
of certainty; but Sir Henry Lawrence soon dis¬
covered that the men of the Irregulars had begun to
tamper with the fidelity of other corps. Without
any hesitation Sir Henry resolved to disband the
regiment. He did so on May 3d, the regiment being
taken entirely by surprise, and the other native
OUTBREAK AT MEEKUT.
33
regiments, which sympathised with it, being paralysed
by the rapidity and method in which the whole matter
had been arranged. Lucknow was saved by this
measure, and though about a month after the other
7 O
native regiments there mutinied, there had been
time available to fortify the position, and that time
of grace had been used to the best possible purpose.
The real outbreak of the mutiny took place on
the 10th of May at Meerut. Meerut was one of
our great military stations in the North of India.
The headquarters of the Bengal Artillery, and
troops of all arms, native and European, were assem¬
bled there.
It was a Sunday—a day that speaks of peace, but
which has often, alas! been a day noted in the
annals of warfare,—that this awful insurrection be¬
gan. The morning service at the Station Church
had passed over as usual, save that there were not a
few hints given that something strange was about to
happen in the native lines. The residents at the
station were about to proceed to evening service,
when the noise of musketry proclaimed the terrible
fact that the native army had revolted. Eighty-five
troopers of the Third Native Cavalry had been tried
by court-martial about a fortnight previously, for
refusing to take the cartridges served out to them,
which cartridges had been prepared in such a way
as not to do any violence to their religious pre¬
judices. What made their refusal worse was that
they had not been asked to bite off the ends of those
/ o
34
OUTBREAK AT MEERUT.
cartridges, but liacl been accorded the permission to
tear off the ends with their fingers. The sentence
of the court-martial, which consisted of fifteen
native officers, of whom six were Mohammedans and
nine Hindoos, condemned the delinquents to im¬
prisonment and hard labour. The sentence was
confirmed, with some slight commutations, and on
May 9tli was carried into effect in presence of the
whole of the brigade at Meerut. The eighty-five
men were stripped of their regimentals, and duly
loaded with fetters, and consigned to the great jail.
All seemed to have passed off quietly. In presence
of the European artillery none of the Sepoy regi¬
ments ventured to lift a hand to prevent the degra¬
dation of their fellows. The Europeans thought all
had gone off well, and that the danger was well-nigh
past.
But on the Sabbath evening all was changed. In
wild fury the troopers of the Native Cavalry arose
and made for the jail, which had been by some
blunder left in charge of a detachment from a
Sepoy regiment. The Sepoys there fraternised with
them, the jail was broken open, the eighty-four
condemned prisoners were freed from their shackles
and mounted behind their rescuers. Meanwhile,
the infantry regiments broke out also into revolt;
Colonel Einnis was shot down by his men, and
other officers likewise ruthlessly murdered.
The station of Meerut was a large and extensive
one, covering an area of some five miles in circum-
THE MUTINEERS FLEE TO DELHI.
35
ference. Hence the news of the revolt in the one
part of the station took some time to reach the
other. There were European forces at hand suffi¬
cient to have made short work with the mutineers,
but, from some cause or other, the military com¬
manders seemed paralysed in their movements;
and the European forces, which, if quickly assembled
and well directed, could, by reason of their superi¬
ority in artillery, have crushed the mutineers,
were too late in their movements, and arrived at the
scene of action only when the Sepoys had done their
bloody work but too effectively, and were making
good their retreat to Delhi. Fearful acts of murder
had been perpetrated, not only of men but of women
and children, and terrible were the perils which
many of our poor countrymen and countrywomen
underwent that awful night. Suffice it to say that
ere mid-day the next day, the Meerut Sepoys entered
the great city of the Mogul with exulting shouts
proclaiming their deeds done at Meerut, and calling
011 the native regiments there to unite with them
for the overthrow of the English rule in India.
Delhi was already ripe for revolt. Ere the Meerut
mutineers came clattering into its streets, the troops
in the cantonments on the other side of the city
had exhibited signs of disaffection. The regiment
which was marched to oppose the mutineers frater¬
nised with the rebels and shot down their own
officers. Everywhere there soon was murder and
insurrection. In vain brave men held together
36 BLOWING UP OF THE DELHI MAGAZINE.
hoping for relief from Meerut. The English troops
there were never marched to their rescue, and
Delhi was soon completely in the hands of the
Sepoys, the titular King of Delhi having cast in
his lot with the insurgents.
Not, however, before a deed of heroic valour had
been performed, namely the blowing up of the great
magazine by Lieutenant Willoughby, bravely sup¬
ported by Lieutenants Eaynor and Forrest and some
six other European soldiers. They waited till the
mutineers had poured in from all sides, and then,
at the given signal, the magazine was blown into
the air, hundreds of Sepoys perishing in the ex¬
plosion. Four of the nine gallant men, who had
expected to have sacrificed their lives, escaped
wounded and bruised, gallant Willoughby to linger
on for a couple of months in pain and suffering, and
then to die.
"It was not possible," writes Sir. J. W. Kaye,
" that by any such explosion as this the immense
material resources of the great Delhi magazine
should be so destroyed as to be unserviceable to
the enemy. The effect of the heroic deed, which
has given to these devoted nine a cherished place
in history, can never be exactly computed. But
the grandeur of the conception is not to be measured
by its results. From one end of India to another,
it filled men's minds with enthusiastic admiration;
and when news reached England that a young
Artillery officer named Willoughby had blown up
LORD CANNING.
37
the Delhi magazine, there was a burst of applause
that came from the deep heart of the natives. It
was the first of many intrepid acts which have made
us proud of our countrymen in India; but its
brilliancy has never been eclipsed."
We pass over the atrocities committed by the
insurgents when in posesssion of Delhi. The calm
judgment of history has pronounced them inferior
in atrocity to what was asserted and believed at
the time. It was bad enough that Christian men
and women should have been massacred in cold blood,
but there is no evidence that the latter were dis¬
honoured. The awful massacre of some fifty European
Christian prisoners by the sword, some four or five
days after the rebels had possessed themselves of the
city, will ever indeed, though the details are un¬
known, form one of the saddest tales in connection
great rebellion.
Lord Canning, the Governor-General, had at that
time a terrible and crushing responsibility upon
his shoulders. And bravely and calmly he faced the
danger. His character has long since been cleared
from many of the charges so recklessly brought
against it at the time. Perhaps under God, the
safety of Calcutta and other parts were greatly due
to the calm and quiet demeanour which Lord
Canning maintained at this time, which seemed
to the native mind a sure indication of strength.
No means were left untried to secure an increase of
European troops. By a most merciful and gracious
38
GENERAL ANSON—SIR. H. BARNARD.
providence, whereby God in wrath remembered
mercy, the cessation of the Persian war set free a
gallant body of British and other troops, and regi¬
ments on the way to China were diverted from
service in China to the more arduous work which
had to be done in Hindoostan. On the 22d of May
the first succours arrived in India, the 1st Madras
Fusileers commanded by Colonel Neill, whose name
became afterwards such a household word in India.
These were rapidly followed by others.
The commander-in-chief at this eventful crisis
was General Anson. He was at the time at Sim-
lah. He may well be excused for not taking in at
once the full extent of the peril. But he issued
orders at once for troops to march to Umballah.
To collect troops, to provide a siege train for the
recapture of Delhi, with the departments all caught
unprepared and unprovided for such a juncture,
was no easy matter. Sir John Lawrence, the great
Punjab commissioner, was for bold and decided
measures; General Anson seemed rather to be for
delay. General Anson was not long spared to
direct military matters. He may well be credited
with having done all possible to be done under the
circumstances, when 011 the 27th of May he was
carried off by cholera, and Sir Henry Barnard suc¬
ceeded to the command of the forces which were to
operate against Delhi.
The brigade at Meerut commenced its march
towards Delhi on the 27th of May, commanded
BATTLES ON THE HINDUN, AND AT DELHI. 39
by Brigadier Archdale Wilson. On tlie 30th
Ghazee-ooddin was reached, situated 011 the banks
of the river Ilindun, which, for a certain portion of
its course, runs parallel to the Jumna. There the
mutineers from Delhi first attempted to give battle
to the English. It was a short and sharp engage¬
ment. Victory remained on the side of the English,
and five cannon were taken. The mutineers fled to
Delhi, but, reproached for their failure, they inarched
back with reinforcements to the Hindun, and a
second battle took place on the 31st. Again the
Sepoys were beaten; but the English troops ex¬
hausted by the heat were unable to improve their
victory, and the Sepoys retired baffled, but not in
disorder, and carried off their guns and stores into
Delhi.
Brigadier Wilson's force was soon reinforced by
the force under Sir H. Barnard. The siege train
soon came up, and on the 8th June a battle was
fought at Budlee-ka-Serai, about six miles distant
from Delhi. There the Sepoys were strongly posted
with thirty cannon. For some time the contest was
a mere artillery struggle, but the order was soon
given to charge the guns, and after a desperate
struggle they were captured. General Grant fell
upon the rear of the rebels with the cavalry and
horse artillery. The victory was complete; their
guns and amunition were captured, and they were
driven back to Delhi in utter confusion. Sir H.
Barnard pressed on without delay, and by a rapid
40
MUTINIES AT BENARES
flank movement succeeded in gaining the important
ridge which separates Delhi from the cantonments
to the north. The Sepoys having been out-manoeuvred
abandoned that post also, together with their cannon.
The loss of the British was one hundred and eighty-
five men in killed, wounded, and missing. The
rebels had lost more than double that number. The
British forces were established on the ridge, the
best position possible from which to accomplish the
arduous work that lay before them of recapturing
the city.
Meanwhile the insurrection was extending in
other parts of India. The calmness of Mr. H. Carre
Tucker at Benares tended to keep that city for a
time in quiet. He was an earnest Christian,—the
ground of whose confidence was his trust in his
God. And, therefore, he stood firm, sending on the
succours which he might have retained for the
safety of his own post to other localities, where the
need seemed more pressing. He was bravely sus¬
tained by the military commander, Brigadier Pon-
sonby. There were some two thousand Sepoys at
the post, on whom no reliance could be placed, and
only thirty European artillerymen. Colonel Neill,
however, soon arrived from Calcutta, and with the
troops he brought with him, scarce exceeding two
hundred, it was at last resolved to disarm the native
force. It was accordingly effected on June 4tli, but
by some mismanagement the Sikh regiment was
drawn into resistance, and a corps which were most
AND AT ALLAHABAD.
41
probably loyal were driven for a time into open
mutiny.
Providentially there was one man present in
Benares who was able to do us an important service in
this hour of need. Sirdar Soorut Singh, a Sikh
noble, by his explanations and efforts appeased the
anger of the Sikh soldiery, arising from the unfortu
nate event, so that they yielded up the government
treasure. In reward for,their fidelity and forbear¬
ance Mr. Tucker distributed ten thousand rupees
among them. Thus was the military success ren¬
dered complete, Benares was saved, and the Sikhs
preserved faithful, who afterwards rendered to us
the most important services in the suppression of
the rebellion.
More serious was the state of affairs at Allahabad.
There on the receipt of the news from Benares, the
native regiment at that station rose, and fearful was
the massacre of the European officers which followed
as the sequel. It was at Allahabad that Arthur
Cheek, the brave English ensign, with a spirit
worthy of the ancient Christian martyrs, exhorted
his fellow-prisoner, a poor native catechist who was
undergoing severe torture in order to make him
apostatise from Christianity, with the noble words,
" Oh, my friend, whatever may happen to us, do
not deny the Lord Jesus."
Fortunately and most providentially the fort was
saved; for, through the bravery of Lieutenant
Brasyer, the company of Sepoys in charge of the
42
COLONEL NEILL AT ALLAHABAD.
fort was disarmed. In consequence of this, though the
city of Allahabad rose in rebellion on the 6th of
June, and the European residents there were ruth¬
lessly massacred, though the green flag of the Pro¬
phet was unfurled, and a leader known as the
'' Moulavee " established himself in authority, Alla¬
habad, with its strong fort still in British hands,
was not yet lost. The fort was then garrisoned by
less than two hundred Europeans, only half of them
military. Colonel Neill reached the place on the
1 Itli, thoroughly exhausted by his efforts ; but on
the very next day, " though almost dying from com¬
plete exhaustion, he kept up his heart," and com¬
menced offensive operations on the surrounding foe.
On the loth of June he routed the Sepoys, rescued
the few English prisoners who were still alive, and
among them Arthur Cheek, who was rescued, how¬
ever, only to die in Christian hands, and on the
18th the whole city, now deserted, was left com¬
pletely in the hands of the British.
Colonel Neill forthwith began to organise the
means for an advance to relieve Cawnpore. For
there, too, as well as in many places along the line of
the English stations, at Azimgurh, Futtehpore,
Juanpore, Nowgong, Jhansi, and others, fearful
deeds had been done, the story of which we have
not space to relate here in detail. At Jhansi, a mas¬
sacre took place of some fifty-five Europeans, in¬
clusive of womenand children,—a massacre executed,
notwithstanding that the solemn oath of the
INSURRECTION AT CAWNPORE.
43
Pamee and the Sepoys had solemnly pledged, not only
that the lives of the Europeans should be spared, but
that they should be sent unhurt to another station.
Cawnpore was, however, at the moment the point
of deepest anxiety. There Sir H. M. Wheeler, with
scarce four hundred and fifty men, many of them
mere civilians, with six pieces of cannon, was
defending in hastily constructed lines some three
hundred and thirty women and children.
For the mutiny had likewise broken out at
Cawnpore on the 5th of June. During the latter
part of the month of May the Sepoy regiments in
that large cantonment had been looked upon with
suspicion. But there is little doubt that the
old and gallant general who was in command hoped
that by care and good treatment the danger might
be averted. His European force was considered too
weak to disarm the Sepoys, as the native regiments
numbered about three thousand men. Small, too,
as was the number of European soldiers when the
insurrection actually occurred, it was much inferior
in strength a little while before. Sir H. M. Wheeler
was in daily hopes of receiving reinforcements from
Calcutta. Had he occupied the magazine he would
have been able, in all probability, ultimately to
have stood his ground; but to have displaced the
Sepoys which guarded it might have been the sig¬
nal for an immediate insurrection. Hence he pre¬
pared another place of refuge—one much inferior
in military strength, to which in the hour of danger
44
TREACHERY OF NANA SAHIB.
the Europeans miglit be able to resort. It was,
however, a refuge which no one would ever have
chosen had a siege been contemplated. It was
merely designed to guard against a temporary
danger, and for that it was amply sufficient.
The friendship of the Nana Sahib was also relied
upon as an important additional element of strength;
and the Nana, who was profuse of expressions of
friendship, was permitted to send in troops to assure
the safety of the Government treasury. It was not
known that he was one of the arch-conspirators.
On the 4tli the Sepoys broke out in mutiny, and
wrere joined by the troops of the Nana. The
treasury was sacked, the jail opened. The English
officers were not here cut down by their men. In¬
deed, some of the Sepoys proved faithful to the last,
. and fought all through the trying siege by the side
of their old masters. But the bulk of the regiments
were carried along with the stream, and set out, as
others before them to join the mutineers at Delhi.
They were diverted from executing this project
by the influence of the Nana. In the hope that he
might, with the aid of the mutineers, be able to re¬
establish the Mahratta rule, the Nana arrested the
march towards Delhi, and casting in his lot with
the insurgents led them back to Cawnpore.
On the 6th, Sir Hugh Wheeler was informed by
letter from the Nana of his treachery, and
of the intended assault. From every quarter the
English officers, soldiers and civilians, assembled to
ATTACKS ON CAWNPOEE.
45
defend the feeble earthworks which had been
erected. The first onslaught of the foe was vic¬
toriously repulsed. But little effectual could be
done against the numerous enemies which encircled
them. The insurgents had a far more numerous
and heavier artillery. The wealth of the Cawnpore
Magazine was theirs. "While the English defenders
were exhausted with constant exertions, their
enemies were so many that fresh attacks could
always be made with fresh succours. Soldiers and
civilians vied together in acts of daring bravery, and
the heroic endurance of even the poor women
deserves the warmest praise.
After a week's siege the barrack, which was a
thatched building, was set on fire by the enemy's
shells, and thereby great distress was caused, as the
building had been used as the hospital for the en¬
trenchment, and had served as a shelter for the
women and children. The sufferings of the be¬
sieged were fearfully increased by this conflagration,
which consumed all their hospital stores. The
mortality therefore increased in their ranks; but,
despite their lessened numbers, the enemy never
approached the position without being made to feel
their rashness. A desperate assault made 011 the
centenary of the battle of Plassy (June 23d), was
heroically repulsed; but famine was an enemy
which could not be driven away by any brave de¬
votion 011 the part of the defenders—and famine
soon was visibly approaching.
46
AEEIYAL OF HAVELOCK.
Meanwhile every effort was "being macle to effect
their rescue. Sir H. Lawrence at Lucknow had sent
some reinforcements, which had reached Cawnpore
ere the siege began. Colonel Neill at Allahabad was
making all the preparations necessary for an ad¬
vance. But the terror caused by the retribution ex¬
acted from the rebellious city by that commander,
and the outbreak of cholera among the small forces,
which with so much labour were being collected at
Allahabad, retarded his preparations; so that not
till June 30th did the first detachment of the re¬
lieving force, composed of about eight hundred men,
half of them Europeans, the others for the most part
Sikhs, with two cannon, set forth under Major Re-
naud for the relief of Cawnpore.
On the same day Brigadier-General Havelock
arrived at Allahabad to take the chief command. He
was a soldier of the first class, and one who, too, had
already fought bravely under the banner of the cross
of Christ. But, on the 3d of July, tidings came from
Sir H. Lawrence that the garrison of Cawnpore had
capitulated, and that all, including the women and
children, had been mercilessly massacred.
It was but too true. After nobly standing an in¬
vestment of three weeks, Sir Hugh consented, in the
interests, as he thought, of the women and children,
to listen to the overtures of the Nana. On the
solemn promise that all would receive a safe
passage to Allahabad the entrenchments were sur¬
rendered, and the sad company marched down to
SURRENDER AND MASSACRE AT CAWNPORE. 47
the river to embark in tlie boats provided for tlieir
reception.
But why repeat here an oft-told tale of misery and
of woe ? Suffice it to say, that several of those whose
age and infirmities obliged them to fall back some¬
what in the rear were ruthlessly massacred, and
when the others were embarked 011 board the boats
that were provided, at a given signal the boats were
deserted by the native boatmen, the thatched roofs
of the boats were set 011 fire, and fire was opened
upon the wretched fugitives from the artillery of
the mutineers posted 011 the bank of the river. One
boat escaped for a little down the stream. Bravely
its occupants, brought to bay by their savage pur¬
suers, turned back, and for a season dispersed them;
but even they, after performing prodigies of valour,
were overtaken and brought back, save four strong
swimmers, who managed at last to escape their pur¬
suers by reaching the territory of a friendly rajah.
Meanwhile the Nana had ordered the massacre to
cease, and some one hundred and twenty-five, many
terribly wounded, with some eighty, brought back
after three days of agonizing suspense on the waters
of the Ganges—in all more than two hundred
women and children (the men had all been
murdered) were cast into the fearful prison-house,
the Beebee-gliur. There they were subjected to the
treatment of the lowest slaves; but 110 fouler dis¬
honour seems ever to have been done to them, al¬
though such a story was believed at the time.
43
BATTLES OF FUTTEHPOEE, AONG,
When General Iiavelock received the awful in¬
telligence that Cawnpore had indeed fallen, he
ordered Major Eenaud's column to halt till he himself
could be able to bring up a larger force in person.
Iiavelock overtook Eenaud on the early morning of
July 12th near Euttehpore. It was well that he
had come up. The Nana had moved forward in the
hope of surprising Eenaud ere his supports could
arrive, and he thought that he would have had an
easy victory. On the other hand, the gallant Ee¬
naud, little thinking that the Nana was present
with such a large force, was anxious to have had the
honour of taking Euttehpore ere Havelock's force
should come up. Well was it that a gracious Pro¬
vidence so ordered matters that General Havelock's
forces should arrive just in time. The artillery of
the British was excellently served under the com¬
mand of Captain Maude. The fight itself was but
a short one. In ten minutes victory inclined to the
side of the English ; and without any loss of life on
their side, as the battle had been fought chiefly with
artillery. The rebels were chased from post to
post, and in four hours, their force was scattered
and eleven cannon taken. More would have been
effected had not the Irregular Cavalry proved un¬
faithful; and on the 14th, that whole corps was dis¬
mounted and disarmed. Futtehpore was given up
to plunder, and afterwards set on fire.
On the 15tli, General Havelock again came in
sight of the enemy, and the battle of Aong was
AND OF PANDOO-NUDEE.
49
fought. The mutineers were here posted in great
strength, but they were defeated, and the road
strewn for miles with the baggage and ammunition
OO O
thrown away in their flight. Again, the want of
cavalry to follow up the success was keenly felt.
As tidings were brought that the enemy were
rallying, and were about to blow up the bridge
over the Pandoo-nuddee, Havelock at once marched
forward to secure the bridge. A sharp action en
sued, but the British artillery again soon drove the
rebels from their position, and the bridge was won.
Several guns, too, fell into the hands of the victors.
The victory was dearly purchased, for the brave
Major Eenaud was 110 more. The night that suc¬
ceeded this victory must ever be accounted as one
of the darkest in the annals of the history of India.
It was the night 011 which the miscreant Nana gave
orders for the wholesale massacre of the two
hundred Christian captives which still remained
alive in his hands.
The bloody work done, the Nana determined to
make a last stand for the possession of Cawnpore
itself. The tidings of the massacre had not reached
the English camp, and each soldier's heart beat high
as he thought that one more battle was all that
would be necessary ere they would have the privi¬
lege of delivering their poor captive country-women
and children.
The Nana's army was strongly posted, and con¬
sisted of some five thousand horse and foot, and
D
50
FIKST BATTLE OF CAWNPORE.
forty-five pieces of artillery. In every part it was
vastly superior in strength to the small force which
Havelock commanded. The British forces were ex¬
hausted by the battles of the previous clays, and
numbered only one thousand British soldiers, three
hundred Sikhs, and a little body of eighteen volun¬
teer cavalry. There was much generalship dis¬
played in the way the mutineers were drawn up,
and the victory on this day was gained by Havelock
by a display of brilliant generalship on his part.
The battle was fiercely contested, and every part of
the British force covered itself with honour. The
brave eighteen did their work well, and were, on re¬
turning with diminished numbers from the brilliant
charge they had made, received with enthusiastic
cheers by the infantry ; while Havelock exclaimed,
" Well done, gentlemen volunteers, I am proud to
command you."
Such was the battle of the 16th, the first battle of
Cawnpore. The British force was at its close utterly
exhausted, and rest and reinforcements were necessary
ere it could proceed to the relief of Lucknow. Luck-
now wras beginning to suffer severely from the siege
that had begun there after the unfortunate defeat of
the British at Chinliut, near Lucknow, which had
occurred on the 30th June.
Cawnpore was re-occupied the next day,—the
Nana having fled, and his army being dispersed in
various directions. When the fact and the extent
of the massacre which had taken place became
THE MASSACRE AVENGED.
51
known to the British soldiers, their rage ancl grief
was intense. A heavy retribution was meted out
to all those supposed to have been concerned in it,
when Brigadier General Xeill arrived a few days
later. Ilavelock soon found it necessary to take
energetic measues to prevent plundering and
drunkenness among his men. The Bithoor Palace,
the residence of the Nana, was destroyed on the
17th. General Xeill arrived with two hundred and
twenty-seven fresh men on the 20th of July, and
all needful arrangements having been made for the
defence of Cawnpore, where Neill was left in com¬
mand of three hundred men, Ilavelock commenced
to cross the Ganges to proceed to the relief of Luck-
now. Owing, however,to the small number of boats,
Szc., the passage was not finally accomplished till the
25th. His force then consisted of about fifteen hun¬
dred men, with sixty cavalry, and ten guns.
It was an arduous enterprise to advance with
such a small force into Oude, where the rebels were
in overwhelming force. But every effort had now
to be strained for the relief of Lucknow, especially
after the fearful atrocities which had been committed
at Cawnpore. On the 28th, the Oude rebels were
first met at Onao. They were strongly posted, and
notwithstanding the skill with which they handled
their cannon, they were defeated with the loss of
three hundred men and fifteen guns, which had,
however, to be destroyed, as the English general
had no means for their transport.
BATTLES OF BUSSERUTGUNGE.
Four or five hours afterwards Havelock on march¬
ing forward found a fresh body well posted at Bus-
serutgunge. After a short but severe fight the town
was taken, and the guns which had been put in
position by the enemy were captured. This was
the second occasion on which two victories had
been won on the same day. But the force had lost
already eighty-eight killed and wounded, and as
many sick were on his hands. Hence the General
fell back on Mungulwar, and sent to General USTeill
for the reinforcements, which it was expected that
he would have received.
These reinforcements, however, were not to be
had, inasmuch as the mutiny at Dinapore had then
aggravated the difficulty experienced by the autho¬
rities at Calcutta, and had also added to the hosts
opposed to the British advance into Oude.
Havelock received a small increase to his force
on the 3d of August, and with a force about equal
to that with which he had crossed the Ganges he
again set forward. On the 4th he fought and won
O o
a second victory at Busserutgunge. But he was
sorely impeded by the want of cavalry from follow¬
ing up the defeated foe. On a careful consideration of
the difficulties of the advance, and the impossibility,
were he to advance, of keeping open his com¬
munications with Cawnpore, he resolved most un¬
willingly to retreat again to Mungulwar, where he
established communication between the two banks
of the river.
EE TREAT OF HAVELOCK TO CAWNPORE. 53
The mutineers having now dared to show them
selves in his rear, Havelock again marched forward
to meet them, and a third action was fought quite
close to Busserutgunge, namely at Boorhiya. This
was on the 11th August. The enemy were again
repulsed with heavy slaughter, and Havelock re-
crossed the Ganges without molestation and reached
Cawnpore, which was seriously threatened by the
rebels. A fierce battle was fought on August 16th
at Bitlioor, where the flower of the mutinous soldiery,
though flushed with their successful revolt at Saugor
and Fyzabad, were thoroughly routed. From thence
Havelock returned once again to Cawnpore. There
his effective strength for a march onward was from
sickness and the sword found to have been reduced
to somewhat less than 700 men.
CHAPTER IV.
Sir C. Campbell's arrival—Approval of Havelock—Noble Conduct
of Sir J. Outram—Havelock recrosses the Ganges—Battle
of Mungulwar, of the Alumbagh—Action of the Charbagh
Bridge—Lucknow relieved—The state of Lucknow—Luck-
now Strengthened—Rebellion elsewhere—Siege of Delhi—
Engagements—Death of Sir H. Barnard—The Punjab—
General Nicholson—Battle of Nujufgurh—Storming of Delhi
—Sir C. Campbell proceeds to the Belief of Lucknow.
Sir Colin Campbell arrived in India as commander-
in-chief on the 13th August. Eight dqys before
his arrival Sir James Outram had been appointed
to the military command of the Dinapore and
Cawnpore divisions, which placed him at once in
the position of General Havelock's chief. Whatever
explanations may have been given of this appoint¬
ment, there is no doubt that the announcement was
well calculated to cut Havelock to the quick. The
appointment, too, tended to retard the relief of
Lucknow.
Sir Colin at once telegraphed his warm approba¬
tion of Havelock's actions, and promised speedy
reinforcements. The reinforcements, however, were
delayed, principally owing to complications arising
from the Dinapore mutiny. They did not actually
reach Cawnpore till the loth September, when Sir
James Outram joined the relieving force, and with
true generosity and nobility of soul, yielded the
honour to General Havelock of relieving that city,
while he accompanied the force in only his civil
58 HAVELOCK MARCHES TO LUCKNOW.
capacity as Chief Commissioner of Oude, and did
military service as a volunteer.
The Ganges was crossed on the 19th, fortunately
without opposition, and Havelock now in command
of two thousand five hundred men, set his face
towards Lucknow. An action was fought on the
21st at Mungulwar, when the rebels were driven
from a strong position, and thoroughly discomfited.
On the 23d the force reached the Alumbagh, a
pleasure garden of the princes of Oude with a
large palace and park. The rebels were nearly ten
thousand strong at the Alumbagh, but they were
defeated with great loss, and five cannon were taken.
Sir James Outram at the head of the cavalry pur¬
sued the fugitives to the Charbagh Bridge over the
canal on the margin of the city. The news of the
fall of Delhi on the 14th, which was this day re¬
ceived, stirred up the British soldiers to hearty
enthusiasm and to fresh courage in their efforts to
release their beleaguered fellow-countrymen.
On the morning of September 25th, Havelock
having previously spent some time in prayer, com¬
mended his troops to the protection of Almighty
God, and gave orders for an advance to the Char¬
bagh Bridge. The reason why the safer route,
afterwards followed by Sir C. Campbell, was not
chosen on this occasion, was that the heavy rain
which had fallen for three days previous had made
that route impassable for the light artillery.
The Charbagh Bridge was strongly fortified, and
BATTLE, AND RELIEF OF LUCKNOW. 59
defended by six guns, and the houses near it were
also all looplioled and filled with musketry. The
fight was a desperate one, and all the officers and
men behaved with the greatest gallantry. The two
guns commanded by Captain Maude were unable
to silence the six of the enemy, while Sir J. Outram's
force was detained longer than was expected. It
had been sent through the Charbagh enclosure to
seek a spot from whence fire could be advantageously
opened on the enemy's artillery which swept the
bridge. Recourse was accordingly had to the bayonet,
and the bridge was carried with a gallant rush, the
gunners were bayonetted, and the guns were taken.
Sir J. Outram arrived in sight just in time to
witness the gallant charge, and to be able from his
personal observation to urge in the strongest terms
on General Havelock the duty of recommending
his son for the decoration of the Victoria Cross.
After a day of fearful conflict the Residency was
gained just at niglit-fall, and by a gallant charge
communication was opened with the besieged.
Lucknow was indeed relieved, and with deafening
cheers the brave relievers were welcomed within the
hard-kept entrenchments. But the losses of the
British in this exploit were severe, the gallant
General Xeill had fallen, and Havelock's son was
among the wounded. The losses also on this day
were even less than on the succeeding day, when,
by an unfortunate mistake as to the road, the con¬
voy of the wounded was brought under the enemy's
60
THE GARRISON AT LUCKNOW.
fire, and some thirty or forty perished. The total
loss of the British in killed, wounded and missing,
since the force had crossed the Ganges was five
hundred and thirty five.
Noble had been the efforts of the brave defenders
of the Residency and the adjoining buildings. It
had first been defended by Sir Henry Lawrence.
He died during the siege on the 4th of July, from
the effects of a wound from an 8-inch shell received
three days before. Major Banks succeeded to the
leadership of the defence, but he too was killed by
a musket ball on the 21st of the same month. After
his death Brigadier Inglis assumed the command.
" The garrison of Lucknow," wrote Mr. Gubbins,
"originally was 1692 strong. Of these, 927 were
Europeans, and 765 natives. We lost, in killed, of
Europeans 350, and 133 natives, and of the latter,
230 deserted, making a total loss of 713. There
remained of the original garrison, when relieved on
the 25th of September by General Havelock, a total
number of 979, in which both sick and wounded
are included, of whom 577 were Europeans, and
402 natives. We had lost during the siege 41
military and 2 civil officers, and 1 assistant chap¬
lain."
The intention of Sir James Outram, on assuming
the command at Lucknow, was as soon as possible
to withdraw the entire garrison with the sick and
wounded, and the women and children, to the
Alumbagh. There the bulk of the stores had been
Sill J. OUTRAM FORTIFIES LUCKNOW. 61
left, while the troops had nothing with them hut
what they brought in on their backs. But the
severity of the losses sustained in the advance, and
the impossibility of procuring carriage from the
city, with which all communication was absolutely
cut off, made him alter his plans, especially as he
found that there was an abundance of grain in
store to supply the needs of all the force. Hence
he resolved to strengthen the position which he
held already, and to await further reinforcements.
A further siege or blockade of six weeks had there¬
fore to be endured ere the final relief by the army
under the command of Sir Colin Campbell.
We cannot venture to attempt in our rapid
sketch to delineate the rise and progress of the
mutiny in other places, nor the suppression of the
attempts of the rebels in the Punjab. There Sir
John Lawrence, Herbert Edwardes, and Generals
Cotton and Nicholson, were enabled by their
efforts, under Divine providence, not only to keep
intact the British Empire, but also to furnish the
main portion of the forces which retook Delhi.
Many acts of gallantry were performed elsewhere,
as for instance the gallant relief of Arrah by Major
Vincent Eyre (now Sir Y. Eyre) who afterwards
was attached to the force of Generals Outram and
Havelock and entered Lucknow with the relieving
force. But the chief interest up to this time was
centred 011 Delhi, Cawnpore, and Lucknow.
It is necessary to go back a little to sketch the
62
BATTLES BEFORE DELHI.
events connected with the siege and capture of
Delhi. After the battle of Budlee-ka-Serai it had
been proposed to try to take that city by an assault.
But from various reasons the attempt was post¬
poned from time to time. A defeat there would no
doubt have been attended with the most serious
results, and even had the assault been successful,
it was a most hazardous undertaking to advance
with only two thousand soldiers into a town held
by a large rebel army. The decision of a council of
war, which was held to decide the question, was
unfavourable.
Meanwhile the enemy were constant in their
attacks 011 the besieging force. Their attacks were,
however, repulsed with unvarying success. On the
18tli of June, the anniversary of the battle of
Waterloo, two new Sepoy regiments who had re¬
volted at Nusserabad came into Delhi. They
brought with them six guns. A vigorous attack
was that day made on the rear of the British, but
though well sustained it was not successful. Night
put a stop to the conflict, which, in consequence
thereof, partook too much of the character of a drawn
battle. A still fiercer attack was made on the 23d
June, the anniversary of the battle of Plassey, from
which battle our supremacy in India is generally
dated. The enemy had to retire defeated, but the
British troops were too much fatigued to follow up
the retreating mutineers.
General Neville Chamberlain arrived with rein-
SIEGE OF DELHI.
G3
forcements on the next day,—a gallant soldier,
whose presence in itself was a great gain to the
British cause. But the rebels received a few days
later a still heavier reinforcement on their side by
the arrival of the four or five regiments which had
mutinied at Bareilly. They, too, attempted to
make an attack on the British rear, but retreated
eventually without coming to close quarters.
On the 5tli of July, Sir Henry Barnard, the gene¬
ral commanding the British forces before Delhi, was
attacked with cholera, to which he succumbed in a
few hours. He was a brave and conscientious
general. His place was supplied by General Eeed.
General Baird Smith had arrived in camp but two
days before to direct, as chief engineer, the siege
operations, which he found, however, the resources in
hands were utterly inadequate properly to carry out.
On the 9th, and again on the 19th, serious assaults
were made upon the British lines, and though re¬
pulsed with spirit, they told more seriously on the
British force, on account of its small numbers, than
on the mutineers; although their losses were in point
of number much greater than our own. On the 17th,
General Eeed had to resign from ill health, and
Brigadier General Archdale Wilson took the com¬
mand of the forces.
In spite of the efforts of Sir J. Lawrence the Pun¬
jab was not quite free from serious disasters. The
most serious events there were the mutinies at
Jhelum and Sealkote. The attempts to disarm the
64
GENERAL NICHOLSON.
Sepoys in the former place, though finally accom¬
plished, had not1 been effected without bloodshed;
owing to some mismanagement on the part of those
to whom it had been entrusted. But at Sealkote
affairs were managed still worse; several fearful
murders took place, the station was gutted, the
prisoners released from the jail, the treasury plun¬
dered, and the mutineers made off for Delhi.
They were, however, overtaken by the movable
column commanded by the young and gallant Briga¬
dier General Nicholson, who had already dis¬
tinguished himself by the disarming of the 33rd and
35th native regiments, and afterwards by the dis¬
armament of other regiments. Notwithstanding
that the mutineers from Sealkote had got two days
start of him, Nicholson managed to mount a
considerable portion of his force, and so to overtake
the rebels, and by dint of good generalship he was
enabled to fall upon them on July 12th, at the Trim-
moo Ghaut, as they were about to cross over the
river Bavee. Between three and four hundred
Sepoys were left killed and wounded on the field.
Their baggage, arms, and their ill-gotten spoil all
fell into the hands of the British. They were still
more severely punished a few days after, and very
few of them ever helped to swell the ranks of
the insurgents at Delhi.
On the 24th of July Nicholson received orders to
March to Delhi to reinforce General Wilson's force.
On the 7th of August Nicholson arrived himself at
BATTLE OF NUJUFGURH.—STORMING OF DELHI. 65
Delhi, and on the 14th his column was united with
the besieging forces. The reinforcement was badly
needed. Some twenty-three actions had been fought
since the arrival of the British troops before Delhi,
entailing a loss of 318 killed and 1,062 wounded.
The whole force did not consist of more than 7,260
men, of which one-seventh was in the hospital.
On the 25th of August General Nicholson's
column marched out of camp to prevent the mutir
neers from intercepting the siege-train on its way
from Ferozepore. The rebels had detached a strong-
force consisting of the Neemuch and Bareilly brigades
to accomplish that end. A fierce battle was fought
at Nujufgurh where Nicholson beat the Sepoys, cap¬
turing thirteen guns, and killed eight hundred of
the mutineers in the action. It was the most de¬
cisive action which had been fought since the
battle of Budlee-ka-Serai, and it raised greatly the
spirits of the British soldiery.
About ten days later the heavy siege-train arrived,
and on the 8 th September, fire was opened on the
fortifications of the town. On the night of the 13th
there were practicable breaches effected in the wall,
and on the 14th the assault took place. The
Cashmere gate was blown in. This was a most
desperate operation, but was performed in a gallant
style. General Nicholson fell mortally wounded,
after having performed most gallant services. At
the close of the day most of the northern part of
the town, and the entire of the walls, was in the
E
06
LOSSES OF THE ENGLISH.
possesssion of the British. The loss had been severe,
amounting to 1160 killed and wounded. But it was
not till the 20th that the whole town was in the
hands of the English, and Delhi was again regained.
The losses of the enemy were very great, as little
quarter was asked or given.
The siege of Delhi and the relief of Lucknow
were the two most important events in the history
of the Sepoy mutiny. For though the mutiny was
not as yet generally suppressed, the mutineers were
deprived of the main chances of a successful re¬
sult when Delhi had been regained, and Lucknow
saved from the infuriated soldiery which surrounded
the British garrison. There was still much heavy
work to be done before India could be said to be
regained.
It was with the force with which Sir Colin
Campbell advanced to the second relief of Lucknow
that the subject of our memoir was engaged, and
we must therefore here turn aside from sketching
the main history of the Sepoy war, to relate that
portion of the operations in which John Lovering
Cooke was more particularly engaged. The sketch
we have given of the mutiny in general will make
it more easy to understand the allusions in the
after part of the memoir.
CHAPTER Y.
Departure from Allahabad—Cocke's First Night on guard—
Toils of inarch—Night Alarms—Arrival at the Alumbagh—
Battle before Lncknow—Secunderabagh—Fearful Night after
the Battle — Renewed Battle — Outpost Work—Soldier's
Dream—Solemn Thoughts—Night Alarm—Lucknow relieved
for the Second Time—Withdrawal from Lucknow—Street
Fights.
Early on the morning of November 4th the detach¬
ment of the Eoyal Artilery to which Cooke was
attached left Allahabad with about three hundred
men of the 34th regiment of infantry and proceeded
by rail about forty miles. An attack by the enemy
was expected every minute. One of the railway
waggons happened to take fire; and two pistols
having been discharged to give the alarm, the engine
was stopped, and the men jumped out of the carriages
and stood to their arms thinking that they were
being attacked by the enemy. The fire was soon
extinguished by their efforts, and the train proceeded
on its course. It was dark when the train reached
its destination, so the soldiers encamped for the
night, and lay under arms, with swords fixed. That
night Cooke was on guard. It was trying to act as
sentry for the first time in an enemy's country, and
it is not surprising that he should have felt rather
nervous. But no attack was made, and the slumbers
of the soldiers were undisturbed by hostile alarms.
On the next morning, the 5th of November, Cooke
70
TOILS OF MAECHING.
made his first day's march on Indian soil. The
men marched sixteen miles and encamped for the
night on a large plain. On the next night, after a
march of fourteen miles, an alarm was caused by
the sound of a bugle a little distance from the
camp. The men turned out, but as it proceeded
only from the post-chaise, they soon returned to
their tents, and the night was passed without
further disturbance. On the day following they
marched sixteen miles, some of the men were
knocked up with sore feet; as such a march in India
is toilsome work, the men having to proceed often
with dust up their ancles, and a blazing sun over
their heads. Fortunately plenty of good water was
found along their course, which materially alleviated
the sufferings of the men.
On the following day the men marched seventeen
miles and reached Futtehpore. This march was
very severe on the men, many of whom at its close
were almost crying with pain from blistered feet.
Cooke did not suffer so much as the others, but had
to witness the sufferings of his brother in the same
detachment. He offered to carry his carbine for
him, but the other would not permit it. About five
hundred native troops joined the detachment during
the day. Their arrival caused a momentary panic
to the rear guard, which consisted of thirty men,
the rest of the soldiers being miles in advance.
Great was their joy to find that the Sepoys who
thus came up with them were friends and not foes.
ARRIVAL AT CAWxXPOKE.
71
A battle had been fought in Futtehpore about
three days before, in which the Sepoys had been
severely beaten. The place was burned to the
ground, as were all the villages through which this
portion of the army had passed on their onward
march. Many dead bodies were lying on the ground,
and others suspended from trees, where they had
met the felon's doom. The country seemed every- •
where to be in ruins, and the crops were destroyed
on every side.
There was no time for giving the men rest, so
on the 7th November they marched fifteen miles
further, and 011 the 10th, after a march of eighteen
miles, they entered Cawnpore, the scene of the awful
massacre. The theatre was assigned to the de¬
tachment as the sleeping place for the night, and
some of the soldiers got on the stage, and sang songs
and played all manner of games, forgetful of their
sore feet and of the stern work which was not far
off. Sir Colin Campbell's force was one day's march
in advance, and the orders were that the detachment
should join as quickly as possible. On the next
day they accordingly marched from Cawnpore.
Though this day's march was only twelve miles it
was most fatiguing, as it took a long time to cross
o o> o
the bridge over the Ganges with the large convoy
of provisions for the army. The enemy, too, was
hourly expected, and so a sharp look-out had to be
maintained. There was indeed an alarm in the
night caused by a patrol of mounted police .on
72
JUftCTiON WITH THE ARMY.
duty. On the next day they proceeded still On¬
wards till eleven o'clock, when three hours were
allowed for rest and dinner. The soldiers then
continued their march, and at length, aftet a march
of thirty six miles, effected their junction at Alum-
bagh with the main force under the command of Sir
Colin Campbell on the evening of November 12th,
1857.
Sir Colin Campbell's encampment at Alumbagh
was about five miles from Lucknow. The enemy
was then so close that the pickets were constantly
exchanging shots with them. Grog was served out
to the detachment with biscuit and tea for supper,
and the men bivouacked on the ground with their
arms: In the morning active operations were to be
commenced to relieve Generals Outram and Have-
lock.
Cooke slept soundly, for he was much fatigued.
The bugles sounded at an early hour, and the men
had biscuit and tea served out to them. The
orders were that each man was to have had three
days' rations served out to them. But this was,
however, from some cause or another, not actually
done. The division then prepared to advance
towards Lucknow,—many with anxious hearts,
aching heads, and sorer feet. Fighting soon com¬
menced in real earnest in the front, and the army,
about five thousand strong, was engaged. Every
inch of ground had to be won by sheer fighting,
through the woods and thick jungles which sur-
BATTLE BEFORE LUCKNOW.
73
rounded Lucknow. The bridge of boats across the
river Goomtee was found to have been destroyed.
The company to which Cooke belonged had not
much fighting to do during this day, having had the
charge of bringing up the baggage and ammunition.
Once, however, they came within range of the
enemy's guns, and their round shot came tumbling
in amongst their ranks. But the company was
soon ordered to retire out of range for that time.
In the evening the detachment came round to a
place called La Martiniere, when the fight ceased
for the day, with the exception of a dropping fire
from the outposts on both sides. The infantry and
light artillery had the heaviest part of the work 011
this day, and many poor fellows who saw the sun
rise in the morning were laid ere night in a gory
grave.
Cooke's company halted under the trees for the
night, and the men made a good supper for them¬
selves by roasting a fine deer which they had shot
during the day while on their march. Tired and
weary as they were, they lay down on the ground
and slept till morning. The detachment remained
in this position until four o'clock in the afternoon
of the 15tli, when they received orders to move
round opposite to the new palace, and to take up
their position with the twelve mortars—to one of
which gunner Cooke was attached. At a given sig ¬
nal, about nine o'clock in the evening, they opened
fire, and shelled the enemy the whole night.
74
STORMING OF SECUNDEKABAGH.
On tlie next day (November 16th) the mortars
were loaded, and after a hasty meal the artillery
moved with the rest of the army to Secunderabagh,
where the Sepoys were collected in thousands. The
army had to fight its way through brushwood and
jungle. A village adjoining Secunderabagh was
set on fire, and the soldiers driving the Sepoys
before them had to march through the burning vil¬
lage, notwithstanding that the ammunition was ex¬
posed to great peril. The enemy kept plying
them all the while with a heavy fire of mus¬
ketry.
Driven to bay at Secunderabagh the Sepoys
fought like tigers. The siege guns served by the
seamen were brought up, and played upon the
walls with manifest effect. A practicable breach
was soon effected, and the brave 73d Highlanders
charged with three hearty British cheers, and after
a terrible struggle the place was carried. The
slaughter was very great. Upwards of two thous¬
and of the enemy fell here. It was fearful after
the fight was over to see the numerous corpses in
all sorts of attitudes,—some lying on the top of
others, dead and dying in one fearful pile, while the
flames were breaking forth all around them. Some
were writhing in agony, the dead bodies of others
were swollen out by the fearful heat to a mon¬
strous size. It was dangerous, however, to gaze at
the awful scene, for as one man of the 34th was
walking along, a wounded Sepoy managed to raise
STORMING OF SECUNDERABAGH. \ o
himself on his elbow, and shot him cleacl. He was
in his turn bayonetted by a Sikh soldier.
There was not, however, much time for gazing on
such a scene. The artillery were ordered to the
front as fast as possible, as the enemy were gaining
ground in that direction. The artillery took up a
position with their mortars, and then the great
struggle took place. The English army was drawn
up within a small space of ground, about four or
five acres, and there for seven long hours they
fought with a foe which seemed to outnumber them
in the proportion of a hundred to one. But as even¬
ing drew on the soldiers became wearied of standing
still in one place so long; whereupon a desperate
charge was made, which decided the fate of the day,
and the Sepoys retired defeated into Lucknow, while
three hearty cheers were given by the British
soldiers.
The day, however glorious, was a very trying one.
The artillerymen had to draw their own mortars, as
the bullocks became unserviceable through fright,
and the artillerymen were exposed to a galling fire
of musketry. The men, too, were short of provisions,
having been supplied at Alumbagh, through some
mistake of the commissariat, with one day's rations
instead of three. The only water, too, procurable
during the day was from a filthy stagnant pool
beside them, but bad as it was, it was most
acceptable to their parched throats.
The loss of the Sepoys in the day's engagement
76
NIGHT AFTER THE BATTLE.
was very lieavy, while the loss of the English artil¬
lery only amounted to two killed and seven wounded.
This was owing to their having fought under the
cover of a quarry pit, whereby only the upper part
of their bodies was visible to the enemy, and the
greater number of their shots passed over their
heads. The engagement over for the day, the men
received a supply of grog, and were permitted to
bivouack on the ground. Many lay down not only
tired, but faint for want of food.
Gunner Cooke had no sooner lain down to rest
before he was called up to go on guard. It was
hard after having been up the whole night pre¬
viously; but the order had to be obeyed, and the
grog had afforded him temporary spirits. His post
was in the midst of a wood, and there was a double
line of sentries in advance, so his duties were com¬
paratively free from danger. A large bungalow
about 70 yards off gave light enough to see the
surrounding country for some little space around;
but even that light was a source of danger to the
outposts, as several sentries in the more advanced
posts were shot that night by the Sepoys, who
climbed up trees and shot them down by the light
of the fire.
During the four hours' sleep with which at last
Cooke was permitted to recruit his wearied frame,
he had a dream, such as a soldier might be expected
to dream under such circumstances. He dreamed
of home, and then that at once he was transported,
SOLDIEIl's DREAM—SOLEMN THOUGHTS. 77
to the field of battle, while the fight was raging in
all its fury. But he dreamed that after a long
struggle the victory was won, and the British ladies
were relieved from their confinement, when one
young lady came joyfully up to him and shook
hands with him, and expressed her warmest thanks,
saying, That had not the troops come she could not
have lived much longer.
At this point of his dream he was suddenly
awaked. A poor wounded horse came up in pain,
and was smelling at the soldier as he lay on the
ground. But the poor creature soon fell down ex¬
hausted, and when morning came the horse lay
dead on the ground. Cooke was soon on his legs again,
pacing up and down, and thinking on his dream.
The things all around caused many solemn thoughts
to rise within his soul. There lay the poor horse
groaning and dying, and all around lay dead bodies
of Sepoys, with distorted and ghastly features glisten¬
ing in the red glare of the fire from the burning
bungalow. Thoughts on the state of the departed
souls, and on the solemn duty he had been engaged
on the night before came rushing into his mind.
That work had been the burial of his two comrades
of the artillery who had fallen in the fight, and who
had been buried under a tree close by, in a grave
dug with their comrades' swords. He had seen, too,
forty of the poor Highlanders stretched lifeless, and
laid out one after the other on the ground covered
with blood and gore. Ah, thought he, why am I
78
SECOND RELIEF OF LUCKNOW.
spared, and all those fine fellows cut down ? The
thought overpowered him, and kneeling on the
ground, under the influence of such thoughts, he
prayed earnestly that God would spare him for the
future.
But he was roused from such contemplations and
prayers by the alarm, " Stand to yottr arms." The
alarm was repeated, and passed from one to the
other, and all stood with arms ready for action,
looking into the terrible darkness before them, from
whence they expected the danger to come. It was
no false alarm this time; danger was near. The
Sepoys had endeavoured to creep on the sentinels,
crawling on like jackals. They were discovered just
in time, and a well-directed volley from the out¬
posts drove them back in confusion.
On the morning of the 17th November, the
mortars were put on carts and moved to a fresh
position behind some walls of a burnt village, from
whence a continual fire was kept up during the
whole day till three o'clock in the afternoon. The
fire was responded to vigorously by the Sepoys, but
as the British artillery was well under cover, the
fire of the Sepoys did but little damage.
While the army under Sir Colin Campbell was
thus advancing, pressing onwards to the relief of the
beleaguered Residency, the forces under'Sir James
Outram and Sir H. Havelock were equally active
in operating against the enemy from the Eesidency
itself. After strenuous exertions on both sides,
SIR C. CAMPBELL WITHDRAWS HIS ARMY. 79
the Mohtee-muhal was a little after three in the
afternoon carried by a charge, and the second Eelief
of Lucknow was accomplished, while the air was
rent with the hearty cheers of the British forces on
both sides.
A considerable part of Lucknow remained still
in the power of the rebels. Sir Colin Campbell
judged it, however, more prudent to withdraw,
inasmuch as his force was deficient in infantry, and
had insufficient ammunition for any lengthened
operations. Meanwhile, while the women and
children, the sick and wounded, were being removed,
it was necessary to hold the ground which had been
won. The company of Royal Artillery to which
Cooke belonged was accordingly divided into three
parts, each company provided with four mortars,
and supported by infantry to cover them.
Cooke's party was twenty in number under the
command of a lieutenant. They took up a position
beside a village commanding the new Palace or
Kaiser-bagh. To reach this position, the troops
had to pass through a narrow street where the
musket-balls were flying in all directions, and
which was so thickly strewn with the corpses of the
Sepoys, that the wheels of the guns had to go over
them, while the stench which arose from the de¬
composing corpses was perfectly awful. The com¬
pany were located in a closed yard, with a small
bungalow in the centre. There were two gates,
one on each side, and walls about six feet high all
80
EVACUATION OF LUCKXOW.
round. Here the company took np their position,
behind the bungalow, so that they might throw
their shells over it among the enemy. The whole
of the little force consisted of twenty men of the
Eoyal Artillery under the command of this lieuten¬
ant, a captain and seven men of the Bengal artillery
with a nine-pounder field gun, and about fifty in¬
fantry. This force kept the place for five or six
days against some five thousand Sepoys. The
Sepoys made many attempts to drive out this party,
but they were always so warmly received that they
had to retreat in disorder. When the Sepoys came
up, the English would open the gate, run out the
gun and give them a few rounds of cannister, which
always had the effect, as Cooke narrates, of making
them scamper back like sheep dogs. In this place
Cooke had a very narrow escape of being shot by a
musket ball which passed between his arm and body
as he was in a stooping position.
In this post the company remained for five or
six days, during which Sir Colin Campbell made
all the necessary dispositions for carrying out his
plan of evacuating Lucknow. He kept, however,
the rebels there in check by leaving a strong move¬
able force outside the walls at Alumbagh, under
the command of Sir J. Outram. Orders were then
issued that the detachment to which Cooke belonged,
should quietly retire on the 25th November to
Dilkoosha. The orders were very welcome to the
men, inasmuch as all their baggage was at Dil-
AT DILKOOSHA.
81
koosha, and it was a great treat after having been
fourteen days without undressing, and nine days
without a bed, to be able to sleep again in their
camp-beds, and to be able to change their linen,
and to bathe in the river.
CHAPTER VI.
Death of Sir H. Havelock—Cooke attached to the field force operat¬
ing towards Cawnpore—Battle of Cawnpore—Enemy dri¬
ven out of Cawnpore—Cooke in Hospital—Dissatisfaction in
the company—-Cooke sent to Prison—Three Months Hard
Labour — March towards Lucknow — Siege begun — Cooke
employed as a Scavenger—Final Capture of Lucknow by
British—Plunder of Lucknow—Defeat of Rebels—Sir C.
Campbell divides his Forces—General Grant's Division—
General Grant's Pursuit of the Mutineers—Return to Luck¬
now—Cooke again a free man—General Grant starts again
in pursuit—Action with Rebels—A Night Alarm—Return
to Lucknow—Quartered in the Palace—Cooke's description
of Lucknow.
On the 2Gtli of November tlie combined British
force marched back to the Alumbagli. Sir H.
Havelock, whose bodily frame had been weakened
by the exertions he had made, and by the priva¬
tions he had endured, succumbed on the 24th to an
attack of cholera, and was consigned to a lonely
tomb at Alumbagh, amid the lamentations of the
whole army, part of which he had so often, and so
gallantly, led to victory.
The intelligence of the attack of Cawnpore by
the Gwalior contingent, and the disaster which had
there occurred to the British arms, reached the
army 011 November 27th. Sir Colin Campbell at
once directed the march of his forces 011 Cawnpore,
leaving a considerable force at Alumbagh under the
command of Sir James Outram to overawe the
mutineers at Lucknow. Gunner Cooke was attached
to that part of the forces which were detailed for
service in the direction of Cawnpore. On the 27th
November, accordingly, his detachment marched
twelve miles; and on the day following, after a
86
BATTLE OF CAWNFOKE.
march of thirty-four miles, the troops arrived within
two miles of Cawnpore. It was then eleven o'clock at
night, and there were no rations served out; the
supplies having run short. Grog was, however,
supplied to the men, and they bivouacked for the
night where they were, and, wearied, soon slept
soundly, though the thunder of cannon from Cawn¬
pore reminded them that there was tough work to he
done on the morrow. At two o'clock the men were
again under arms, and, after having partaken of
another ration of grog for breakfast, they started on
their way.
Cooke was sent with twenty more artillerymen
into the fort to man the guns, and keep up a con¬
stant fire upon the enemy, while the army was to
attempt the crossing of the bridge. The rest of his
company brought up their heavy guns to the edge
of the river, on the right of the bridge, and soon
got into action. The attention of the Sepoys was
fully occupied with the fire from the fort and the
river, and they were unable accordingly to do any¬
thing effectual to prevent the passage of the British
forces across the bridge. The troops having effected
the passage of the river, Cooke was sent with other
gunners, under command of an officer, to man
two guns posted on the banks of the canal, from
whence a heavy and constant fire was kept up on
the enemy till the night of December 5th, when
the men rejoined their company.
At this juncture our gunner was taken sick of
DISSATISFACTION IN THE COMPANY.
87
fever, and sent, sorely against his will, into hospital.
There he remained also on the Gth very sick, and
without medicines of any kind, or anything to eat.
A severe battle was fought that day. The enemy
was driven completely out of the town, followed up
hard by the British cavalry and the light artillery,
who destroyed a great number of them, and took
their guns and stores.
On the 7tli December Cooke was removed to the
general hospital, and his company went into tents
about three hundred yards distant from it, where they
were permitted to rest for some time. Cooke soon got
better of the fever, but dysentery then set in, and
he was one month confined to hospital. There he
spent his Christmas, partaking of milk and rice for
his Christmas dinner. He was discharged from
hospital on the 4th of January 1858, while two
comrades, who had been brought in a little after he
had been there, died. The Lord was very gracious
to him, although he had not as yet learned to love
and fear Him.
On the 27th of January much dissatisfaction was
created in the company on account of the frequent
drill imposed upon the men by their officers, which
was generally thought to be without orders. On the
next day Cooke, who was naturally of a quick temper,
incited thereto by his comrades, demanded in an
insolent tone the reason of these frequent drills.
He was seconded by some three others of the dis¬
affected men. The result was, that all three were
88
COOKE TRIED BY COURT-MARTIAL.
committed to prison. On the 29th he was brought
before the commanding officer, who seems to have
been disposed to act leniently in the matter. But
Cooke's temper again got the better of him, and for
his insolence he was ordered to be reserved for trial
by a garrison court martial. The trial took place
on the 4th of February, and as his character had
been uniformly good for a long time, he thought he
would have escaped with a slight punishment. But
in this he was mistaken, as his offence was looked
on as akin to mutiny.
On the 10th of February the troops again marched
for Lucknow to undertake the final reduction of
that stronghold of the mutineers. Cooke accom¬
panied them as a prisoner. On the second day of the
march his sentence was read out at parade, and he
found himself condemned to three calendar months'
hard labour. The troops proceeded towards Luck-
now, and encamped at Oonao, where the detach¬
ment remained till the 2d of March. Here he had
drill for eight hours a day, and other work, which
he found very hard to do. On the 2d of March the
troops recommenced their onward march, and halted
some twelve miles from Lucknow. After a halt
during the day time on the 3d, they resumed their
march at night time, and continued the whole night
through to advance by a very rough road, reaching
Dilkoosha again in the morning, where the camp was
pitched. Some men of Cooke's company were sent
to work in the trenches that evening, March 4tli;
HIS PUNISHMENT. — SIEGE OF LUCKNOW. 89
and the siege of Lucknow was duly begun. A con¬
stant fire of artillery was kept up until the 8tli,
when the college was taken by a charge of infantry,
and the enemy were driven back into the town.
The British troops followed up their success; and
the roar of cannon and the din of musketry con¬
tinued day after day.
In these operations our gunner was not engaged.
He was still a prisoner, and forced to do the work
of a scavenger in the camp. The task of burying
the dead camels and bullocks fell to his share. But
he had some three or four hours in the day time free
from such disagreeable toils, during which he was
wont to watch the shells as they flew through the
air. Though out of danger for the moment, he had
O O "
all the strong feelings of a soldier, and used heartily
to lament his folly, and longed to be permitted to
be in the midst of the fray with his comrades.
On the 15th March the British troops had pene¬
trated deeply into the town, driving the mutineers
before them; and many soldiers returned to their
quarters laden with spoil, such as silks, satins, and
lace, carrying, many of them, parrots and other fancy
birds. Others brought away lumps of gold, rings,
and jewels, the loot of the bazaars and houses, and
most came back well supplied with rupees and other
silver. It was vexing to the prisoner to see all this,
while lie had no share in the spoil. But his rations
were good, plenty of fresh bread and meat, so withal
he was tolerably contented with his lot.
90
PLUNDER OF LUCKNOW.
On the 16th the British troops took the new
palace, which was the strongest part of the town.
Chairs of gold, and statues of men and elephants,
and many other things of gold, were found in it.
The infantry especially seemed glutted with plunder.
But most of the men made very little use of their
quickly acquired wealth. While Cooke could write
that some of his own company had made £50 or
£60, he also had to tell the sad story of demoralisa¬
tion which made many of the men give five rupees,
or ten shillings, for a little grog. The town was
finally cleared of the enemy on the 17th, and passed
entirely into British hands. Thousands of the Sepoys
were killed. The cavalry and horse artillery fol¬
lowed up the fugitive rebels, and on the 21st over¬
took them, routing them again with a loss to them
of some two thousand. Seventeen pieces of cannon,
and all the cattle, together with the- camp of the
rebels, fell into the hands of the victors.
On the 27th of March the troops crossed the
river Goomtee, and remained encamped in its
neighbourhood for two or three days. Sir Colin
Campbell now divided his forces into several small
divisions, with the view of scouring the country in
different directions. The larger part of the company
of artillery to which Cooke belonged were attached to
General Grant's division, and proceeded to the
Sepoy cantonments about five miles from Lucknow.
Here the brigade was formed. The guns belonging
to the battery wTere two long 18-pounders, two
PURSUIT OF THE REBELS.
91
8-inch howitzers, and two 8-inch mortars, with two
51 -inch mortars. The battery was provided with
these different kinds of ordnance, so as to be able to
meet the various circumstances under which it might
be called into action. The remainder of the division
consisted of two batteries of field artillery, the
second battalion of rifles, the 90th regiment, a num¬
ber of Punjab infantry, and about two thousand
cavalry.
On the 11th of April the division started in
search of the rebels, marching usually twelve to
fourteen miles a day, and resting one day in every
five. On the 13th the force came uj) with the
enemy early in the morning, and fired a few shots at
them. But they would not give battle, but con¬
tinued to retreat. The troops followed them up
during the day, and took from them a large quantity
of amunition, and a cart with two bullocks. They
retired across a river, and the British troops en¬
camped for the night in a deserted village, which the
Sepoys had occupied the night before. Here there
was found a great quantity of forage, such as grass
and straw, abandoned by the Sepoys in their hurried
flight. During the march on the following day the
mutineers were sighted hovering on the flanks of
'the force. But they kept out of reach of the guns.
During several days march nothing of importance
occurred beyond destroying here and there places
where munitions of war were found concealed. On
the 27th the division returned again to Dilkoosha
92
ACTION WITH THE REBELS.
for supplies. Having obtained supplies, General
Grant marched through Lucknow, and halted for
the night on Alumbagh plain. The next day they
marched on the road towards Cawnpore. Hearing
that the enemy were in force in the neighbourhood
he halted his troops on the 2nd of May, to prepare
for their reception. Some two hundred Sepoys sur¬
rendered themselves prisoners, tired, as they said,
of life. The sun was fearfully hot, and several cases
of sun-stroke occurred. On the 4th of May Cooke's
term of sentence expired, and he was once more a
free soldier.
On the 9th word was brought by spies that the
enemy was lying in an old encampment formerly
occupied by the troops, and then in their rear.
Orders were accordingly given to retrace their steps,
and after marching all night the spot was reached
on the morning of the 12th. The rebels were then
ascertained to be only four miles off. The General,
having left the camp with the sick and wounded in
charge of about three hundred men, started off at two
P.M. to meet the foe. The heat was awful, and numbers
of the men were prostrated by sunstroke during this
march. But although the rebels were in great force they
did not make a stand, but retreated, followed up for
two miles by the British. Suddenly, however, the
road was crossed by a deep gulf, which the guns
could not cross. The troops having halted the
rebels took advantage of the position and surrounded
them on all sides, and fell on the sick and the baggage
NIGHT ALARM.
93
iii the rear. Some little damage was done by them,
but the advantage remained with the English, who
captured two guns. The Punjabees set a Sepoy
hospital on fire, and it was said that three hundred
Sepoys were burnt in it. Whether this was done
by accident or design was not known. Darkness
having come on, the troops were drawn up by the
General in a kind of square for the night,—the
cavalry and light artillery being posted on the out¬
side with supports of infantry. The heavy artillery
was placed in the four corners, one gun in each cor¬
ner, covered with fifty infantry to each gun. Thus,
having partaken of grog, which was served out to
all, the troops lay down under arms.
Cooke, however, ventured to take off his arms,
and laid down with them by his side. In common
with his comrades, he was nearly worn out with
fatigue, as they had only three or four hours rest on
the previous night, and had been in the interval
marching and fighting all the time. The men were
soon buried in slumber, as the desire of sleep was
a more powerful feeling at that time than hunger,
in the case of the greater number. The measured
tread of the sentries, and now and then the neighing
' o o
of a horse, or the lowing of an ox, were all the
sounds that were soon heard at the bivouack.
Suddenly an alarm was given of the approach of
the enemy. The bullock-drivers set up a terrible
cry of distress and alarm, and came rushing pell
mell into the lines. The soldiers aroused from sleep,
94
ALARM IN THE NIGHT.
awoke in a fright, and, as the night was very dark,
seeing the blacks running towards them, thought
the enemy was close at hand, and hearing the cries
on every side, thought they were surrounded. So
half asleep as they were, and alarmed, they set up
a similar cry in return, and in their fright began to
knock down the coolies who fled to them for succour,
till there was utter confusion and a regular hand-
to-hand fight on all sides. Many were hurt and
badly wounded. Some shots were fired, and one
of the coolies or bullock-drivers was shot dead. A
British captain was also shot in the melee through
the thigh by his own revolver.
Cooke was lying on the ground and was not
quite fast asleep. He started up and stood to his gun,
for such were the orders in case of any alarm. But
he suddenly discovered that his small arms were
not by his side. He ran at once back to get them
to the place where he had lain down. Just at that
moment some one seized him by the coat. He did
not stop, however, until he had regained his arms,
and then turning round found it was a comrade
who had seized him. Eight glad was he to find
who it was, as he had fancied that it was some
Sepoy. The alarm proved ultimately to have been
a false one. The bullock-drivers had been scared
by some loose horses which rushed in among them,
and hence the whole confusion. Quiet was soon
restored, and the rest of the night was peaceful.
The troops retreated in the morning back to their
GENERAL GRANT RETURNS TO LUCKNOW. 95
camp, as the General was afraid to leave it longer to
be guarded by such a small force as he had left be¬
hind. Many men died through the effect of the
fatigue endured in this march, and some from sun¬
stroke, so that for several days twenty or thirty
soldiers died daily. The troops returned to Dil-
kooslia camp on the 19tli of May.
General Grant, having obtained fresh troops,
marched again from Dilkooslia to a place some five
miles distant, where the bulk of the force were en¬
camped for a few days under the trees. The
men here enjoyed themselves highly, while the
General himself, with a portion of the fresh troops,
scoured the surrounding country in search of rebels.
None, however, were to be found, and so after some
days the troops were marched back to Lucknow, as
it would have been impossible to transport the
heavy guns after the rains had set in. Cooke and
his comrades went into quarters in the new palace 011
the 12 th June.
He had now time to inspect at leisure the in¬
terior of that city, and the following is the descrip¬
tion he gives of it:—
" Had I not seen it myself and known it to be
the fact that we had taken it from so strong and
numerous an enemy, I should never have believed
it. I never saw so strong a place in my life. It
was full of fortifications and strongholds. Such
beautiful buildings are not to be seen elsewhere,
and every street and house was loop-holed. It
96
COOKE'S DESCRIPTION OF LUCKNOW.
seemed impossible for English, or any other troops
to have taken such a place. Surely God hath
fought for England. The city was nothing but one
mass of batteries, everywhere loop-holed, from a
pig-stye to a palace. The position of our troops was
pointed out to me, and the ground where their
several charges were made. The buildings are
most of them greatly damaged by our shot and shell,
and the walls covered with the marks of musket
balls, showing plainly the desperate struggle that
had taken place. A great many houses were alto¬
gether destroyed or burnt. Many of the enemy
were buried in the ruins, for the soldiers in their
fury spared but few of the Sepoys who came in
their way. At the time I marched through it after
the fall, the stench was suffocating, and dead bodies
were lying in heaps in the ditches just covered over
slightly with earth. Afterwards, when I was located
in the outskirts of the town, many dead bodies of
the enemy lay about unburied in the villages and
jungles, and dead camels and bullocks were to be
found in every direction."
CHAPTER VII.
Cooke Located in a Palace—Sickness among the Troops—Seek¬
ing after God—Description of the Palace—Renewed attacks
of Fever—Recovery—Is again attached to General Grant's
Division — Fyzabad — Difficulties of march — Sultanpore
-—Actions there — Further pursuit of Mutineers — Cooke
again takes sick — The Queen's Proclamation — Return to
Lucknow—Quartered at Dilkooslja—Sickness of Soldiery.
G
To be located in the palace in Lucknow was an ag¬
reeable change after all the toils and inconveniences
met with during the pursuit of the mutineers. Yet
many men were taken ill, owing to the sudden
change in their mode of living. Within twenty-four
hours eight men were sent into hospital, and one of
these died. The company had lost in all up to this
time fifteen men, of whom only two had fallen
in action, the rest having succumbed to fatigue and
disease. Cooke's health was tolerably good at this
time, and strong desires after the things of God
were beginning again to revive in his soul. He
thus wrote of himself, with reference to the various
cases of sudden death he saw around him :—
" These deaths, I trust, have been a warning to
me, and have brought me to consider many things,
First, I have been led to pray to God for protection
from these diseases and death, and have been led to
ask for His grace to prepare me for death, if death
is in store for me. The Lord has hitherto answered
my prayers, and I trust by the influence of His Holy
100
LOCATED IN A PALACE.
Spirit that I will yet be brought to the foot of my
Saviour's cross, there to receive full forgiveness and
remission from my numerous sins. It is very hard
to overcome the temptations, snares and difficulties
of a soldier's life. But I have read of good soldiers,
and I hope through Jesus Christ to become like one
of them. I see no reason if one can become a good
soldier of Jesus Christ that others cannot also be¬
come such. Jesus does not pick his men, but in¬
vites all to come unto Him. Therefore, by the
grace of God, I will try and run the race set before
me, and if I run aright, I shall obtain through grace
the crown of life."
The palace in which Cooke was now quartered
consisted of a large range of high buildings, with a
square in the centre, in which was a beautiful gar¬
den, with various walks and avenues provided with
marble seats placed at convenient distances from
each other. The avenues were formed with vines
planted on each side of the walk, and entwined
overhead with one another, and supported by a
wooden trellis-work. Here one could walk com¬
pletely screened from the heat of the mid-day sun.
But at the time that the British soldiers were
quartered there, the vines were in a dying state
from neglect and want of water. The palace
itself was very fine, ornamented with gilded
domes, and the gates and doors were sheeted
over with copper. There were spacious walks
along the roof of the building, along which
COOKE SENT TO HOSPITAL.
101
there was much ornamentation. The inside
of the palace was adorned with rich carvings of
flowers, and ornaments of various shapes, all in cedar.
Most of the furniture had been carried off or
destroyed. But there were plenty of old boxes, as
also of chairs and tables, some of curious workman¬
ship, which were used by the soldiers. The men
had here little to do. Mounting guard twice a week,
a battery parade in the morning, and a short parade
in the evening, comprised all the duties of the day.
On the 21st of June Cooke was again prostrated
with fever, and remained in hospital for seven days.
A great deal of sickness prevailed dt this time
among the troops. The thermometer was as high
as ninety degrees, even in the hospital, where the
punkahs were kept going all the day. Cooke was
again sent to hospital on July 4th, and, after partial
recovery from fever, was attacked with an affection
of the chest, and palpitation of the heart. On the
7th he was, however, able to write the following
entry in his diary: " This is a very sickly country.
I hope the Lord will have mercy on us all, and give
us his Holy Spirit, and enable us to walk uprightly,
and to teach us to fear and love Him who holds our
lives in His hand. May He fit and prepare us to
meet Iiim when He shall call us hence to be no more.''
Cooke continued very ill for a fortnight, after
which he got better, the weather having'become
cooler. On the 19th the company marched from
Lucknow with some other troops for service at
102
PURSUIT OF THE MUTINEERS.
Fyzabad. The troops were again under the com¬
mand of General Hope Grant. Much rain fell, and
the cannon were got along with considerable diffi¬
culty. The sun was so hot at times that many
men were knocked down with sun stroke. On the
28th July the force heard in the morning the sound
of heavy guns firing, but on arrival at Fyzabad the
next day, they found that the enemy had fled across
the river. Several Sepoys straggling behind the main
force were taken prisoners.
The rebels continued to hover about at a little
distance from Fyzabad. A great many were
taken prisoners. The report which was current
among the British soldiers was, that the rebels
had sent word to say that they would not
fight the Europeans any more, but that they
would harass them and weary them out by
continued skirmishes.
The men had expected to be permitted to remain
here for some time. But General Grant was intent
upon giving the mutineers no rest. Accordingly,
on the 18th of August the forces began their march
to Sultanpore, where the enemy were collected in
strong force in a fort. The troops marched at this
time only ten miles a day. The roads were so heavy
after the rain, that it was hard work, starting at
three o'clock in the morning and marching till two in
the afternoon, to accomplish even that number of miles.
The cannon were often sunk up to their axle-trees in
mud, and thus numerous delays were occasioned.
BATTLE OF SULTANPOKE.
103
However, on the 21st the forces arrived within ten
miles of Sultanpore, and could hear plainly the
report of the distant artillery.
On the 22d August the British forces marched
into Sultanpore, and took up their positions. The
artillery saluted the enemy across the river, where
the rebels were posted in great force. General
Grant's army was posted in a bend of the river,
which here makes a circuit like a horse shoe, and
the rebels on the opposite side were almost on all
sides of them. There was heavy firing on both
sides during the 22d, 23d, and 24th. On the 25th
part of General Grant's forces, fifteen hundred
strong, crossed the river, and charged a village on
the other side. The rebels fled into the woods.
During the night, however, they greatly harassed
the British division which had crossed over. The
Sepoys were supposed to be 15,000 strong. Under
the protecting fire of the heavy artillery, however,
the assailing force held their ground. The next
morning the Rifles crossed the river, and General
Grant's army was posted on the other bank. The
Sepoys came up on the 27th in great numbers, show¬
ing a formidable front, as if they were going to anni¬
hilate the small band of their pursuers. They
came on steadily to within eight hundred yards of
the British forces, and fired a volley. Two or three
rounds of shrapnell from the guns sent them back
to their positions in the woods. The next day they
attacked again the British lines, but suffered so
104
PURSUIT OF THE REBELS.
severely from the artillery fire, that on the morning
of the 29th, when General Grant advanced to drive
them from their position in the woods, they werefound
to have decamped. General Grant pursued them with
a part of his forces, but did not come up with them.
The artillery were not able to cross the river from
want of a bridge, but the cavalry scoured the
country for some miles round. The mutineers had
got enough for the time, and though they hung
about the locality, being able to move much more
rapidly than the British forces, they did not venture
to come to close quarters, and ultimately seemed to
have retired from the district. On the llth Sep¬
tember General Grant again got scent of their
locality, and the forces marched from Sultanpore to
Jugdispore, where they expected to find the rebels.
The detachment arrived, however, a day too late, as
another British force had inflicted on them a severe
defeat, and were still pursuing them. General
Grant's forces returned to Sultanpore on the 23d,
and found that the detachment which had been left
behind to keep that post had had a skirmish with
the enemy in their absence, and had captured two
pieces of cannon, sixteen horses, and some elephants
and camels.
On the 26th the brigade crossed the Goomtee, the
bridge being finished. Cooke was left behind sick
in hospital, so that he did not share further for
a time in the following up of the mutineers. On
the 1st of November the Queen's proclamation was
EETURN TO LUCKNOW.
105
read, first to the troops, and then to the natives, in
which the Queen assumed the direct government of
India in room of the old East India Company.
On the 20th of March Cooke's company returned
to Lucknow. Here they were quartered some time,
but much sickness prevailing among the men, it
was deemed advisable to send the troops into camp
at Dilkoosha for the benefit of their health. The
move seems to have been a mistake, as the rainy
season was at hand, and on June 24th, the first
night the men went into tents, torrents of rain fell,
and the men were drenched. The result was an
increase of sickness and mortality, which was not
put a stop to until the soldiers were quartered in
bungalows, which were erected expressly for the
convenience of the army.
CHAPTER VIII
Eeligious Impressions—Visited in Hospital by Baptist Missionary—
Visits a comrade in Hospital—Falls again into sin—Arrival
of American Methodist Missionaries in Lucknow—Meeting
for Soldiers—Cooke speaks at the Class-Meeting—Impres¬
sion produced on his comrades—"He prayeth" —Sermon on
Isaiah xliv. 22—Struggles of Soul—Prayer of Mrs. Butler—•
The Burden removed—The Chamber of Peace—Tells his
comrades—Doubts again—Retrospect of the Year—Misery
arising from the Sins of Youth,
It has already been seen, that 011 many occasions
Cooke had been the subject of serious impressions
011 religion. These convictions, however, had not
yet ripened into actual conversion. A tract which
he had received when going up the Ganges, on his
first arrival in India, contained words which often
made him tremble. The words were those con¬
tained in Prov. xxix. 1, "He that being often reproved,
hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and
that without remedy." How often, thought he,
have I been reproved, and I have yet hardened,
myself against the reproof. Surely this sentence
must one day be executed against me, and, perhaps
on some field of battle, I too shall be cut off. These
things created in him a great fear of the wrath to
come, and awakened anxious desires to flee from it.
But though these feelings occasionally had good
effects, and never wholly left his mind, yet it was
only a slavish fear of God which then possessed his
soul, not that fear and holy reverence which springs
from a knowledge of God's love in Christ Jesus.
110 VISITED BY A BAPTIST MISSIONARY.
As he drew near to the time when he had to face
the foe, his fears greatly increased, though during
the excitement of the battle they would often leave
him. They would then return with double force,
and sometimes withal a feeling of confidence in
God would spring up in his mind, and a sort of
impression that God would spare and protect him.
The solemn thoughts that forced themselves in
upon his mind after the bloody day at Secundera-
bagh have already been related, and when he lay
afterwards sick in hospital at Cawnpore and saw
his comrades passing daily into eternity, feelings of
thankfulness to God for having spared him filled
for a time his breast. He was twice visited when
in hospital there by a Baptist missionary, whose
visits he received with gratitude, and who spoke to
him concerning the things that concerned his eternal
peace. But restored health and active operations
soon chilled the ardour of his earnestness about his
soul.
In Sultanpore, Cooke seems to have adopted habits
of daily prayer. He was more earnest in seeking
after God. Several of the soldiers were attacked
with dysentery and died, and Cooke himself had
a slight attack which made him to consider his
latter end. He was led too, from feelings of pity,
to visit a comrade in the hospital, and read to him
out of a comment on the collects of the Church of
England. The thought of dying unconverted at this
time overpowered him, and he felt terribly afraid
NEW DESIRES AFTER GOD.
Ill
lest such should be his fate, as he felt unfit to die.
So he betook himself to his knees, and prayed with
tears for mercy and for grace. He sometimes, in
such seasons, felt calm after prayer, and determined
to belong to Christ. But, when the danger of
dying by disease passed away, and the cooler and
more healthy weather came, his afflictions were soon
forgotten, and God's mercy was no longer sought for
with eagerness. So he plunged into sin, nearly as
deeply as before, and indeed committed sins which
he had not been guilty of heretofore. These sins
became a terrible snare to him, and by their en¬
tangling nature caused him many grievous falls, and
many an aching heart.
When he returned to Lucknow, as mentioned in
the close of our last chapter, he was, to use his
own expression, still drinking in sin, as an ox drink-
eth in water. But God mercifully interposed His
Almighty arm, and said, " Hitherto shalt thou go
and no further." Cooke was told one day unex¬
pectedly that a missionary had arrived in Lucknow.
This awakened anew in his mind desires after the
salvation of his soul. Something seemed to say
within him, " You have often longed for some one
to help you and direct you to the Saviour. Now
is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation."
Full of joy, he inquired where the missionary lived,
and inwardly resolved from that time forward, in
the strength of the Lord, to be a Christian.
It was on the I4th March 1859, that in company
112 COOKE AT A METHODIST CLASS-MEETING.
with many other soldiers, Cooke went to the mission¬
aries. They were Methodist missionaries from the
United States. The head of the mission party wasBev.
Dr. Butler. Some soldiers went just for amusement's
sake, " for a lark" as they termed it, others went
with better and holier thoughts. The meeting took
place in a little chapel which the missionaries had
constructed for their use, and it was on a Thursday
night, which was the night for their class-meeting.
After singing and prayer, one of the missionaries
spoke, and then another. The missionaries then
asked if any one of the congregation wished to
speak and open their mind. Cooke's heart was full
of emotion, and he longed to tell that he wanted to
become a Christian. An inward struggle was taking
place in his soul. On the one hand, his sin-burdened
soul wanted to be free, on the other, fear and shame
kept him back. He thought he should be called a fool
by his comrades, for being thus troubled on account
of sin. The little chapel was nearly full, and many
soldiers were there avowedly for amusement's sake.
But at last his desires got the better of his fears,
he stood up before all, and in as good language as
he could at the moment command, he told the
struggles of his poor soul. His fears seemed for
the moment to vanish, and he felt greatly relieved.
The missionary spoke kindly and comfortably to
him, and gave him some necessary advice and in¬
struction.
He returned home from this meeting in some fear,
COOKE CONFESSES HIS DESIRE TO BE A CHRISTIAN. 113
expecting to be forthwith made a laughing-stock by
all his comrades. His mind was however made up,
and he had resolved in God's strength to lead for
the future a new life, and not to give heed to the
mockery of his companions. What was his surprise
to find that some of the very men, whom he had
expected to laugh at him, came forward and com¬
mended him for what he had done, and told him
that they were almost themselves persuaded to
speak out, and that they had been ashamed because
there were so many in the chapel, and yet that none
of them had dared to speak their minds. This gave
Cooke great encouragement, and for the first time
he knelt that night in prayer at his bedside. He
had, in former times, gone out somewhere else when
he was desirous of praying. It cost him no little
effort thus to confess Christ before his comrades,
apart from all the excitements of the singing and
addresses he had heard in the chapel. But he did
not feel at peace with God, his heart was heavy,
and he was unhappy and miserable.
The next Sunday evening, when there was English
service at the chapel, Cooke went thither to hear
with a heavy heart, feeling like a poor criminal
going to listen to his sentence of death. The preacher
took his text from Isaiah xliv. 22, " I have blotted
out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a
cloud thy sins ; return unto me, for I have redeemed
thee." These words sounded like music in Cooke's
ears. The preacher went on to show that Christ
H
114
FINDS PEACE IN BELIEVING.
liad accomplished a full redemption for the poor sin¬
ner, and that the latter had nothing to do but to come
with all his sins to Jesus, who would freely pardon
and forgive. Surely, thought Cooke, " this is very
plain, and quite suited to my case. Verily I be¬
lieve this is the gospel." But what still troubled
him was, that the burden seemed to lie as heavy as
ever on his heart, and he did not feel as if his sins'
were indeed taken away.
He went home that night turning over in his
mind the words of the text, but still he did not feel
at peace with God. On the following Tuesday he
went again with a heavy heart to the prayer meeting,
and that night God gave him the blessed assurance
of pardon which he so desired. Mrs. Butler, the
wife of the missionary, was pleading with God in
prayer while the tears were streaming down Cooke's
cheeks, and he felt softened as he called to mind
how his own mother had in bye-gone days prayed
earnestly to God to convert her son. The same
minister who had preached on the Sunday, gave a
few words of exhortation, and pressed home with
fresh power the text 011 which he had preached the
Sunday previous. He pointed out simply that no
one had any cause to fear, who would simply believe
the word of God, and accept the Saviour as set
forth in these words.
Cooke left the meeting, and had only got a few
yards, as he states, when he began to reason with
himself on the words he had heard, and in doing so
COOKE BEFOllE THE CROSS.
115
lie fancied he saw all more clearly. So lie began
to address himself in this way: " I believe what I
have heard is true, I do believe it." He then burst
into tears, and prayed in the words of the poor man
in the Gospel, " Lord, I believe, help Thou my un¬
belief." Then, like poor Christian before the cross,
he felt the strings of his burden crack, and the
burden itself to fall off his shoulders and roll away
into his Saviour's sepulchre. Then like his proto¬
type in the Pilgrim's Progress, he was " glad and
lightsome;" the heaviness of his heart was taken
away, and he was enabled to go on his way rejoic¬
ing, " light as a feather," to use his own expression.
With joy and haste he went to a secluded spot to
pour out his thanks unto God.
As he reached the barracks, one of his comrades
asked him how it fared with him, when he forth¬
with replied, " Happy, happy." So he told his com¬
rades as they gathered round him of his happiness
and joy, and there were perhaps some of them who,
when they had heard his testimony, wished that
they too were even as he. Thus he retired to rest
that night, sleeping in the chamber of peace, believ¬
ing that God for Christ's sake had pardoned all his
past transgressions.
This state of happiness was soon disturbed by
doubts and fears. He began to doubt whether
he was not deceiving himself. What made him
doubt was, that he thought he had not been sorry
enough for his sins, and because his experience had
116 EXPERIENCES AFTER CONVERSION'.
not been the same as that of others, of whose con¬
version he had either heard or read. So in this
mingled state of doubt and fear he went to the
class-meeting on the following" Thursday, and told
his fears to the minister. He pointed out to him,
that all were not converted in the same way, and
spoke particularly of the difference between the
manner in which Saul of Tarsus and Lydia had
been turned to the Lord. Thus was Cooke enabled to
believe more surely, and to rejoice with joy unspeak¬
able that he had indeed become a child of God by
faith in Christ Jesus.
A year later he was enabled thus to sum up his
experience:—
" I bless God that he ever showed mercy to such
an unworthy sinner as I am. It is now more than
twelve months since I first accepted Jesus as my
Saviour, and vowed to devote my life to his honour
and glory. I look back with joy to that time, and
bless the day that ever I came out to India. For
now, with that confidence which is given me
through Christ, I can sing,
' Happy, happy day,
When Jesus washed my sins away.'
" In looking back, I see much to lament also.
For I can remember many things that I should
have done that have been left undone, and many
things left undone which I ought to have done,
many sins, much unfaithfulness, and many incon¬
sistencies, and I have sometimes wondered that God
RETROSPECT OF A YEAR.
117
did not cast me off. For well I have deserved it;
and had He done so, it would have only been just
and righteous. But God has not dealt with me
according to my sins, nor rewarded me according to
my iniquities. His thoughts are not my thoughts,
nor His ways my ways. He hath holden me up
until now by the strong arm of His righteousness,
and I am still spared as a monument of His mercy.
I have been subjected also to many doubts and
fears, and much troubled by reason of my great
sinfulness and the depravity of my own sinful
heart. I have often been troubled by one peculiar
besetting sin, and have many times been overcome
by it. This has often caused me to grope in dark¬
ness, and has completely destroyed my peace. It
has caused me much unhappiness, and often nearly
driven me to despair, and led me to conclude that
there has been no saving work of grace wrought in
my soul, so that I have been on the point of giving
up religion altogether.
" But the question would ever recur to my mind,
To whom should I go ? Thou hast the words of
eternal life. And then, full of shame and confu¬
sion, I cried to God for mercy, and He delivered me
out of my troubles. Often in these times of remorse
and shame, I have felt that it would have been my
due reward had God instantly cast me into that
lake which burns with fire and brimstone; and yet,
at these times, I have found my heart so hard that
I could do nothing but cry, and that without much
118
RETROSPECT OF A YEAR.
sense of feeling, ' Lord have mercy on me/ or, ' Lord
lie merciful to me a poor sinner,' or some such
similar sentence.
" This has been my greatest enemy. I have had
much to bear with by reason of the ridicule and
jeers of my comrades, but these I could have borne
with patience, as I have never been since my conver¬
sion ashamed of my Saviour, and I trust never
shall. But my cursed besetting sin has been a
canker to my soul, and I have often felt that I
could do anything to get rid of it. Blessed be God,
He has in His mercy even given me lately victory
over this sin also, although I am often assailed by
it. His grace is sufficient for me; and I pray
earnestly that He will make me doubly watchful
over myself for the future, and enable me to get rid
of it altogether for Christ's sake."
So true it is that the sins of youth, often lightly
committed and indulged in, are sure in after life to
weigh down and sorely oppress the soul in its attempts
to attain better and higher things. There are sins, the
recollection of which will ever sorely li au nt the memory,
so that even those who by God's grace are finally
delivered therefrom, bear upon their souls, as it
wrere, the sense of the wounds they have received
until their dying hour.
CHAPTER IX.
Knot of Christians—Meetings of Christiau Soldiers—Cooke made
an Exhorter—Love Feast—Watch-night at Lucknow—
Solemn Thoughts—Cooke visits the Hospitals—Work among
the Soldiers—Extracts from Journal—Temperance Meetings
—Root of bitterness springing up—Falls into Sin—Dream—
Interpretation thereof—Joy in the Holy Ghost—A Tree for a
closet—Confined in the Guard-room—Party Spirit—Division
in the ranks of Believers—Declension and Fall—Secret Sin—-
Its fatal influence—Week of Prayer—Defeats and Victories—-
Besetting sins—Dark clouds overshadowing—Works under
declension—Fearful Conflicts and Falls—Lamentations of a
Sinner—Reflections—Light in Darkness — Backsliding —
Giant Despair's Castle—Leaves Lucknow for Futtebgurh—
The terrible Sin—Return to God.
At his first setting forth from the City of Destruc¬
tion Cooke thought that he was alone, but he soon
discovered that one of his comrades was a Christian
as well as himself, and this little band was soon
increased by other additions, so that the number
reached some nine or ten professed seekers after
God.
It has been already mentioned that in the month
of July the troops were removed from Lucknow on
account of sickness, and encamped, first, in canton¬
ments about two miles from the city, and finally,
moved into bungalows specially constructed for
them. Here the pious soldiers had not the same
Christian advantages as they possessed in the city.
But they used to meet together for prayer under a
tree, and the American missionary, Dr. Butler, or
some one of his colleagues, generally contrived to
come among them once a week.
Their number was soon increased by some men
of the 2d Battalion Rifle Brigade and of the 73d
Regiment, in which there were a few sincere and
122
SMALL KNOT OF CHRISTIANS.
earnest Christians. Their numbers soon reached
thirty and forty, of whom one half were members of
the Church of England, and one half Wesleyans.
There was for some little time a total absence dis¬
played of all sectarian feeling among them, so that
they clubbed together and built a temporary chapel,
where every night they met for Bible-reading and
prayer. Afterwards they built another little chapel
at the other end of the cantonment. The number
at this time was about fifty in each chapel. The
missionary sometimes preached in one, sometimes
in the other chapel, and on Saturdays they were
wont to meet alternately for mutual prayer in each
chapel.
The battalion of the Eifles and the 73d Regiment
soon received orders to leave, and were succeeded
by the 23d Welsh Fusiliers. A meeting was accord¬
ingly held to bid farewell to the brethren in the for¬
mer. Addresses were delivered by the missionaries,
and also by the leaders of the several little bands of
Christians in each regiment. The meeting was a
very hearty one, and many were the hearty leave-
takings on all sides that night.
Among the Fusiliers there were also like-minded
Christian men who joined the little band of profes¬
sors. Disputes after a little arose respecting the
manner of conducting the prayer meetings, which
for a while caused some alienation of feeling.
On the 26th July 1860, Cooke was appointed as
exhorter by the class to which he belonged. On
COOKE APPOINTED AN EXH OUTER.
123
this occasion lie wrote: " I felt greatly my respon¬
sibility, and prayed earnestly that God would count
me worthy through His dear Son to labour in His
vineyard according as He gives me ability, and that
He would fill me with His Holy Spirit, and instruct
and teach me the truth as it is in Jesus, that He
would keep me from sinning, and give me a clean,
humble, contrite, and obedient heart, and a single
eye to His honour and glory."
A couple of weeks later Cooke received a certifi¬
cate from the Rev. Dr. Butler authorising him to
hold prayer-meetings in connection with the Luck-
now mission, and to give exhortations thereat any¬
where in the vicinity of Lucknow. In this position
he was. usefully employed, and signs were not
wanting to prove that he was by grace permitted
often to speak a word of refreshment to the weary,
and of comfort and encouragement to some tempted
and struggling believers.
He thus writes on October 15tli with reference
to one of the special peculiarities of the Methodist
body: "We had our quarterly love-feast to-day
together with the Lord's Supper; and, oh ! it has
been a love-feast indeed to me. My soul has been
greatly refreshed. Jesus was very precious to me.
Oh, that this overflowing love and heavenly in¬
fluence would for ever overshadow me. This is
about the fifth time I have partaken of the blessings
of this means of grace. Oh, the depth of the riches
of Christ is indeed inconceivable !
124 WATCH-NIGHT SERVICE AT LUCKNOW.
The following extracts from his journal will show
the progress of God's work in him :—
"Jan. 1st, 1861.—Christmas has gone with all its
stirring and joyful memories, and a new year has
begun with its solemn realities. God be praised for
all His numberless mercies, and for His unchanging
? o o
love towards me. I used to spend these times in
sinful mirth and wicked frivolity, and counted
Christmas a time for riot and debasing drunken¬
ness. I used, too, to look upon the new year in the •
same light. But, blessed be God, my eyes are now
opened, and I can look on Christmas in its true
light, and join in the glad song of the angels, and
3ing, £ Glory be to God in the highest.' I now feel
that the coming of my Saviour concerns me very
much, and I see in what a fearful condition I should
be without such a Saviour. The new year I have
also found to be a season of great solemnity. We
have had our watch-night service last night, and to
me it was a happy and solemn time. There were
about forty present. The Rev. Mr. Pearce preached
a suitable discourse on the occasion from the words,
'For all flesh is grass,' &c. (1 Pet. i. 24, 25), after
which we continued singing and praying for some
time. The Piev. Mr. Baume gave a solemn and
forcible address suitable to the solemn moment, and
the passing away of the old year. The last moments
of the year were spent in silent prayer, after which
the meeting was closed with the benediction.
" The old year is gone never to be recalled, with
COOKE VISITS THE HOSPITALS.
125
its sins, backslidings, neglects, doubts, fears, cold¬
nesses, and shortcomings. All is now past and
([■one. What has been left undone must remain so,
what has been done cannot be undone. 0 God,
show me the realities of an approaching eternity.
Give me Thy Spirit and grace, and help me to
start afresh on my journey, and grant that I may
henceforth devote my all to Thee and Thy glory;
that, through Thy help and the assistance of Thy
good Spirit, I may prove a faithful soldier of Christ
all my days, and when they shall close at last receive
me to Thyself for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen."
Cooke used sometimes to visit the hospitals in
order to read to the men and speak to them about
Jesus. In this work he experienced a blessing
himself, and was enabled to be a blessing also. He
used to distribute tracts and religious papers. He
was much assisted in public prayer, and in giving
exhortations to his brethren, as well as when engaged
in evangelistic work among his fellow-soldiers. He
often found it hard to flesh and blood to act as a
tract-distributor among the soldiers' tents, but lie
generally received grace to overcome the fear of
men, and to speak a word for the Master in heaven.
lie thus wrote on Easter day, March 31st.—" A
day of great joy and comfort. Went to church in
the morning and heard a sermon on that text, 'I am
the resurrection and the life.' I do not feel that I
receive the same good here that I receive from my
own minister. Mr. Waterhouse is no doubt a very
126
WORK IN THE HOSPITALS.
good man, but lie wants that energy which charac¬
terises our Methodist preachers. His words are
good, but somehow they are without life to me,—
they fall dead on my ear. The fault may be in
myself, but I feel quite different in my own chapel.
There the word seems to come with reviving power,
and my soul seems to feed on fat things. Spent my
time after church in reading and writing until two
o'clock. Visited then the hospital of the 23d, and
had much happiness in trying to direct two sick
men to Jesus; one of them is near his end. How
sweet to direct the dying soul to its Saviour and
Redeemer, and to hear the thanks from the lips of
the dying. It is a glorious work, work that an
angel would delight to perform. Went to chapel in
the evening. .Heard an excellent sermon from
2 Cor. iv. 10. Coming home I fell in with three
comrades cursing fearfully. Spoke to them for a
long while. I hope the Lord will bless it to their
souls. After private prayer in which I seemed to
be in a little heaven, I retired to bed, but could not
sleep till one o'clock. Greatly assaulted by Satan,
but overcame his temptations by the blood of the
Lamb. Lord, carry on Thy great and glorious
work in my heart for Jesus's sake."
" April 1st.—A day of peace. In somewhat of a
dull and languid spirit, not feeling that pleasure in
study that I feel sometimes. Went to our temper¬
ance meeting in the evening. The meeting is held
every month in our little chapel. The speeches of
A ROOT OF BITTERNESS SPRINGING UP. 127
my comrades in favour of temperance interested me
much, especially that of our minister, who is an ex¬
cellent man of God, and can suit himself to any
class of hearers. May the Lord prosper the work
in our hands and direct us in all our doings, and
give us a siugle eye to His glory."
Cooke was at this time discouraged by unex¬
pectedly discovering that he had given offence to
some of his brethren by making long prayers, and
occupying too much time with his exhortations, thus
unduly prolonging the duration- of their services,
lie felt much hurt at the unkind remarks made on
this head, and was tempted to give up his position
of exhorter altogether. While he was in this un¬
comfortable frame of mind, smarting under the
remarks of his comrades, with his pride hurt, he
was assaulted by the Evil One, and attacked with
his old temptation and besetting sin. He yielded,
as under the influence of wounded feelings he had
O
ceased for the time to watch and pray, and for a
season was again overwhelmed with trouble, anguish,
and darkness. The contest was, however, but for a
brief season. He was enabled soon to grasp the
weapon of " all-prayer," and though wounded and
bruised he was not given over as a prey to the
Destroyer.
That night in his sleep he had a dream. He
thought he stood on a high mountain, which he was
obliged to descend. Its sides were steep and slip¬
pery, and by reason thereof he found it dangerous
128 A DREAM AND ITS INTERPRETATION.
and difficult work to go down. At last, after much
trouble, he succeeded in the attempt and reached
the valley below, which was of solid smooth rock,
but covered with water a foot in depth. Fresh from
the contest with the flesh and devil, he at once con¬
sidered his vision of the night watches to be a kind of
allegory, and thus he interpreted itThe mountain
was Pride, the valley into which lieliad to descendwas
the A'alley of Humiliation, the water that covered it
was the tears of repentance, the rock underneath
which gave him a firm foothold was the Kock of
Ages, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the prayer which
burst from his heart as he awoke from his dream
was, " Eestore unto me, 0 Lord, the joy of thy sal¬
vation, and establish my feet on that rock, for thy
mercy's sake."
He thus wrote a few days later (April 14th):—
" The Lord has heard my earnest prayer, and has
sent his angel of mercy to comfort me; and though
I was in heaviness through manifold temptations,
and my soul has well-nigh been overwhelmed in
the floods of great waters, yet He did not forsake me,
but according to His promise He delivered me from
the mouth of the lion. It was not till the 8th,
three days later, that the Holy Comforter returned,
and my dream was verified; and through the
mercy of God, I found to my delight and joy my
feet were placed upon the firm rock, Christ. Since
then my peace has been flowing as a river. Espe¬
cially to-day, it being Sunday, I was privileged to
SEASONS OF SPIRITUAL JOY.
129
draw near to the Lord's Table, and to commemorate
the love of the dying Jesus. Jesus himself was in
our midst, and if ever I realised the blessedness of
pardon of sin, it was to-day. My soul was filled to
overflowing with joy."
This joy in the Holy Spirit continued for a con¬
siderable season. Cooke had learned for a time his
own weakness, and how to rest on the Lord. He
was also at this season led to redouble his efforts for
the good of others, and again to visit the hospitals to
read to the sick, and to exhort them to flee to the
good Physician. He was enabled to speak to them
with power, and to warn them faithfully. Lie wrote
thus of his work :—"I trust and pray that the Lord
will follow my efforts with an abundant blessing.
The seed has been sown in weakness. May the
Lord cause it to spring up in power. Lie hath
promised that His word shall not return to Him void.
Verify Thy promise, 0 Lord, and win to Thyself
honour and glory. Grant unto Thy poor servant am
humble but courageous spirit, and assist me to run
the way of thy commandments through Jesus Christ,
my Lord and Saviour. Amen."
On the 30th April, he thus wrote :—" This is my
birthday. I am twenty-seven years old. Twenty-
five years I served the devil, only two out of twenty-
seven have been given to my God. For it is. two
years to-day since I first surrendered my whole
heart to God, and made a public professsion before
the world, and declared my attachment to the
I
130
A TREE FOR A CLOSET FOR PRAYER.
Lord Jesus by drawing near to His table. I have
had some sweet moments with my Saviour to-day.
My closet was a large tree which seemed almost
made for the purpose, and the spot proved a hallowed
spot to my soul, for Jesus was there, and I found
by experience the truth of that verse which says:—
'Jesus, where'er Thy people meet,
There they behold Thy mercy-seat ;
Where'er they seek Thee, Thou art found
And every place is hallowed ground.'
I was led to consider the past, the present, and the
future, and to bless the Lord with my whole soul.
I asked and found pardon for all the sinful past,
and sought grace for the future, and dedicated my¬
self anew to His service. 0 Lord my God, keep me
by Thy grace steadfast and immovable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, and by the
power of the Holy Spirit, make me what Thou
wonldest have me become, for J esus Christ's sake."
The following extracts from his journal cannot
fail to be of interest:—
May 25th.—"I have of late enjoyed much of the
love and presence of God, and have had some sweet
seasons of sacred communion with Him. Great
trials and temptations have been met and easily
vanquished. Blessed be the Lord my strength, I have
been greatly assisted in exhorting my brethren.
And God has blessed my labours, in a great measure,
unto Him be all the glory ! My heart is still un-
sanctified, and much evil still lurks there. Pride
COOKE CONFINED IN THE GUARD-ROOM. 131
and vain-glory often show themselves, unbelief
often distresses me, yet in all things I am more
than conqueror through Him who loves me, and I
can rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Lord, carry
on Tliy work until I be fully conformed to Thy like¬
ness !"
July 17th.—" Thus far hath the Lord led me. He
had made my soul to lie down in peace and to rise
up in safety. Bless the Lord, 0 my soul. The
goodness and mercy of God passes man's compre¬
hension. He hath been with me in trials and temp¬
tations which have assailed me in many shapes and
forms during the past six weeks. Satan has been
busy with our little flock, stirring up strife and
confusion, and hath caused the love of many to
wax cold. Some have gone back to walk no more
with Jesus. My own feet were well-nigh gone, my
footsteps had almost slipped, but that He, who hath
promised to be with His children, came to my help,
and delivered me from a net in which I was en¬
tangled."
About this time Cooke was confined on one oc¬
casion to the guard-room, for being out with his
long boots on, which was against orders. He was
however released, after nineteen hours confinement.
This, however, sorely tried his spirit, as it did not
fail to be laid hold of by those desiring to find fault
with his doings. For at the same time there were
not wanting other causes to dispirit him. There
was one Diotrephes who desired to have the pre-
132 DIVISION AMONG THE CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS.
eminence, but whose leadership was refused by the
others. Disappointed in this, he sought to find fault
with Cooke's leadership and with others also, and
so far succeeded that he caused a division in the
ranks. Cooke was, however, enabled to steer a
steady course, and "with well-doing," at this time,
" to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men."
Yet the division in the little band of professed
Christians, had, after a time, an evil effect on him¬
self, and after a little there occurs the following
entry in his diary —
"January 1st, 1862.—It is now nearly three
months since I last wrote in my journal. 1 am
sorry that I have failed to put down an account of
what passed in this brief time. It has been a bitter
and a trying time to me. I have had a grievous
fall. Satan finding me off my watch-tower took
advantage, and in a deceitful way, entangled me in
his net before I was aware. Through this fall I have
been tempted several times to give up all for lost,, and
I should have done so, but that I found I could not
live without Christ. This is New Year's day, and
blessed be God He hath brought me to myself. I
wonder at the mercy that hath spared me so long.
0 Lord, forgive ; 0 Lord God, pardon, and blot out
my many sins of omission and commission, and
restore me to my former position. Souls have been
perishing, and I have been idle, and looking on, and
indulging myself in secret sin. Lord, since Thou
hast in Thy mercy quickened me once more, oh,
DECLENSION IN RELIGION THROUGH SECRET SIN. 138
help me to Lake up my cross and follow Thee for
ever. How many vows and resolutions have I
broken! Lord, pardon my unfaithfulness and grant
me repentance for the past, and spare me for the
future for Christ's sake."
This declension in religion to which Cooke refers
arose from his yielding to secret sin, which got a
dark hold over him. His comrades did not know
what was working in his mind, and the sore troubles
and temptations which beset him, through his being
led away and enticed by secret sin, which, though
it ever remained hidden from the eyes of man, was
a grievous burden for him to bear, and caused him
intense misery and wretchedness, as we shall find,
even to the last.
He wrote more cheeringly a week later. "The
lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. I find
myself more settled in the cause of God, and Christ
is more precious to my soul. I have been enabled
to resume my visits to the hospitals, and my ex¬
hortations in the chapel, and I find some of my
former pleasure and happiness in thus again working
for the Lord. This is the Week of Prayer, and my
soul hath been much quickened and strengthened
thereby. Oh, may God answer prayer, and fill this
cantonment with the rich baptism of his Holy Spirit.'
The following are the weekly entries in his journal
about this time, which show the alternate victories
gained and defeats endured, in battling with the sin
which beset him.
134 SPIRITUAL DEFECTS AND VICTOKIES.
" January 14th.—Thank God I am still alive and
well. I am still upheld by the Almighty power of
God. I often wonder why the Lord bears with me
so long, why He does not cut me down and cast me
away for ever from His sacred presence. For again,
after all my good resolutions, I have been overtaken
by my mighty sin, and again I have been hurled
into the pit of despair. But, 0 God, I will cry
unto Thee from the depths ; save me, or I perish for
ever. I have been to the hospital this week also,
and was enabled to speak freely and boldly for
Christ. Oh, had I the wings of a dove, I would
fly away and be at rest.
"January 21 st.—Bless the Lord, 0 my soul,
and forget not all His benefits. This week has been
somewhat cheering and refreshing, and I have been
delivered from all my fears. New desires have
sprung up in my heart, and I have had a sweet
season of prayer and encouragement in my work at
the hospital. My mind is more at ease, and some¬
times I have enjoyed some of the peace of God within
me, and have been very happy. No temptations to my
besetting sin. Lord Jesus, keep me watchful."
" February 1 st.—Sin, sin, nothing but sin! Oh,
my wretched and unfaithful heart! Create in me
a clean heart, 0 God, and renew a right spirit within
me ! In the midst of profound darkness the light
of Calvary still shines."
" February 8th.—The cloud is dispersing, the sun
is appearing, and a few flickering rays again shine
DEATH OF A COMRADE.
135
into my soul. I thank God He has showed me my
sin. I have been cherishing an idol in my heart,
and this idol has stolen away my affections from
Christ, and enthroned itself in my heart. I have
been trying to serve two masters, which is impossible,
and now God has shown my error, I know He will
aid me to cast this idol away."
"February 15th.—Thank God for His unspeakable
mercies and goodness which never fail. They have
been abundantly vouchsafed to me in the last week.
I have had grace supplied to me in the hour of need,
the presence of the Holy Spirit has been vouchsafed
to me, and my timid and sinful soul has received
great encouragement. My heart has been supplied
with holy boldness, with love and burning zeal for
the Lord of hosts. I have felt, too, this week tender
compassion for souls, and strong desires to save
them. I have been sensibly helped in my work of
visiting the hospitals and exhorting my comrades.
But I have had my conflicts too, but these have
proved blessings in disguise. I attended a dying
comrade last Sunday, and read to him, and pointed
him to Jesus. I then prayed with him, and left
him to the care of my heavenly Father. To-day I
am going to his funeral. I trust the Lord had mercy
on him and saved him even in the eleventh hour.
May God give me grace to take warning from the
death of this young man, may He teach me that
heavenly arithmetic to number my days and apply
my heart continually unto wisdom."
136 FATAL INFLUENCE 'OF 'SECRET SIN.
"Feb. 22d.—The bright cloud that overshadowed
me last week, and which gave Hie so much encour¬
agement for the future, has been removed, or rather
forced away by my again giving way to the Evil
One. He has again laid me low, and brought me
again to the land of despair. Oh, how well he knows
when and where to tempt me, and how to present
the bait and hide the hook which it conceals. I
had begun to hope that my great enemy had given
up to tempt me in the manner he did, seeing that I
had so resolved to resist it. It is my old course,
my old and seemingly lasting foe, my besetting sin.
O God, shall I ever be able to conquer this dread
foe, or will it at last sink me to a burning hell ? I
have made so many resolutions against it, so many
vows, and all, all have been broken, broken. Alas!
my soul, thou wilt feel the stings of this serpent to
thy dying day. It will be a thorn in thy dying
pillow. It has crippled thee, and thy wings are
broken. Thou canst not fly, thou canst not mount
up in the morning as the lark and sing thy song of
praise. Alas, alas, what a poor sorry thing art thou
■—how blind and foolish ! Thou fearest everything
but the right thing. Thou fearest death and the
judgment, eternity and hell; but thou dost not suffi¬
ciently fear sin, the cause of all other fears, to gird
up thy loins like a man, and depart from it. Yain
are all thy excuses which thou wouldst advance to
mitigate thy crime, for thou hast no covering for
thy sin. Thy God, whom thou hast to deal with,
MOURNINGS OYER SECRET SIN.
137
is as just to punish thee for sin, as He is merciful to
save thee from it. This sin must be destroyed, or
it will destroy thee, 0 my soul. One leak will sink
a ship, and one sin will destroy thee, 0 my soul:
for ' he that offendeth in one point is guilty of all.'
Yet there is still hope for thee. The door of mercy
is not yet closed against thee, or thou wouldst not
have these reflections. Come then, my soul, take
courage, and try once more. Make no more vows,
for they are like Samson's withes and ropes, which
will break in sunder when the Philistines come
upon thee. But now depend on thy God. Watch
and pray, and commit thy all to Him, and let Him
accomplish what thou canst not. 0 Lord, help me.
0 Lord, undertake for me, leave me not, nor forsake
me, deliver me for Christ's sake."
" March 1st.—This week has been a week of hope,
and I have had much to tell me that God hath not
forsaken me as I have deserved. But I am still in
a state of uncertainty. Heard an excellent sermon
from Rev. Dr. Butler on Sunday evening on the text,
' Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my
last end be like his.' My heart echoed back the
words, and, thank God, I have earnest desires to
live the life of the righteous. 0 God, help me,
fill me with thy Holy Spirit for Jesus Christ's sake."
" March 8th.—I thank the Lord that I am spared
through another week. On the whole, it has been
a prosperous one. I have had some sweet and
refreshing seasons of private prayer, and my soul
138 LAMENTATIONS OF A SINNER.
lias, on the whole, made some progress. I hope I
am beginning to bring forth the fruit of a godly
repentance. I have been hardly thrust at by the
arch-enemy of my soul, and he has tried his own
plan, but, blessed be God, I have overcome him by
the blood of the Lamb; and I know that it is
written, c Blessed is the man that endureth tempta¬
tion.' May the Lord Jesus ever stand by me, and
help me to watch and pray continually."
" March loth.—I can write nothing but bitter
things against myself. Sin, sin, nothing but sin.
I am all sin, and the more I strive against its
power, the more I sin and stumble. I have sinned
wilfully in a grievous manner, and all ability to
resist seems in vain. 0 wretched and miserable
soul, thou hast completely destroyed thyself. But
in God is my help. I went to the hospital of the
48th last Sunday, and spoke to the men there. It
is far easier to preach than to practise, but with
God's help I will continue to fight, and look to
Jesus the conqueror."
" March 19th.—Any one perusing this scribble
must have seen that there was something wrong
with me. In fact, I have indicated in several
places the truth, in such terms as must demon¬
strate the fact that I was struggling with a great
enemy. I have endeavoured thus far to write in a
Christian way, and to keep back the real truth, but
I can do so no longer, and the truth, the awful
truth, must come out. I was once a Christian, and a
LONGINGS FOR BETTER THINGS.
139
lively happy one also. I can repeat the language
of the poet with a true sense of its import now, for
I have fallen from grace, and am become a hack-
slider :—
' Where is the blessedness I knew,
When first I saw the Lord ?
Where is the soul-refreshing view
Of Jesus, and His word?
What peaceful hours I once enjoyed!
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void,
The world can never fill.'
" I forbear to write an account of my fall, al¬
though I did do it. But on looking over it again,
I thought it better to leave the matter between
ray God and me alone, so I have torn the whole
out . . .
"March 5th, 18C3.—Nearly twelve months have
past and gone. Another year is on the wing, and
here I am still in the mire, having but faint hopes of
ever regaining what I have lost. I am still strug¬
gling with sin, but very weak. I have left Luck-
now, and am now in Futtehgurh. I arrived here
on the 23d of last month after a march of about two
hundred miles. The march was somewhat bene¬
ficial to me. I am still desirous of serving God;
* Cooke wrote later another full account of the whole matter;
but however interesting it is in many points, I have felt it better
to omit it in this memoir, while giving with tolerable fulness the
entries in his journal, which refer to the terrible spiritual contests
his poor soul had to undergo from his having yielded to the dark
temptations of the evil one.
140 REFLECTIONS—BACKSLIDINGS—GIANT DESPAIR.
something seems to inspire me with hope. I can¬
not finally give myself up to sin. Some sense of a
Saviour's love is still in my heart, and my soul
yearns and struggles to be free. Sometimes I think
the enemy is mastered, and begin to hope for better
things. But it often seems as if Satan had me
under his feet, and as soon as I struggle to get up,
he knocks me down. I have been sometimes for
live weeks together v/ithout yielding to my tempta¬
tions. But then Satan makes another attack, and
I am knocked down again. I have still hopes
through Christ of becoming the conqueror. 0 Lord,
undertake for me!
" I am here like a pelican in the wilderness, and
if the Lord does not condescend to feed me, I must
perish with hunger. I have but little or no oppor¬
tunity of attending the means of grace, for there is
only a church here, and I never could enjoy the
Church prayers and a written sermon. It seems so
cold and dead. But I must not complain, for in this
valley of Achor I think I can behold a door of hope.
Who knows whether this wilderness may not be a
place of triumph, as the wilderness of Judea was
to Jesus. It seems to me that the Lord has brought
me here for a purpose, so by God's grace I will
stand on my watch-tower and hear what the Lord
has to say unto me, and I hope soon to shout £ Vic¬
tory, victory through the blood of the Lamb !"'
" March 18th.—A gleam of hope is breaking
through the cloud of doubt and despair, and I have
LIGHT IN DARKNESS—RETURN TO GOD. 141
enjoyed more tranquillity of mind lately. I have
had some fresh kindlings of love within my heart,
and I groan earnestly to be set free, and to have my
backslidden sin-pierced soul healed by the all-
cleansing blood of Christ. 0 Lord, I have destroyed
myself, but in Thee is my hope."
" March 21 st.—My hope grows brighter still.
The dark clouds are dispersing, and the beams of
the Sun of righteousness are breaking in with heal¬
ing power upon my distracted, sin-burdened soul.
0 Lord, give me a humble contrite heart. Turn me,
and I shall be turned ! 0 Lord, I am thy servant,
save me for Thy mercies' sake."
The terrible chain of secret sin which so en¬
tangled Cooke, and kept him so long at intervals as
an inmate of Giant Despair's castle, was at last by
God's providence broken. Fearfully he had suffered
therefrom, and fearful was the means-whereby Gocl
in His mercy set him free. The history of the sin
and its results, did the writer feel at liberty to give
it, would be a terrible warning to all such Christians
as venture to tread on forbidden paths, relying on
some unknown way of being extricated therefrom.
But enough is recorded already to show the fearful
contest that took place within his own soul, and, as
he himself had foreseen, the remembrance of the
whole matter bitterly haunted his dying pillow. Yet
never during the dark contest did he lose completely
the sight of the Cross of Calvary; and while the
spiritual history of this chapter is fraught with
142
RECOVERY FROM BACKSLIDING.
warning, it is also full of encouragement to back¬
sliders. Such may learn tlierefrom not to despair
of recovery from any fall, however awful, since here
is the case of one who fell low indeed in the mire
of sin, and yet by grace was lifted up from the
dunghill. However deep his fall, the prayer of the
poet Cowper, in the hymn already quoted, was ever
his also:—
" Return, 0 holy Dove, return,
Sweet messenger of rest;
I hate the sins that made Thee mourn,
And drove Thee from my breast.
The dearest idol I have known,
Whate'er that idol be,
Help me to tear it from Thy throne
And worship only Thee.
So shall my walk be close with God,
Calm and serene my frame ;
So purer light shall mark the road
That leads me to the Lamb."
CHAPTER X.
Cooke actively engaged in Christian Work—Growth in Grace—■
Death of a Comrade—Warning—Humbling Reflections—Sin
and Sorrow—Sickness—Presented with a Silver Medal by his
Bible Class—Work for the Temperance Cause—Ordered to
Gwalior — Leaves Futtehgurh—March—Agra—Morar—In¬
creasing Strength—Cheering entry in Journal—Assaults of
Satan — Fear of Death—Renewed Sickness—Invalided —
Proceeds homeward—Agra again—Lines on New Year's
Day, 1866—Calcutta.
The bitter sorrows which, though unknown to his
fellows, had darkened the path of J. L. Cooke, left,
however, a chastening effect on his mind. He was
for the time cured from the sin that so marred his
peace,, and interfered with his Christian work.
And yet in another form that temptation still beset
him. Sin, strengthened by indulgence, had too firmly
fixed its roots within to be thoroughly rooted up, and
the dark memories of the past often served to act
as temptations as well as warnings to his soul. There¬
fore, he ever had reason, with bitterness, to regret that
he had stepped unbidden into the path of the de¬
stroyer, and he bore the traces of his deadly conflict
in an evil tendency to similar transgression.
Some three months after this painful but blessed
providence had cut him off from the main cause of
transgression, he was again engaged as a labourer
in the Lord's vineyard. A Bible class was formed
among the soldiers, and he was called on some two
or three times a week to speak and to invite sinners
to Christ. He was also appointed clerk to the
church in the station, and lie seemed once more to
k
146
GROWTH IN GRACE—BIBLE CLASS.
be growing in grace, and to be prospering in liis
Christian profession. His journal will show the
progress of the divine life in his soul.
" April 30th, 18G4.—It is my birth-day to-day, and
I am endeavouring to observe it to the glory of God
by fasting and prayer. It is five years to-day since
I first drew near to the Lord's table, and to-morrow
I hope to draw near again. I think much on this
day, as I am now thirty years old. This is the age at
which the priests in Old Testament times were set
aside for their sacred office, and it was at thirty
years of age that Christ began to preach publicly.
I hope and pray that by God's grace I may be
enabled to devote my life more to the glory of God.
I have entered into covenant afresh with God to¬
day, and I hope by God's grace to keep my cove¬
nant unbroken. But I tremble when I remember
my past unfaithfulness, lest I may break it again.
My God, my whole trust is in Thee, hold Thou me
up, and establish my goings, set my feet on the
rock, and keep me ever near Thee, for Jesus Christ's
sake."
" June 1st.—At the close of another month I have
to thank and bless God for many things, although
I have still much to lament over. Yet, on the
whole, I have been wonderfully upheld, and have
been enabled to discharge faithfully my duties to
God and man. My Bible class continues to flourish,
and God has helped me in my endeavours to save
sinners."
SUDDEN DEATH OF A COMRADE.
147
" July 1st.—Still spared another month to record
Thy mercies, 0 God! This month has been one
of great blessing. Through God's grace I have
made some progress heavenwards, if victory over
myself, and over my besetting sins, a deep sense of
my own sinfulness, and an increased knowledge of
Christ and of His ability to save, be counted progress.
I am still far from holy, and I long for more know¬
ledge of Christ. All I deserve is death, eternal
death, but Jesus gives me life, eternal life. I have
had much to draw me closer to Christ, and to re¬
mind me of my latter end. I have buried this
month seven or eight persons, and one of them I
loved much. He was a young man, of twenty-eight
years old, robust and strong. He started with me
on the Christian life, but when promoted, he fell
away, and never recovered again. I often spoke to
him, but he always put me off, and now within one
short week he was launched into eternity. May I
watch and be ready ! My Bible class is in a hope¬
ful state; the number of those that attend is just
the same as befoi e. God has helped me through my
duties with the class, and has blessed me much. Still
I have to mourn over time lost and wasted, and much
languidness and lassitude of spirit, caused no doubt
partially by the weather, which has been exces¬
sively hot."
" August 1st.—In reviewing this last month, I
see much to make me sad. I have been very re¬
miss in duty; my zeal has died away as it were; and
148
HUMBLING REFLECTIONS.
I can see much which I have neglected to do; and,
worst of all, I have grievously sinned against God,
and thereby quenched the Spirit within me. I
have been guilty of much light conversation, light
thinking, and much carelessness in my actions be¬
fore men. I have often kept silence when I had an
opportunity of speaking to men with reference to
their souls, or have suffered myself to be drawn
away into other topics of conversation. I have also
felt my passions rise more than once, and angry
feelings have been felt, and angry expressions been
used by me. But worst of all, the giant sin I
thought was slain has again assailed me, and I
have been trodden down by its mighty power. But
by the help of the Lord I will conquer him. 0
sin ! thou curse and destroyer of my soul, how long
shall I have to mourn over thy power within my
breast—
''Foul, I to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Saviour, or I die!'
But praise be to God, there are some bright spots
in this month. Though cast down, I am not de¬
stroyed. There are many things even in this dark
month pleasant to remember. The Lord has not
forsaken me, but let me remember my sins and
failings to humble me at Jesus' feet, and to rouse
me to more exertion. Lord, lift up Thy banner
against the evil one. Arm me for the conflict, and
give me victory through Jesus Christ."
" September 1st.—This has been a month of sor-
SIN AND SORROW.
149
row in many respects, and all the sorrow has been
caused by sin in myself and others. I have
mourned and wept over my own wickedness and
depravity, and over the hardness of heart mani¬
fested in others. I have sometimes been almost
ready in despair to give up trying to do good. But
prayer and the promises of God's word have hither¬
to encouraged me to persevere, and my hopes have
been revived by the thought that the work is the
Lord's, and that He will not let it fall to the
ground. Therefore, I have been able to continue
my labours. Still I must confess that I have not
felt that delight nor that earnestness in performing
my duties which I used to have. This has led me
to self-examination, and thus I have been led to
conclude, that the want of success has been on
account of my own sinfulness. For I am altogether
vile in God's sight and in my own. I do not wilfully
sin, but I am too easily overcome. I would give
the world to be holy and without sin. I long to be
holy, and to be like Christ. I long to be made
wise to win souls, and to see many converted."
"November.—This month has been a month of
discipline. God has seen fit to cast me into the
furnace of affliction. I have been very ill in hos¬
pital for twenty-six days. I thought at one time
that the Lord was going to remove me from hence,
and was very much troubled at the thought. But
after looking into the precious promises of God's
word, and engaging in prayer, I became composed,
150 SICKNESS—THE TEMPERANCE CAUSE.
and went to sleep like a babe, feeling perfectly safe
in my Saviour's arms. By God's mercy I recovered,
and returned to my duties, I trust the better for
my affliction. I felt it good to have had such a
mark of the favour of God, and saw in it an answer
to my prayers. When I came out of hospital I
was presented with a silver medal by the members
of my Bible class as a mark of their love. I am
very grateful to them for bestowing on me such a
token of their affection, altogether unworthy as I
am, and will try to repay them by being more
attentive and zealous than I have been."
" December.—A laborious month, but still a happy
one for me, for I have been labouring for the wel¬
fare of others, and this I find is pleasure indeed. I
have been busy in getting up a tea-party, and have
succeeded beyond my expectations. It went off splen¬
didly, and several took the temperance pledge. Two
addresses were given, one by Be v. Mr. Templeman,
and one by myself. The intervals were filled up by
singing. Several of the officers and higher officials
o o o
were present, and upwards of two hundred soldiers."
" January 18G5.—This month has passed over
just as usual. Our temperance society has been
growing in numbers. More than fifty joined since
Christmas. The religious meetings go on as before.
I am very busy in this good work. A society has
been formed in our own battery at the request of
men themselves."
The battery of Boyal Artillery to which Cooke be-
eev.me.tfmpleman—cooke oedeeed to moeae. 151
longed received sudden orders to proceed to Morar,
in Gwalior, while the 20tli liegiment was to proceed to
Dinapore. These orders completely broke up the
societies in which the men of "both parts of the force
had been united. The parting was a sorrowful one.
Cooke left Futtehgurh with deep regret, and nianv
tears were shed by the brethren as they parted with
one another. Cooke wrote that he lost thereby " a
good minister, a prosperous situation, and many
friends." Mr. Templeman seems to have been such
an evangelical minister of the Church of England
as won Cooke's affections, and lie had been useful
to him in many ways in his Christian life. Under
his ministry it seems for the iirst time Cooke came
in contact with warm evangelical teaching in con-
O O
nection with the Church of England.
The march from Euttehgurli began on the 17th
February, and the soldiers proceeded at the rate of
ten to twelve miles a day. The road was good, and
shaded on each side by trees nearly all the
way. The country through which they passed was
beautiful, well cultivated, and aboitnding with game..
The men arrived at Agra on the 25tli. Agra greatly
pleased the men, who were delighted with the
numerous gardens and beautiful walks, and with
the surpassing beauty of the Taj Mahal, ("the crown
of edifices"), one of the seven wonders of the world.
The Taj, as is well known, is built of marble, and
adorned with precious stones. It was erected by
Shah Jehan as a mausoleum in honour of his,
152
AGRA—MARCH TO MORAR.
favourite queen. It consists of a quadrangle of
nearly 600 feet, with a lofty dome in the centre.
Agra was full of European troops, and Cooke there
met with several brethren of 23d Regiment, and
several happy meetings took place. But the troops
rested only three days there.
The march from Agra to Morar was a most un¬
pleasant one, the roads were very bad, and the
weather was also occasionally very wet. The country
is of a very different description with that met with
on the march from Futtehgurh to Agra, as it was
for the most part along the line of route barren,
with uncultivated and rocky hills. Eain delayed
the troops at Dholpur three days. Here the men
saw some wild beasts, tigers, cheetahs, and a leopard.
Morar was reached on the 10th of March. It was
a wild, unhealthy looking spot, surrounded by rocks
and hills. Its spiritual condition seemed to Cooke
even worse. There was only one little church in
the whole station. He met, however, with two or
three Christian brethren among the troops stationed
there, and continued occasionally to visit the hos¬
pitals, as at the other stations, for the purpose of
distributing tracts. For a time the three or four
Christian brethren held a little meeting together,
but for some reason or other, this had at last to be
discontinued, so that, save his visits to the hospitals,
he was able to do here but little. He had here also
several slight attacks of sickness. It would, however,
seem that, notwithstanding that he was compelled to
WORK FOR GOD AT MORAR—ASSAULTS OF SIN. 153
sit still as it were, God's work prospered in his soul,
and he was enabled to hold on steadily in his
course, with his face set heavenward.
The following entry for June, occurs in his journal:
—" This month has been, I trust, a fruitful one. I
have been enabled to hold on in my course, and, on
the whole, to make progress. But what a sorry
mortal I am, how weak, frail, and sinful. Although
my title is clear in Christ, yet false and full of sin
I am. I long to be more holy; I thirst after God;
and the more I know of Him, the more I want to
know. I have continued to visit the sick, but having
been reported by the Eoman Catholic priest, I have
had to give it up. My heart lias been much cheered
and encouraged this month by a letter I received
from England from a young woman, stating that she
had been led to Jesus by the letters I have written
to her parents. We have lost a sergeant on the 17th
of this month. Drink, a constant course of drink¬
ing, has done its work at last. Lord, lift Thou up
the light of Thy countenance upon me. Draw me,
and I will run after Thee."
In July he wrote a less cheerful description of
his state :—" The former part of the month," wrote
he, "was passed in peace and tranquillity. But
after a calm comes a storm, and so it was in my
case. I was not successful in resisting the assaults
of Satan, but was foiled, disarmed, and thrown down.
Hence God left me to feel my misery, and all His
waves went over my soul, and I was like the
154
FEARS OF DEATH.
tempest-tossed disciples, very fearful lest I should
he engulphed in the billows. But I knew it was
in vain to seek comfort apart from God, so I re¬
turned to Him, wrestled with Him in prayer, con¬
fessing my sin. Thus I found again my Saviour,
who pardoned and quieted my fears."
" Death," he continues, " has been busy amongst
us, and several have been carried off by cholera.
The fear of death and this dreadful disease harrowed
my soul to its very depths, and for a time made me
doubt of my title to heaven. I thought it was very
strange that I should be so harrowed with fears,
while the ungodly were bold and careless. Now I
see that all this was necessary to bring me to my¬
self. It drove me to prayer; I called upon the
Lord, and He delivered me from all my troubles.
Now, 0 Lord, deal kindly with Thy servant, and
since Thou hast given me new life and fresh tokens
of Thy love, help me to watch and pray continually.
When the enemy comes in like a ilood, lift Thou
thy standard against him, and when my soul is
tossed on the sea of doubt and fear, give me grace
to feel Thy presence, and to hear Thy voice, and then
I, too,will smile at the storm."
"August.—Worse than useless are my efforts to
master sin. Sin is my misery, sin is my burden,
sin is my enemy, my greatest enemy, and ever shall
be. Oh to be holy, ' Dear Lord, shall I ever live at
this poor dying rate!' Can it be possible that a
wretch like I can ever get to heaven ? Yet it is
liENEWED SICKNESS—INVALIDED. 155
possible. But, 0 my soul, 'tis Christ, none but
Christ, that can bring thee there. Cease from thy
own works, resolutions, &c., and trust to Christ,
Thou art like a bird beating itself in vain against
its cage; stop, my poor fluttering heart, and Christ
will let thee out."
Cooke was several times confined to hospital
during the months of October and November, and
so his efforts to do good were much interfered with.
Sometimes he was enabled to meet with a few
brethren for prayer, generally he remarks he "sought
the Lord alone 011 the plains of Morar." He was
finally invalided 011 the 17th of November. He
looked upon this as an answer to prayer, as he had a
longing desire to see his native land. On the 25th
he joined the invalid camp, and two days later, set
out on his march home, lie had two brothers in
the army from whom he felt much in parting. He
also felt regret at parting from some of his Christian
brethren. But the joy on the one hand dispelled
the sorrow 011 the other.
In Agra the invalids were delayed some time.
While there, he was enabled to be helpful to some
young Christian soldiers of the 41st Iiegiment, who
were just come from England. Some soldiers of
the 23d, already known to him, joined the little
band in a little prayer meeting, and when the men
of the 23d departed, Cooke still continued to meet
the others every night for exhortation and prayer,
These young men he left in the hands of the Baptist
156
AN OLD YEAR'S NIGHT AT AGRA.
missionaries, to confirm and strengthen them by
prayer and Bible instruction.
In January 1866, amid a general entry in his
journal for the month, we meet the following:—" I
heard a most impressive sermon last night on the
text, 'We spend our years as a tale that is told' Ps.
xc. 9. True, too true a picture of life; Lord, teach
me to number my days, and help me to apply my
heart unto wisdom. Oh, how sad I felt when, on com¬
ing home, I had to enter a tent full of drunken, fight¬
ing, riotous men. What a scene I witnessed, in the
closing hours of the Old Year. But if my outward
man was ruffled, yet there was peace within, and I laid
down to sleep at peace with God. At midnight I
was awakened by the sweet strains of soft melodious
music, and my flesh crept as it were with a thrill
of joy, and while the drunkard was sleeping off the
stinking perfume of drink, I was drinking in a fore¬
taste of the joys and music of heaven. For, indeed,
such was the effect of the music on my soul, that
the very tent, which appeared the night before a
little hell, seemed to be turned into a heaven below.
0 God, bring me at last to join in the music of the
heaven above for Jesus Christ's sake."
Feelings such as these, made him pen the follow¬
ing lines on New Year's Day, 1866 :—
A Year of time how short the space, how quick the moments fly !
How soon my span of life will close, and I be called to die !
Reflection to my conscience brings my sins in dire array,
And makes me shudder at the thought of the great judgment day.
My head bows down with shame and fear, I dare not look above ;
LINES ON A NEW YEAR—CALCUTTA.
157
Guilt doth oppress my inmost soul, I mourn like yonder dove,
I am disturbed, I find no rest, my soul is tempest-toss'd,
I sink beneath the surging waves, Alas, alas, I'm lost!
No, no ! my soul, not lost, not lost! while Jesus calls thee nigh,
And bids thee drink of living streams, and never never die.
0 Lord, I come, Thou knowest my heart; it pants, it longs for Thee;
Although I'm foul and full of sin, I long to be set free.
1 hate my sin, it is my foe, no quarters I will give
This treach'rous foe within my heart, as long as I do live.
I thank the Lord that though but faint, yet still I do pursue
The narrow way that leads to life, where I Thy face shall view.
Since then thou hast upholden me in years that have gone by,
Thou wilt not let me fall away in this New Year that's nigh.
Therefore my mind shall be at rest, my soul shall simply trust
In Thee my God, for well I know, what'er Thou doth is best.
At night I'll lay me down to sleep, my mind shall be at ease ;
At morn I'll rise with strength renewed, and seek Thee on my knees.
And thus each day shall pass away till my few years are run ;
Then sweetly close my eyes in death when travelling days are done.
The journey from Agra to Calcutta, was attended
with divers annoyances, but was on the whole
pleasurable to the invalid. The scenery of the
river Ganges made a deep impresssion on his mind.
Calcutta was very sickly, and cholera again made
its appearance, and thoughts of death, with all the
confidence and trust he had in Christ, yet made his
soul oft to tremble.
At Calcutta, he was able to enjoy again the means
of grace, and he found there some true followers of
the Lord Jesus. The invalids were from various
corps, and amongst these were not a few who were
fellow-citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. Calcutta,
however, city of palaces though it was, was not very
attractive to Cooke. His attention was rather
153
CALCUTTA.
drawn to its most repulsive features than to its
fascinating aspects. The former were at that time its
characteristics; much since has been done to improve
it. Hence he describes it as a very dirty place,
with unpaved streets, bad drainage, and pestilential
smells. In a religious aspect, too, it appeared in
his eyes a city wholly given up to worldly pleasure.
He wrote, therefore, in a melancholy strain, that
the churches and chapels were almost empty, while
the theatre and ball-rooms were full, and he won¬
dered in himself at the long-suffering and mercy
• of God in bearing so long with the folly and sin of
man.
CHAPTER XI.
Cooke leaves India—Voyage Home—Sabbath at Home—Friend¬
ships in the ranks — Cooke attends on a sick Friend—
Cholera—Strange providence—Cooke obliged to attend a
Friend in Cholera—Nurses him—Answers to prayer—His
Friend restored—Cooke gets into correspondence with his
Friend's Niece—Emma Plumridge — Her Grandfather—-
Verses of Emma Plumridge--Cooke discharged from the army
—Proceeds to meet his correspondent — Happy meeting—-
Mutual Lovers—Cooke's honesty in disclosing his past life
—Marriage—Visits his own Home—The rejoicing Mother—
Engaged in Farm employment—Local Preacher among Bible
Christians—Becomes a Policeman.
Cooke left India finally on February 21st. The
voyage homeward round the Cape was tedious and
uneventful. The usual rough weather was experi¬
enced in rounding the Cape. Some thirteen invalids
died on the homeward passage. The wickedness on
board was, alas ! very great, and all the religious
worship on board was that on the Sunday morning.
Then the Colonel in charge read the Church of
England service, as there was no regular chaplain
on the ship. Yet Cooke was during this trying time
kept by grace from falling away from Christ, and
he found some congenial companions among those
who sailed with him.
On the 1st of July, 18 GG, the invalid soldiers
were landed at ISTetley on the Thames, and Cooke's
feelings of joy were great as lie set foot upon firm
land once more. His heart was full of gratitude to
God, who for ten years had protected him in all
his wanderings, and had now at last permitted him
to see again his native land.
The following day was the Sabbath. Cooke
l
162
FIRST SABBATH AT HOME.
wandered along the river side and up a glen, and
into a small wood where he poured out his grateful
thanks to Almighty God. " All nature," he writes,
" seemed decked in loveliness, and was full of
music and song. It seemed to smile and welcome
me back to my native land. The birds sang in the
branches, and the trees were in full leaf, the
hay was lying in the fields, sending forth its sweet
fragrance, the nuts and blackberries were just
forming, and altogether the scene was charming,
My heart was full, and I wept tears of joy, and I
was led, by the feelings of gratitude I experienced,
to pour out my heart in prayer, and in songs of
praise to the great Source of all good.
In order to understand an event that now soon
occurred, it is necessary to return for a little and
mention a few facts in Cooke's Indian life.
It has already been related that, during his mili¬
tary service in India, Cooke met several pious
soldiers, who by their life and conversation were
lights among the darkness around them. Among
those belonging to his own battery were some who
were converted about the same time with himself.
To one of these he became much attached. In fact,
they were as two brothers. On many occasions by
moonlight, they were wont to praise the Lord to¬
gether, and to engage in earnest prayer. Thus they
were often helpful to one another in sharing each
other's burdens, and in communicating to each other
their individual sorrows, for together they brought
COOIvE ATTENDS ON A SICK COMRADE. 163
their difficulties to a throne of grace, and, having con¬
fessed their faults one to another, they used to pray
for the Spirit's healing grace.
This comrade, however, could not write himself,
and so Cooke used to write his letters for him to
his friends, and to read to him the various answers.
The kind care of Cooke was several times the means
of saving his life. When attacked with dysentery,
he was at one time given over by the doctors as ap¬
pointed unto death. He was reduced to a skeleton
and could eat nothing. At this time Cooke used
to attend the hospitals to read and pray with the
sick men. Finding his friend so very ill, Cooke
undertook the task of preparing something for him
to eat, and induced him to partake thereof. Three
times a-day he used himself to prepare some custard
for his support, and God blessed the means to his
ultimate recovery.
In the year 1861 when the cholera attacked the
troops, and many were falling victims to its ravages,
these Christian soldiers spoke much together con¬
cerning the awful malady. They were both afraid
of being attacked, and felt fearful lest they too should
be swept away like so many of their comrades.
As they passod along one day engaged in1 conver¬
sation on this point beneath the branches of a thick
tree, Cooke suggested to his fellow that they might
have prayer together, " for if," said he, " we are afraid
of death, it is because we are not made perfect in
love, for' perfect love castetli out fear.'" So to prayer
164 HIS COMRADE TAKES THE CHOLERA.
tliey both went, and prayed earnestly. Cooke felt
much strengthened, cheered, and refreshed thereby.
The next day his fellow was seized with fever, and
taken to the hospital. lie was ill with fever for
several days, and reduced to a state of extreme pro¬
stration, and in this condition was seized with the
dreadful cholera. Many were dying around him; his
case seemed hopeless. Again he was given up by the
medical attendants as lost, and he himself con¬
sidered, too, that his latter end had come.
At this stage he sent for his friend Cooke. He
went to him, trembling all over from head to foot,
but fervently praying as he went for the Almighty's
protection, for he was still much afraid of the cholera
and of death. When he came to his bedside he
scarce could recognise his comrade, so fearful was-
the change which had been wrought in him. His
eyes were sunken, his cheeks hollow, and his face
ghastly. His speech, too, was almost gone. When,
however, Cooke approached his bed, he sprang up
and clasped him round his neck, exclaiming, " 0 my
dear brother," and kissed him. Fear and terror at
this took hold of Cooke, and he trembled greatly.
The other perceived it, and said, " My dear brother,
do not fear, you are here for a good purpose, and
nothing will harm you."
These words inspired Cooke with new life. He
forthwith set to work to do what he could to relieve
his comrade. The usual attendants who stood by
said, " Do not disturb the man, let him die quietly."
COOKE'S EXERTIONS—EARNEST PRAYER. 165
But Cooke having simply remarked in reply, "While
there is- life there is hope," kneeled down and
prayed to God for him; and rising from prayer, be¬
gan immediately to apply remedies. The poor man,
however, soon lost all consciousness, and all around
his bed thought that his last moments had come.
Suddenly he opened his eyes, and looking up in the
face of his friend said, with a husky death-like
voice, "Jack, I am better." From that moment he
gradually regained strength, and in due time com¬
pletely recovered.
Cooke regarded this, and well he might, as a direct
answer to prayer. He thought it was also designed
to teach him not to doubt God's ability to deliver,
but to persevere even in the greatest calamities. lie
looked on it, too, as tending to confirm the faith
of himself and his friend. Well might they have
been addressed in these words, " 0 ye of little
faith, wherefore did ye doubt ?" But a short time
before both were quaking in presence of cholera
and death, and now one had been stricken down,
and brought up, as it were, from the gates of
death, and the other had been called upon to
attend on his companion. The sick man's fears of
death were all removed, and, in the worst moments
of his sickness, he had been enabled thus to address
his friend : " I was afraid of death the other night,
but I am not now, I am quite willing and ready to
depart and to be with Christ. I know in whom I
have believed, and I am not afraid to die." Thus
1G6 COOKE WHITES TO HIS FRIEND'S NIECE.
were liis fears taken away. And Cooke's fears also
were for the time removed "by seeing the happy
state of his friend, and thus by this trial both were
mutually benefited, and their hands strengthened
in God.
Another important event in Cooke's life was
brought about by this illness of his companion. As
already mentioned, he used to write letters home
in the name of his friend. But now he had to
write in his own name to apprise the relations of
his illness. His friend's niece used to write for
her father to her uncle in India, and now she wrote
to thank Cooke for his kind letter concerning her
uncle. To this letter he sent a reply, and thus a
correspondence sprang up between the two, though
they had never seen or heard of one another before.
This correspondence lasted for six years, and after
a while they corresponded together as a brother and
sister in Christ. The correspondence ran on many
subjects, until they mutually knew each other's
' mind, perhaps far better than they might have
learned it in one another's company, and a close
bond of Christian fellowship was formed between
them.
Emma Plumridge, the person with whom Cooke
was thus brought into epistolary correspondence,
was a person of fair education, and of a refined
Christian mind. Her grandfather, James Plum¬
ridge, of West Wycombe, was a man of earnest
piety, who was a class-leader and local preacher
EMMA PLUMEIDGE.
167
among the Methodists.* Iiis Christian character
made a deep impression on the mind of his grand¬
daughter, who was muck thrown in his way in
tender years, and she was led by Mm, and "by the
other Christians by whom she was from infancy sur¬
rounded, to put her trust in the same Saviour whom
they had found so precious.
Her letters of Christian comfort and advice were
often a great consolation to poor Cooke in India,
and she often sent him little poems of her own
composing. These, though not absolutely correct in
metre, yet exhibit a nice spirit, and some poetic
power, which might have improved had she received
a better education. One specimen of such a poem,
with a rejoinder by Cooke himself, whose education
was considerably inferior to hers, may interest our
readers:—
Who 'is lie that afar dctli roam, ,
Far from his native land and home,
From loving heart? who wish he'd come ?
My brother John.
" Who Is it I have never see:i,
And yet my heart to him doth lean,
And nought from him my heart shall wean 5
My brother John,
A email memoir of him was printed and published locally.
It is entitled, u The Memoir uf James Plumridge, of West Wy¬
combe : to which is added a Discourse preached to improve his
death, and a sketch of the life of James Treacher, By Benjamin
North, Wycombe, IS09,
1GS
VERSES OF EMMA PLUMEIDGE.
" For brotliei' John my knees oft bend,
And up to God my prayers ascend,
That He may all his ways attend,
And guide him right.
" That angels bright may guard his way
On right and left, nor let him stray,
But lead him on to perfect day,
In heaven above."
The reply, written by Cooke, was as follows :—
" Who is this too wise to roam
Far from her friends and childhood's home,
That never left her loved ones lone ?
My sister Emma.
'' Who is this I wish to see,
And with whom I long to be,
For she seems most dear to me ?
My sister Emma.
" Always when my knees I bend,
An earnest prayer to God I'll send,
And unto Jesus Christ commend
My sister Emma.
" And while I pray, sweet angels bright,
By faith I see on earth alight,
To guard and keep both day and night,
My sister Emma."
One other little specimen of her verses, written
to cheer Cooke in his trials, may not be unwelcome,
as showing the spirit by which their correspondence
was marked, and which rendered her letters so re¬
freshing to him in India:—
" Cheer thee, brother, sighs are vain,
Wreathe thy face in smiles again,
Though thy path is dark and dreary,
Though with toil thy frame is weary.
COOKE DISCHARGED FROM THE AKMY. 169
" Cheer thee, brother, cease thy sorrow,
God will send a glad to-morrow,
Though the morn be long in breaking,
He thy cause is undertaking.
" Cheer thee, brother, dry thy tears,
To the wild winds cast thy fears,
Ere 'tis long, the time will come,
God will safely bring thee home !
'' Cheer thee, brother, don't repine,
Is not thy God also mine ?
I have found Him faithless never,
Faithful to His promise ever.
" Cheer thee, brother, look above,
God is mercy, God is love,
He will guide thee to the end,
Only on His love depend."
It need not be surprising that Cooke should have
been anxious to see one with whom he had enjoyed
such sweet communion by letter, and for whom he
was cherishing even a warmer regard, which was
evidently reciprocated on her part. Accordingly,
when he received his discharge on August 14th
18CC, he hastened to West Wycombe, Bucks, and
arrived there in the evening before dusk. Her
father was expecting his arrival, and a hearty wel¬
come was given him by the whole family. Her
father was a local preacher among the Methodists,
and her grandfather was still living. All were
collected that night with glad hearts around the
family altar, and poured forth their common prayers
and praise to a gracious God.
Cooke's own description of the happy meeting he
170 MEETING WITH EMMA PLUMRIDGE,
liad there is best given in liis own words:—" My
heart was full to overflowing. I saw my stranger-
friend for the first time, one to whom I had written
for six years, one who by her writing had soothed,
comforted, sympathised with me, kept hope alive
in my bosom, and cheered my heart in India, one
whose letters I used to look for, and read with the
greatest eagerness, one whom I had long loved
dearer than my own relations. I saw her, and she
saw me for the first time. Our words were few,
our introduction short. She was bashful and retir¬
ing, and very nervous. I gently took Iier out¬
stretched hand, and, with a rush of feeling I cannot
describe, gasped out the words, " Emma at last!" I
felt she was the one I asked God for, the one I had
wished and waited for. I saw an answer to my
prayers, and praised God for His goodness. .....
I could not sleep that night for joy. The next day,
after conversing together, we were happy to find
that neither of us were disappointed with each
other. So we became lovers there and then, and
that night we sat alone under a bower in the gar¬
den, where we recounted the past, and poured out
our hearts to one another. The bells rang merrily
as Yi.Te pledged our love to each other. Joy, joy
was our feast that night."
Ere, however, accepting finally her consent to
their marriage union, Cooke thought himself bound,
as a man of honour, to let her know the life lie had
formerly lived, and the sins which had stained even
AND ULTIMATE MARRIAGE.
171
Lis Christian life in India. He placed, therefore,
his journal in her hands that she might peruse his
history, and then finally decide whether she would
accept him as her husband. The motives that in¬
fluenced his conduct were most honourable, and
the trust he reposed in her was not misplaced.
Nor was her decision long delayed, and so, with the
willing consent of her parents, the marriage took
place on the 10th September, no long courtship
having intervened.
Two days after the wedding, Cooke, accompanied
by his bride, visited his own family in Devonshire,
lie had been absent from home thirteen years.
Great was the mutual joy at meeting. His old
father tottered forth into the street on his two
crutches to meet his son, while his old mother sat
in a chair too feeble to rise to meet lier lono' lost
o
prodigal. His wife received also a warm welcome
in that cottage home. The poor old mother, after
looking at her son for some time, could not at
once assure herself of liis identity, but when
she did, she rejoiced heartily at the return of the
wanderer, now brought to rejoice like herself in
Christ the Saviour.
The wedded pair remained about five weeks in
Devonshire, and then returned to Bucks. Cooke
was now anxious to obtain employment. The little
money he had in hand on leaving the army (£21)
was exhausted; and though he had nearly £50 in
the Army Savings' Bank, for some cause or other it
172
ENGAGED IN FARM EMPLOYMENT.
was not immediately available at this juncture.
Under such circumstances he sought to find employ¬
ment in any way, but for a time was unsuccessful.
Having, however, at last been offered employment
under a farmer in Devonshire, he accepted the offer.
Some days after, a situation he would have preferred
was offered close by. He considered himself bound
to abide by the first engagement he had made, and
so they proceeded to Devonshire. They were much
disappointed with the appearance of their new home.
It was an old, dilapidated farmhouse, large enough
for two families, but much out of repair; and the
wages he received, in addition to his house and
garden, were only eleven shillings a week. His
master was kind, and was a Christian man; but the
feeding of cattle and agricultural work was not
much to the taste of Cooke, after having been so
long in the army, and accustomed ever to be cleanly
in his person. • Accordingly, he soon sought other
employment.
Anxious, however, to do something for his Master
above, Cooke was, while in this situation, made a
local preacher among the community of so-called
Bible Christians, and occasionally preached in the
small Baptist chapels in that part of the country.
The employment to which he was directed was a
place in the London Metropolitan Police force. He
hoped ultimately to find some other more congenial
work by getting into some place as an evangelist or
city missionary. Meanwhile, he was accepted as a
BECOMES A POLICEMAN.
173
candidate for the police force, and in due time re¬
ceived iiis warrant, and was sworn in as a constable.
On the 30th April, his birthday, he was appointed
to the Y division, and stationed at Highgate.
CHAPTER XII,
Police Duties—Highgate—Kind Treatment—Birth of Son—Illness
of liis Wife—Deaths in Family—Opportunities for Doing
Good—Scene with Drunken Woman—Toil and Reward—Un¬
necessary Trouble—Policeman and Missionary—Looks about
for other Employment—New Sphere of Labour,
It was with a heavy Heart, and with a dread of the
duties he would now have to be engaged in, that
Cooke proceeded to Highgate to enter upon his
police duties. He says he had at the time some
strange ideas respecting the work of a policeman—to
wit, that he was always " fighting with blackguards
and thieves," and he had heard a very bad character
of Highgate, namely, that it was full of rough navvies
and desperate characters. But necessity compelled
him to face the work, which he found afterwards to
be not quite so repulsive as he had imagined, so
with hope and fear, and with much prayer to God,
he determined to go on, although he felt keenly his
position, especially as he thought that "every one
was against a policeman."
He found, however, himself kindly treated on his
entrance upon his duties, not only by his comrades,
but by others also. His savings in the army were
much reduced by the expenses incurred by moving
from house to house, and by travelling, and they
were all expended by the time he had got his wife
comfortably settled.
M-
178 BIRTH OF A SON—DEATHS IN HIS FAMILY.
No sooner was he comfortably settled than his
first child was born, a little boy which gladdened
for a time the hearts of his parents; but not very
long after, his wife was taken ill with fever and
inflammation of the lungs, and the physician pro¬
nounced her in a consumption. Her sister who
came to nurse her was likewise taken ill, and also
the child itself. These things involved the young-
family in difficulties. Besides which, death soon
entered into the families of both husband and wife.
Mrs Cooke's mother died on the 25th of February,
and her grandfather was soon after gathered into
the garner, " as a shock of corn fully ripe." Cooke's
own mother, too, was carried off, thankful that she
had been permitted to see her son's return from ser¬
vice in India, and to be able to see with her own
eyes that he had truly enlisted under the banner of
the cross.
In the police force Cooke found much to try him,
but on the whole he was enabled to get on well.
The Lord helped him to serve Him in that employ¬
ment, as well as when he had been in the army.
His opportunities for doing good were no doubt
more limited, but yet he found often, even when on
duty, an opportunity of speaking to individuals on
the great matters of sin and salvation. He preached,
too, several times in working-men's halls, and even
ventured once to preach in his policeman's dress in
the open air. For this latter act, however, he was
naturally called to account by his superiors, and
TOLICE EXPERIENCE—SCENE WITH A WOMAN. 179
desired not to preach in the open air, as such con¬
duct was inconsistent with the duties of his calling
as a policeman. But in any other way, the police
authorities informed him, they would not discourage
him in his efforts to do good, but would assist him
as far as possible. His own superintendent told
him encouragingly that the more he had in his
division of his sort of men, the better he would be
pleased. So that Cooke escaped without receiving
any serious censure, which he had been apprehen¬
sive of receiving.
The work of watching public-houses, of putting
an end to drunken brawls, was not congenial occu¬
pation. On one occasion he found a drunken
woman, more than half intoxicated, lying on the
public road with a child in her arms. Considering
that she was incapable of managing her child, he
determined to escort her to the nearest police station.
She struggled vigorously, and it was with the utmost
difficulty that he was able at last to convey her
along the road, amid the jeers and laughter of the
passers-by. Nor was that all, for he was forced to
carry her baby himself, which created no little
merriment among the bystanders, and had, more¬
over, to call in the aid of a fellow-constable, who
fortunately came to his rescue when he was nearly
exhausted. Thus was he enabled at last to execute
the task he had undertaken, and finally, after much
toil and vexation, he safely lodged his prize in the
lock-up.
180
discharge of the prisoner.
He was next clay compelled to appear against her
(at the loss, as it turned out, of a full day), "but
found that his prisoner was simply discharged with
a reprimand, notwithstanding the blows she had
vigorously administered to his body, and the rents
she had caused in his clothing, as the magistrate
considered it was not necessary to inflict any heavier
punishment on her than the one night's confinement
in the lock-up had been. The experience was not
lost on Cooke, and he took care not to give himself
such unnecessary trouble in future.
One instance may well be given here of the man¬
ner in which he was sometimes enabled to combine
a discharge of his duty as a constable with earnest
efforts to win sinners from the path of sin and
vice.
One morning at two a.m. he met a man and woman,
the man in a state of semi-intoxication. The man
asked Cooke where he could get a cup of coffee, or
something else to drink. The man had come from
Clerkenwell, and said he was waiting for some
train.. Cooke told him that he had evidently had
too much to drink already, to which the other
replied, that it had been several hours since he had
tasted any thing. " You must then have drunk
hard when you were at it," said Cooke. " True,"
replied the other, " but I cannot help it, I love it.
It is injuring me. I might have a thousand pounds
in my pocket, if I had not taken to drinking. But
what can I do?" "Drink 110 more," replied the
ATTEMPTS TO RECLAIM DRUNKARDS. 181
policeman, " go home, and when sober join the first
Temperance Society you meet with, and you will
be helped to master your besetting sin." " Ah,"
rejoined the other, " I once was a total abstainer,
and kept sober for seven weeks. But one night on
going to the meeting I found no one there, and as
no one came, and I felt miserable, I went away to
drink again, for I wanted to enjoy myself." " Well,"
replied Cooke, "try again; but first go and seek
strength from God, you can have no strength of
your own." " That is it," added the wretched man,
I do want strength, I have none." Cooke then
entered into further conversation, pointed out the
Saviour and His willingness to save, and His readi¬
ness to help, and told him how the Lord Jesus Christ
helps needy sinners. The other answered, " Well,
to be honest with you, I do not feel any desire for
those things you speak of, and all that you have
said does not move me in the least." In further
conversation Cooke found that he was fearfully
ignorant, knowing neither the Bible, nor God, nor
himself. He even affirmed that he had no soul nor
conscience, and because he must soon die, he was
determined to enjoy life while he could. So,
believing that any further talk was merely casting
pearls before swine, with an earnest entreaty that
he would seek the things which concerned his
everlasting salvation, Cooke continued his beat,
and the other went on his way.
Thus was much seed scattered, much on the
182 POLICEMAN AND MISSIONARY.
wayside or rock, but some, it may be hoped, finding
entrance into some soil in wliicli it could spring up
and bear fruit to everlasting life.
Such scenes, however, of drunkenness, and of crime
resulting therefrom, which came across him in his
career as a policeman, fixed deeply in Cooke's mind
the conviction that total abstinence from all drinks
which could intoxicate was the great and only
effectual remedy. He had himself been in India a
total abstainer. But now he became more and more
attached to the total abstinence cause, and warmly
advocated the principles thereof to the last, in
every position he held. As a voluntary temper¬
ance missionary, he found a wide field for his
efforts, and one which was not altogether unfruit¬
ful. He gave lectures on various subjects in dif¬
ferent parts of London, chiefly at Highgate, and
held from time to time cottage lectures. But the
duties of his calling as a constable became more
and more irksome to him, and he looked about to
see if any sphere of work could be discovered in
some other more agreeable calling. In many respects
his position was comfortable enough. Good pay, a
fairly comfortable cottage, and occasionally oppor¬
tunities for doing good, were advantages not to be
thrown away. Nor did he throw them away. But
while he was wishing for work more directly evan¬
gelistic, a door was opened for his labours in a
place and sphere which he little dreamed of.
It will be necessary, however, here before we go
NEW SPHERE OF LABOUR.
183
further, briefly to sketch the origin ancl progress
of the British Sailors' Institute at Boulogne, in
which Cooke was destined, in God's providence, to
he for the short remainder of his life an earnest
and a faithful worker.
CHAPTER XIII.
Work among Seamen in Boulogne in past years—Difficulties—
Memorial of Seamen in 1868 to the British Consul—Negotia¬
tions with French Authorities—Bev. J. Gaskin—Meeting at
Sir H. Harrington's—Committee formed to found a Sailors'
Institute—Chaplain of Trinity Church—Difficulties of joint
action of Churchmen and Wesleyans—Institute opened—Mr.
S. Dyke—Appointment of J. L. Cooke as first Lay Agent—
Work at Boulogne—Visiting Ships—-Growth of Spiritual
Life in his Soul—Trials from within—Wesleyan Chapel—
Temperance Meetings—Cooke's Account of his Work.
CHAPLAIN'S HOUSE AND SAILOR'S INSTITUTE AT BOULOGNE.
(See pages 214, 215.)
Some fifteen or twenty years ago, when the Bev. W.
Toase was Wesley an minister at Boulogne, a few mem¬
bers of his congregation were wont to visit from time
to time the English vessels in the port of Boulogne,
and to hold frequent Bethel services on hoard the
vessels in the harbour. A regular work among the
sailors on board ship and the artizans on shore,
was at one time carried on by an association com¬
bined of Churchmen and Wesleyans. Though the
work declined, owing to the removal of several
persons from Boulogne, who had taken a special in¬
terest in the welfare of the seamen, among whom
Mr. E. Gibson ought to be especially mentioned,
yet the work itself seems to have been occasionally
carried on more or less actively up to the year 1867.
The small size, however, of the cabins in the vessels
in which such services were wont to be held, ren¬
dered it impossible for more than about a dozen
seamen to be accommodated at such services.
During the month of January or February 1868,
some two dozen British sailors, including amongst
188 MEMOEIAL OF SEAMEN, AND EFFORTS TO
their number several masters of collier vessels,
wrote to the British consul to solicit his aid and
assistance in procuring from the French authori¬
ties a room contiguous to the port, where seamen
could "meet, read, write, and have their pipe,
managed by a committee, so as to insure comfort,
regularity, and useful employment, combined with
religious instruction." Who it was who originally
suggested this memorial is not certain, but the
letter or memorial itself was drawn up by Mr. Charles
Hunt, a retired Irish magistrate then living at Bou¬
logne, who has since been called to his everlasting rest.
The memorial, however, was strongly supported
by the Bev. Joseph Gaskin, the Wesleyan minister
in Boulogne, and in those days the only English
minister who took a personal interest in evangel¬
istic work in the locality.
The municipal authorities at Boulogne, with
whom the British consul (Mr. Hamilton, now Sir
William Hamilton) forthwith entered into com¬
munication on the subject, expressed their willing¬
ness to aid in any way within their power in pro¬
moting the comfort of British seamen, but stated
that it was not possible to grant rooms for the pur¬
pose mentioned to a committee composed of British
seamen. The mayor of the town, Dr. Livois, how¬
ever, informed Mr. Gaskin that no difficulty was
likely to be put in the way of founding such an In¬
stitute, provided that a committee of English
gentlemen resident in the town could be found
FOUND A SAILORS' INSTITUTE IN BOULOGNE. 189
willing to undertake the responsibility of its
management.
Sir Henry Harington, K.C.S.I., who had but
recently returned from India, was then living at
Boulogne, and took a considerable interest in the
matter. At his residence a private meeting of
gentlemen favourable to the scheme was convened
by Mr. Gaskin, and the gentlemen then present re¬
solved themselves into a committee to promote the
desired object. A letter to the British consul was
drawn up at that meeting, in which it was stated
that Mr. Dyke, for some years an agent of the
London City Mission, was willing to give his gratui¬
tous services for work among the seamen for a year,
and that the " Eev. Joseph Gaskin had undertaken
the management and superintendence of all the re¬
ligious services " desired by the seamen, whether on
the Sunday or on the week-day evenings. In the
same letter a plan was sketched out for establish¬
ing an Institute for seamen, provided with a library
and reading room.
On receipt of this communication the British con¬
sul again wrote to the French authorities, and the
mayor, in reply, offered to place at the disposal of
the committee, for the purpose indicated, three
rooms in the old barracks of Napoleon I. for a
moderate annual rent.
This offer was definitely acccepted at the first
meeting of the committee (May 7th, 1878), at which
Mr. Gaskin and the writer of these pages were ap-
190 DIFFICULTIES OF JOINT ACTION
pointed secretaries. The writer, wlio had been ap¬
pointed by the Colonial and Continental Clinrch
Society to the chaplaincy of Trinity Church, arrived
at Boulogne two days after the meeting which was
held at Sir. II. Harington's. He was informed by
Mr. Gaskin of the scheme, and most willingly
offered his co-operation on the basis of the Evan¬
gelical Alliance. At Mr. Gaskin's request, he conse¬
quently attended the first meeting of the committee.
Some difficulty was apprehended from the at¬
tempt to unite at the same time a religious and
secular object. Hence it was agreed at the
same meeting, at the suggestion of Mr. Gaskin,
that one of the rooms of the Institute should be set
apart as a reading room, while another should be
assigned for the religious services proposed to be
held for the benefit of the seamen. It was also
agreed that such services should be conducted by
the lay missionary who had offered his services,
with the help of the two ministers interested therein,
and that " the management of this room and the
services should be entirely distinct from that of the
reading room, and should be given into the hands
of the minister of Trinity Church and the "Wesleyan
Chapel, together with the missionary for the time
being."
The main reason assigned for placing the chap¬
lain of Trinity Church in such a position, while no
mention was made of the other English clergymen
in the town, was not simply owing to the confi-
OF CHUKCIIMEN AND WESLEYANS. 191
dence felt in the writer's liberality and willingness
to co-operate with Nonconformists 011 equal terms.
The cause was rather, as expressed at that committee,
the confidence felt in the Colonial and Continental
Church Society, to which Trinity Church belonged,
and the fact that that Society desired to promote as
far as possible a spirit of Christian harmony among
the ministers of various Protestant Churches. It
was, therefore, felt that, while there was no secu¬
rity as to what party the other Church of England
clergymen might belong—and at the time not one of
them sympathised with the Evangelical party, nor
were they disposed to favour prayer-meetings in
which Wesleyans might be permitted to take part—
the chaplain appointed by the society in question
might fairly be counted on as likely to co-operate
in the work of evangelization among the seamen,—
a work which was especially dear to the hearts of
the promoters of the project.
An attempt made about this time to secure the sup¬
port of the other Church Clergy for the Institute, on
the ground of the secular objects which it had in
view, led to considerable difficulties. Several new
members were added to the committee, and other
gentlemen were appointed to honorary offices.
Some of these did not approve of the religious
meetings which were contemplated, and desired to
see the Institute founded 011 a more secular basis;
while some of them thought it right to secure for
the clergy of the Church of England a prepondera-
192 DIFFICULTIES IN THE COMMITTEE.
ting majority on the committee. This would have
put it in their power to put a stop to the religious
meetings wished for by the seamen who had origin¬
ally interested themselves in the project, and, as
such meetings were most strongly objected to by
certain of the clergy, such a result was feared. As
the real object which the original projectors of the
plan had at heart, as well as the two ministers who
had united to carry it out, was the promotion of the
spiritual welfare of the seamen, as well as their
temporal improvement, it was deemed absolutely
necessary to secure the power and right of holding-
such prayer meetings without let or hindrance.
Notwithstanding that, by the rules which were
drawn up, and which finally passed the committee,
though in the face of a decided opposition, full
liberty was then accorded to any clergyman desirous
of holding in the Institute purely Church services for
seamen, and that every care was taken to prevent
any clergymen from being personally compromised
by the prayer meetings which were contemplated,
several gentlemen withdrew at this time from the
committee. Some of them seceded without clearly
comprehending the point on which the whole con¬
troversy had arisen. But the spirit of others was
too manifestly indicated by the first clause in a
protest, subsequently handed in to the committee,
in which the promoters of the scheme were charged
with "having committed the impiety of having
raised money, and founded a new Methodist meeting-
COOKE APPOINTED LAY-AGENT. 193
house for services not exclusively for sailors, and
performed by laymen I"
Amid such difficulties, and others arising there¬
from, the British Sailors' Institute was launched
on its course. It was, however, warmly supported
in its first efforts for existence, although loud were
the prophecies which were uttered, that its origi¬
nators had themselves ruined a project which would
otherwise have been successful! A manifest
blessing from on high rested on its formation, and
the work commenced among the seamen.
Mr. Dyke, the lay missionary, on whose unpaid
services so much expectations had been placed, was
within four months after the opening of the Insti¬
tute, called upon to return to his sphere of work in
London. The work was carried on for several
months after his departure by the secretaries with
the aid of some volunteers. But as it was desirable,
as soon as possible, to find a special agent for this
work, efforts were made in several quarters to find
such a person, and the name of John Lovering
Cooke was mentioned by a lady visiting Boulogne,
as one likely to be found suitable. The Rev. S. D.
Stubbs, then of Upper Holloway, London, having
been applied to, warmly recommended Cooke for
the appointment, and he was accordingly appointed
by the committee as the first regular lay agent of
the Institute, and entered upon his duties in March
1869.
The acceptance of this post in Boulogne, entailed
N
194 WORK AT THE BRITISH SAILORS' INSTITUTE.
a considerable sacrifice on his part, considered from
a monetary point of view. But the work was one
in which he had wished for a long time to be engaged.
The following is the first extract which occurs rela¬
tive to this in his diary:—
" I enter on my work here as a missionary to-day.
My time has been filled up since the 4th (March)
in various ways. I have visited the ships several
times, but not yet regularly. Now that we are
settled in our old cottage (which was in a very dirty
and deplorable state), I shall be able to enter fully
into my work. I have been much cast down, and
my mind is full of anxiety concerning the work.
Its responsibilities are great, and I feel quite unable
for them. But the Lord is my strength and my
song, therefore I will trust and not be afraid."
The mode in which Cooke performed his work,
was on the whole very satisfactory. He spent some
hours every day in going from ship to ship, giving
notices of the Institute, and circulating tracts among
the seamen, not only among the English but also
among the foreign vessels, and even among such
French persons as seemed willing to obtain one of
his " little books." There were many objections of
the sailors which had to be met and answered, and
the advantages of the Institute had to be pressed upon
their attention, and from time to time words were
spoken to the profit of their souls. An ardent de¬
sire to be the means of converting some seamen
filled Cooke's soul, and his labours were not altogether
PRAYER MEETINGS—VISITS TO SHIPS. 195
in vain in the Lord. His anxiety concerning the
souls of the sailors led him, perhaps, sometimes
rather to overdo that part of his work, and led some
sailors to avoid the Institute as nothing else than a
religious meeting-house. One great object of found¬
ing such an Institute was to induce the seamen to
come there, in order to keep them out of the way of
the temptations of the public-house, whether such
seamen might be disposed or not to seek the still
more important matters of their souls' salvation.
Inside the Institute itself, however, every care
was taken to avoid mixing the religious and the
secular objects had in view in its formation. Two
prayer meetings were held weekly, one under the
direction of the "Wesleyan minister, the other con¬
ducted by the writer, and Cooke was often left to
conduct these meetings himself. His voice was
good, and he took great delight in singing hymns,
so that he was well qualified to take a leading part
at such meetings. Had he received a good education,
he would have made a very effective speaker. Some¬
times ten, sometimes a dozen, often fifteen, and
occasionally double that number used to attend these
services, and many expressed with much feeling the
good that they obtained to their souls by being
present at those meetings.
In visiting the vessels, Cooke was generally
popular. He was, however, sometimes, met in a
hostile manner with curses and oaths. In. general,
however, the seamen showed that they appreciated
\96 COOKE'S WORK IN VISITING THE SHIPPING.
the concern felt for their temporal and spiritual
welfare. He would sometimes sing to tliem songs of
a better land, and then from singing lead them on
to reading and prayer. One of his .favourite songs
of this class was that entitled "The Evergreen
Shore." He was even known and welcomed on
board some vessels by the friendly greeting, " Here
comes our old friend, the Evergreen Shore," as the
sailors liked to sing with him the chorus in which
he led them so well.
The following extracts from his journal about
this time, will show the progress of the spiritual life
in his soul:—
" Hitherto hath the Lord helped me. I have
passed through a time of much darkness. My soul
hath been heavy within me, and a thick cloud
seemed to have settled down on my mind. I
walked in darkness, and had no light. God for a
time saw fit to hide His face from me, and to with¬
hold the consolations of His grace and spirit. This
no doubt was necessary to teach me how utterly
helpless I was when left alone. When I stood up
to exhort my fellow-sinners to flee to Christ, my
mouth seemed stopped, my heart was cold and life¬
less. I was ashamed of myself. But I earnestly
sought the Lord, and He heard me, and again I feel
His presence and enjoy His smile. My work among
the sailors is interesting and encouraging. Oh, may
God save their precious souls and fill me with the
Holy Ghost!"
DISCOURAGEMENTS IN HIS WORK. 197"
Again, later lie writes: " Praise the Lord, I am
still in tlie good old way. My feet have been kept
firm, and my heart is fixed on God. I never felt
my weakness so much as I do now. I never saw
how utterly unfit I am to do anything for God as
now. I am called to fight pitched battles every
day against the enemies of Jesus and His truth. But
the Lord always stands by me, and enables me to
stand as a witness, and boldly to confess Him before
men. Oh, how much need now I feel there is to be
filled with the Holy Ghost. For this blessing I am
determined to seek the Lord in prayer."
The harbour in Boulogne is sometimes full of
English shipping, while at another time there is
scarcely an English vessel in port, and occasionally
it is even quite empty. The latter, however, very
seldom happens. This fact will explain the allu¬
sions in the next entry in Cooke's journal.
"June M.—The Lord be praised for His goodness.
My life is yet spared another month, during which
I have experienced some revivals of Christ's love in
my heart. But oh ! how slow I am in my progress
heavenward. 'My leanness, my leanness!' is my
cry. I am so slothful and fearful, that sometimes I
find it a heavy cross to discharge my duty, and yet
I am willing to do and suffer for Christ, if needs be.
I should be pleased to have more scope for work.
At present there is only one ship in harbour, and I
sit in the Institute almost alone evening after even¬
ing. I find it discouraging, up-hill work, but I am
198 INCIDENTS OF WORK ON SHIP-BOARD.
not left without encouraging hopes. Two souls
already have borne witness of having been led to
Jesus through my instrumentality, and there have
been some encouraging meetings during this month,
but what I want is more inward holiness."
Again, he was forced to write: " Lord, increase
my faith. I labour and labour, but see no fruits.
Lord, give me patience. Satan has been working
against me this month, and has cost me some little
trouble. I have been ordered off from one ship.
But God gave me power and opportunity to tell
them the truth. May God bless and save them."
As an instance of how he discharged his daily
work, we quote the following from his official jour¬
nal :—
"Sunday, Sept. 5th.—Visited twelve English ves¬
sels, and two Norwegian. Distributed sixty English
and twelve Norwegian tracts. My time to-day was
spent mostly in inviting the sailors to the means of
grace, and in trying to induce them to spend their
Sabbaths to the best advantage. Some pleaded they
had very little time. I told them that there was
therefore the greater reason they should improve
that which they had. Some said they had time
but no inclination to go to any religious service.
These I faithfully warned by telling them that
by-and-bye, when age, sickness, or death should
come (and it might come soon), they would perhaps
have the inclination, and not the time or opportun¬
ity. I think these warnings were not in vain. I
COOKE APPOINTED CARE-TAKER OF THE CHAPEL. 199
had eleven seamen at the service' at the Institute
this afternoon, and twenty-four at chapel in the
evening. Last Sunday evening there were about
thirty. I went down in the forecastle of one vessel
where there were six or seven men laughing to¬
gether, and began to speak to them in a general
way about their souls. Their mirth became more
loud and noisy, and all I could say did not make
them quiet. Then I sat down, and took out my
Testament, and began to read. All became quiet at
once, and listened attentively. I then spoke a few
words on the Scripture which I had read, and said
I hoped that they were not offended at my intrusion.
They said, ' Oh, not at all, sir, don't mention it, we
are obliged to you.' This civility and kindness I
took as an encouragement, and an indication that
my labour is not in vain in the Lord.' "
Besides taking part at the weekly prayer meetings,
and often conducting them himself, Cooke was ac¬
customed to hold a Sunday service in the Institute
in the afternoon for such seamen as he might be
able to collect, and who might not otherwise be dis¬
posed to attend a place of worship.
Not many months after that he had been engaged
in this work, he was appointed also care-taker of the
Wesley an chapel in Boulogne, which post he held
in conjunction with that at the Institute until his
death. There was no objection made by any mem¬
ber of the committee to his accepting this office,
nor did his holding it lessen in the smallest degree
200 LIBERALITY OF THE COMMITTEE.
the esteem in which he was regarded by the Church¬
men on that committee. He was left quite free to
invite seamen to attend the "Wesleyan chapel on
Sunday evenings, which the majority of sailors
seemed of themselves more disposed to attend than
the services of the Church of England, and in con¬
sequence of his efforts, a considerable increase was
observed in the numbers of seamen attending the
chapel. This fact, too, was observed without any
jealous feelings by the Churchmen who conducted
the affairs of the Institute. There was no desire on
their part to interfere with the liberty of the lay-
agent, or to raise sectarian feelings. Provided the
gospel was faithfully preached, as it was in the
"Wesleyan pulpit of Boulogne, what mattered it on
a foreign soil whether British sailors were found
listening to the preaching of "Christ crucified"
within the walls of a Methodist chapel or of a
Church of England place of worship.
The same liberty was conceded to him with refer¬
ence to the temperance question. Though neither
the committee itself nor the secretaries were inclined
to go the full length advocated by the teetotalers,
yet they were still less inclined to put any hindrance
in the way of the agent seeking to do all the good
he could in that direction. Hence he obtained per¬
mission to hold temperance meetings within the
Institute, and from time to time such meetings
were attended with no inconsiderable success. In
these meetings, Cooke was assisted by some ardent
METHODISM AND TEMPEIIANCE. 201
devotees in the temperance cause, who were found
among the ranks of the Wesleyans in Boulogne.
Occasional tea-meetings, at which speeches were
made by various gentlemen, and lectures delivered
to seamen, helped Cooke much in his work; and
when there was little to do among the sailors
themselves, he was wont to spend a portion of his
time in visiting among the sick and destitute
English poor.
The following extracts from his private journal
will show his feelings with regard to his work:—
" August 1869.—Thanks be unto God for all His
goodness towards me. Another month has gone;
my work has been steady, and, I trust, sure. Our
Annual Meeting was held on the 30th July. It
is very encouraging; 112 persons were present.
Details of the work for the past year were given,
and steps taken to pursue vigorously the work al¬
ready begun. We have every hope that our Insti¬
tute will grow and flourish. My heart is filled with
joyful hopes for the future, for God is with us, and
He will certainly bless the work of His own hand.
0 Lord, grant me grace in every time of need.
Amen."
" September 4th.—My work is progressing gradu¬
ally. The Lord is on my right hand, I shall not be
moved. Our prayer-meetings have been well at¬
tended this month, and the sailors seem to be more
frequent at the chapel. There is every appearance
of a good, work going on, and although no direct con-
202
PEOGEESS OF WOEK.
versions have taken place as far as I know, an in¬
terest seems to be awakened in eternal things. 0
Lord, revive Thy work in me, and pour out Thy
Spirit in this place. I thank the Lord for the quiet
confidence He hath given me in His promises,
which enables me to cast all my care upon Him,
and to say, Thy will be done."
"December 6th.—I have neglected to write for
two months, but, thank God, all is well. The word
of God has been constantly preached, and not in
vain. God's work among the sailors is silently ad¬
vancing, so that on the whole I may report progress.
Our prayer meetings have been well attended. We
had a tea-meeting at the end of September. About
sixty sailors were there and took tea. A lecture,
illustrated by scenes from the magic lantern, was
delivered by Iiev. C. H. H. Wright on the Jewish
Tabernacle, and was listened to with much atten¬
tion. The number of sailors attending the chapel
has been thirty, forty, fifty, and sixty — atten¬
tively listening to the gospel. To God be all the
praise!"
CHAPTER XIV.
ar between France and Germany—Cooke's despondent view of
liis work at this time—Rooms of the Institute occupied as an
Ambulance—Institute housed temporarily in Lecture Room
of Trinity Church—Cooke's Lecture on the Indian Mutiny —
Return of Institute to its old quarters—Mr. F. W. Hope—
Purchase of site for New Institute and Chaplain's House—
Colonial and Continental Church Society—Laying of the
First Stone of New Building—Opening of New Rooms—
Cooke takes a more cheering view of his Work—Domestic
trials—Death of Child and of his Wife—Character of Mrs.
Cooke—Cooke's work after her death—Illness—Last entry
in Journal—Goes to London for Medical Advice—Visit of the
Writer to him on his Death-Bed — Spiritual Darkness —
Triumph through Christ—Death—Character—Letter with
Sketch of his Last Illness from Rev. S. D. Stubbs.
In the early half of the year 1870, before the war
broke out between France and Germany, matters
were going on in regard to the British Sailors' In¬
stitute in a regular and quiet way. There was
nothing peculiarly stirring being done, although the
solid work of evangelising was quietly progressing.
The spring and summer months are generally the
very time when there are fewest English vessels in
that harbour, and the time when, by reason of the
influx of travellers to the continent, the sailors on
board the passenger steamers plying between
England and France are worked the hardest, and
therefore have the least possible amount of time on
their hands. Under such circumstances, when
matters for the time had got into a sort of quiet
routine, and when but few seamen attended the In¬
stitute, and fewer still the prayer-meetings; when
the time of the lay-agent was not completely em¬
ployed, and liung sometimes heavy on his hands,
we need not be surprised that he should have
written as follows :—
206
cooke's despondent view
" It is a long time since I wrote in this broken
journal,"* and really my life lias such a sameness
that I have very little to write. Although, if I
could remember and record all my experience and
trials, I should not be at any want for subjects
about which to write. I am now for a season
under great heaviness of spirit. My heart is over¬
whelmed with fears, doubts, misgivings, and un¬
belief. For a long time past my labour has
appeared fruitless, and the number of seamen who
have attended the Institute has been, and still is,
but small. A good many British seamen have, in¬
deed, been here in yachts, steamboats, &c., but such
scarcely ever have time to visit the Institute, and
my receptions on board ship have been cold indeed.
The work has consequently been very difficult, and
I have been, and still am, so grieved and discour¬
aged that it becomes a very heavy cross indeed to
do my duty. I seem to be all but dumb when I
try to speak of Christ to men. 'What I say often
appears even to me to be but foolishness, and I go
home so angry with myself, and so disappointed,
that I feel I would wish to hide myself out of sight
altogether. I go to visit the ships because it is part
of my duty to God and to man to go, but I do not
take delight in the work. Bather, like Jonah, do
I feel ready to flee from the presence of God. Yet,
* Cooke kept two journals, one for the inspection of tlie secre¬
taries of the Institute and the other members of the committee,
another strictly private. It is from the latter that most of the ex¬
tracts here given are taken.
OF HIS WORK AMONG THE SEAMEN. 207
I do grieve and mourn over the state of men's souls,
and feel that I could suffer anything to bring them
to Christ But God knows my trials and my
heart, and he will support me. This cloud will
vanish away; anct, though I now walk in darkness,
yet will I trust in the name of the Lord, and stay
upon my God. In His own good time He will
bring me out of this Valley of the Shadow of
Death."
A little later he wrote,—" The prayer meetings
have been very badly attended, and so has the Sun¬
day afternoon service. Yesterday I did not go to
invite the seamen, and I was much grieved and dis¬
appointed to find that not one sailor came. Oh, I
am so unhappy and grieved for their souls. I
could do nothing but weep last night. I am led to
think that the fault is in me, and I am afraid lest the
blood of these souls may be required at my hand.
0 Lord, Thou knowest my trouble and anxiety in
this matter. Send me help from above. Show me
—teach me what thou wouldst have me to do. Oh,
the work is too great for me; I am not fit for it.
Lord, Thou knowest I did not come here of myself.
Thou knowest I did not. Why is it that all my
labour seems to be in vain ? Give me faith to look
to Thee. Who am I that I should expect these
things, when Thine own blessed Son was reviled and
rejected of men ? Show me my work, and help me
to do it aright with confidence and faith, leaving all
the results to Thee."
208 THE ROOMS OF INSTITUTE MADE AN AMBULANCE.
In this depressed state of mind, however, Cooke
did not remain long. He soon recovered his spirits
and went upon his work with the zest he had for¬
merly experienced. The trade of the port of Bou¬
logne suffered much through the war and through
the protracted siege of Paris; and, although the
British Sailors' Institute offered considerable attrac¬
tions to seamen, it was then so situated that it was
not altogether easy for seamen to find it out, and,
being on the second floor in a large building, there
were great drawbacks to its usefulness. The rooms
in the barracks were, moreover, tenable only during
the pleasure of the municipal authorities; and, by
the terms on which they were originally granted,
the authorities had power to resume possession of
them any time at the shortest notice. Nor, con¬
sidering their public character, could these condi¬
tions be considered unreasonable.
During the war, after the battles of Amiens and
Bapaume, it was resolved to establish a large ambu¬
lance in Boulogne in addition to the smaller ones
which were there already. Hence orders were given
that the old barracks should be cleared, with the
object of converting them to this use. Notice to
quit instantly was given to the secretaries of the
Sailors' Institute. The call was a most unexpected
one, and the work of the Institute must have neces¬
sarily come to a complete standstill, had not it
been possible to temporarily open the porch of
Trinity Church (which had been the year before
TIIE INSTITUTE REMOVED INTO TRINITY CHUECII. 209
The woodcut above of Trinity Church has been executed from a
photograph. Above the window are three dates—1620 was the
date of the erection of the building as a Roman Catholic convent
chapel (afterwards a Capuchin monastery). 1847 was the date at
which the building was opened for Protestant worship, and 1869 the
date at which the first considerable improvements were effected in
the building. In the photograph the date 1620 was unfortunately
hidden by the leaves of a tree, which concealed it from the point of
view from whence it was taken. Hence the artist, who executed
his work without reference to headquarters, has failed in that de¬
tail to give a correct picture.
0
210 cooke's lectures on the mutiny.
improved and fitted to serve as a Church Lecture
Eoom) as the reading room and lecture room of the
Institute. To that use it was put during the week¬
day evenings for a term of nearly six months.
Lectures were delivered here to seamen, and were
well attended.
Cooke delivered in this place a most interesting
lecture on the-Indian Mutiny, and on the story of
his own life in connection therewith. An Indian
veteran, whose name stands high among the heroes
of that crisis, Major-General Sir Vincent Eyre,
K.C.S.I., was present on that occasion, and expressed
a very favourable opinion of the merits of that lecture
as one given by an ex-artilleryman. The candour
with which Cooke related his own faults as a warning
to others pleased the General much. A second
lecture on a similar subject was also given with
great success; and the writer, who took the chair
on both occasions, having heard the story of his life,
suggested to Cooke that it might be useful to pub¬
lish the lectures, and offered to revise them for the
press. This Cooke, after some consideration, pre¬
ferred not to do, but said to the writer, " I cannot
conscientiously do so, for there is a still darker page
of my life than any I alluded to in my lecture
which I have never told you of. Maybe I shall tell
you of it some day. But I think I know one to
wrhom I should leave my journals if I should die, and
let him do what he likes with them." No further
words passed on this subject between us, nor did the
MRS. F. W. HOPE.
211
writer ask to whom lie alluded. There evidently
seemed to he some hitter past, the memory of which,
the writer thought, ought not to rudely revived.
It was the temporary inconvenience which was
caused by the Institute having to he moved from
its old apartments, to which, however, it returned
at the end of May 1871, which caused the writer's
thoughts often to recur to the importance of obtain¬
ing some more permanent and suitable place for the
operations of the Institute. But, after grave con¬
sideration, there did not appear to be any other
building where the work could be carried on which
conld be obtained at so cheap a rate.
Mrs. Hope, widow of the late Eev. F. W. Hope,
D.C.L., who endowed the Hope Professorship of
Zoology in the University of Oxford, and who had
herself been a liberal benefactor to that University,
had already done much to improve the state of
Trinity Church in Boulogne. The writer had inci¬
dentally mentioned to her in correspondence that a
site might be procured for a building for the Insti¬
tute for about £200. To his surprise he received in
reply a letter from that lady empowering him to ex¬
pend that sum if it would suffice to accomplish the
end in view. He found, however, on examining
closely into the matter that the site he had thought of
would not be sold, and that no site could be pro¬
cured for anything like the sum; the only avail¬
able site discoverable being offered for £800.
The raising of such a sum by subscription was.
212 PURCHASE OF A SITE FOR CHAPLAIN'S
considered hopeless, and it was not to be reasonably
imagined that any one person would contribute such
a sum. Hence, in reply to Mrs. Hope's kind letter,
the writer stated the mistake he had made in his
calculations, mentioning, however, casually, that
the site offered for the larger sum might be utilised
further by combining a chaplain's house with the
Institute; and that such a scheme might possibly
induce the Colonial and Continental Church Society
to assist in raising the funds in England for the erec¬
tion of such a joint building.
•v.-, Mrs. Hope warmly entered into the idea proposed,
and forthwith wrote to offer immediately the neces¬
sary funds, on condition that no delay was made in
the matter, but that the property was bought within
one fortnight. To facilitate matters, she authorised
the writer to purchase the property in his own name
as a sole trustee, and to make such arrangements as
he thought fit to carry out the plan he had proposed.
The matter thus requiring haste, and there being
no time to consult either the Society in London, or
the committee of the Institute at Boulogne, (there
was no quorum of the latter, moreover, in town at
the moment), the writer, not wishing for various
causes to act as a sole trustee, decided to take the
whole risk of vesting the property in the hands of
the five trustees of Trinity Church,'" adding only
* These five gentlemen were—The Earl of Shaftesbury, the
Marquis of Cholmondeley, the Hon. A. Kinnaird, M.P., R. C. L.
Bevan, Esq., and the Eev. Prebendary Burgess, B.D.
HOUSE ANI) SAILORS' INSTITUTE.
213
liimsclf as a sixth co-trustee. The property was
thus handed over to the guardianship of the Colonial
and Continental Church Society in London.
Mrs. Hope expressed herself much pleased when
informed of the decision which had been come to.
The Colonial and Continental Church Society ac¬
cepted the trust on condition that certain rules
should he drawn up by the Institute in Boulogne,
which, when agreed to by the committee in London,
should form the basis of agreement on which the
Institute should be given the use of such rooms as
might be set apart for its operations; and, finally,
the committee of the Institute itself accepted most
thankfully the advantages offered to them.*
* The interests of the Wesleyan body were most carefully con¬
sidered. The old rules of the Institute were revised, and by the
new rules which form the basis of agreement between the Society
in London and the British Sailors' Institute, the Wesleyan minis¬
ter, instead of being subject to an annual election, has now an cx
officio seat on the committee. A proviso was inserted in these
rules, that when practicable, the committee shall consist of both
Churchmen and Nonconformists ; and instead of it being probable
that the Wesleyan minister might be precluded at some later time
from taking part in the religious operations of the Institute, it has
been definitely arranged that in case of any difference arising be¬
tween him and the chaplain of Trinity Church, he shall have a
right to conduct independently one half of all the religious services
in connection with the Institute. These regulations cannot be
altered, " except," in accordance with the 7th rule of the Institute,
'' by three-fourths of the members present at a general meeting, of
which at least one month's notice shall be given." In event, too, of
any alteration being made, the approval and consent of the committee
of the Society in London must be sought and obtained before any
such alteration can be considered valid, in accordance with the
agreement with that Society.
214
LAYING OF THE FIRST STONE OF THE
At a later period Mrs. Hope placed in the liatids
of the Society in London nearly the whole of the
money required for the erection of the joint build¬
ing, and gave her approval to the plans. The sum
of nearly £250 was also contributed for this purpose,
chiefly by members of the London Committee.
The first stone of the new building was accord¬
ingly laid on Sept. 20, 1871, by Capt. the Hon. E.
Maude, B.1ST., chairman of the Continental Commit¬
tee of the Colonial and Continental Church Society,
Mrs. Hope herself being present on the occasion.
It may not be amiss hereto quote the following paragraphs from
an Address which the writer delivered on the occasion of the formal
opening of the New Iiooms, which Address was afterwards printed—-
" What could have been more liberal than such alterations in¬
troduced into our rules, and agreed to most willingly by the com¬
mittee of the Colonial and Continental Church Society ?
" One thing has been secured, and that designedly, by the pro¬
perty being placed in the hands of the trustees of the Colonial and
and Continental Church Society, namely, that the religious opera¬
tions of the Institute will ever be conducted on distinctive
evangelical and Protestant principles. No neo-Catholic or
Ritualistic doctrines or practices will be taught or exhibited
within these walls. The Institute, as long as it abides within
this building, which I trust will be its perpetual abode, must be
conducted in conformity with the fundamental rules which form
the basis of contract with the Society. The rights of Evangelical
Churchmen and Wesleyans are alike secured by those rules, and
one can appeal against any violation of their spirit to the great
public of England, instead of having to accept as decisive the de¬
cisions of a small knot of gentlemen in Boulogne, who might not
be amenable to the verdict of public opinion in England. All
vacancies which may occur in the ranks of the trustees will be filled
up by the Society in London, a society essentially connected with
the present National Church of England, and yet Protestant in its
character, and Catholic in its tone."
NEW BUILDING—ITS FORMAL OPENING. 215
The new rooms were formally opened on Aug. 20
the year following by AY. T. Charley, Esq., M.P.,
the Lord Chief Baron of England (Sir E. Kelly),
Bishop Anderson and others being present.
The British Consul was also present at the proceed¬
ings, as was Dr. Livois, the former Mayor of Bou¬
logne, and a number of gentlemen and ladies, among
whom was Mrs. Hope herself. Several clergymen of
the Church of England,and ministers of theWesleyan
denomination, took part in the opening meetings.
In the latter part of October, 1871, Cooke wrote
the following in his private journal:—■
" As regards my work, it is much of a sameness,
although there is much of encouragement to be
found in it. I have gone on plodding and working,
midst hope and fear, faith and unbelief, weakness
and strength, darkness and light, doing the same
thing over and over again, speaking, preaching,
praying, sometimes in great heaviness of spirit, at
other times with joy and boldness, begging men to
consider their ways, and to flee from the wrath to
come. My efforts have not been in vain. Visible
fruits have been seen in the awakening of several
souls, and in the conversion of a few, so that, on the
whole, I have much cause to praise God and take
courage. Our work is expanding. The foundation
of a new Institute was laid on the 20tli of last
month, and arrangements made to perpetuate the
work among the seamen in Bologne. The war
hindered us a little, but I trust that even that will
216 domestic trials—death of mrs. cooke.
ultimately make our success tlie greater. God lias
helped me, fed me, granted me health and strength,
so to-day I am here (and I trust I say it with all
humility through Christ), more determined than
ever to spend my days in the Lord's service."
He had, however, hut shortly before the time he
wrote these words, been called to pass through deep
waters of trial. In the spring of the year he lost
a child, and on the 12tli October he lost his affec¬
tionate wife. Her health had never been good, and
at the time he first came over to France, he had
fears about her being in a decline. But it was sick¬
ness of another kind which, ultimately carried her
off, and often she had to rise at night to gasp for
breath at an open window. Yet on the whole,
there were no symptoms which led any one to an¬
ticipate her death at the time it happened. She
was as well as usual, rather better, and had retired
to rest after partaking of a hearty meal. In an hour
she awoke her husband, being in great pain, but after
a little thinking it would soon pass off, she asked
him to lie down again, which he did. Some three
hours after at 2.15 a.m. she awoke him again, and
said, "I am dying." He said to her, "Oh no, my dear,
I hope not, be calm, do not frighten yourself, you
will be better directly." She replied decidedly, " I
am dying." "Well, my dear, if you are dying,"
said lier husband, " Jesus is yours in life or death."
She fell on her knees and cried, " 0 Lord, have
mercy on me, and pardon all my sins." She was
HER CHARACTER.
217
then in great agony and gasped for breath. Her
sister was called, and then the doctor, hut all was
in vain. Once again she fell on her knees and
prayed the same prayer, and then her spirit winged
its flight to the unseen world.
She was a gentle woman, of a loving spirit, and
with an education considerably above that of her
husband. Often she had proved to him a help¬
meet for him. lie wrote thus lovingly of her after
her departure. " I had a dear affectionate wife,
one who loved Christ and his work, one who was
always ready to advise me in difficulty, cheer and
comfort me in despondency, soothe me in trouble,
encourage me when despairing, pray with me and
for me when I was cast down, and smile on me
when I was sad. In short, she was one who re¬
joiced with me when joyful, wept with me when
weeping. But now she is gone, and I am now alone.
God gave her, and He hath suddenly taken her away.
Blessed be His holy name !"
She was buried 011 the Monday following the
day on which she died, and was followed to the
grave by not a few who had loved, and by many
who respected her, in life.
Cooke's work for the year succeeding the death
of his partner, partook of much the same character
as before. There were rather more frequent lectures
delivered to the seamen in the Institute, and the
attendance of sailors increased according as its ad¬
vantages became more known. But ill health often
218 COOKE'S LAST ENTRY IN HIS PRIVATE JOURNAL.
prevented Cooke from doing liis work, and another
(Walter Hill), who afterwards succeeded to his post,
vras several times called upon to supply his post.
His last entry in his private journal gives a short
sketch of the suffering he was now called upon
himself to go through :—
"September 1st, 1872, at ten minutes to twelve
o'clock midnight.—Being unable to sleep, through
the multitude of thoughts, and a dull constant pain
in my head, I have arisen from my bed, determined
to beguile the time by writing a few more lines
bearing on my history in this fragmentary journal
of mine. May God help me to pen faithfully my
experience during the past eleven months, or nearly
so, since my dear one's death. Heavy and crush¬
ing was the blow to my poor heart. None can
fully realize this, but those who have had a similar
trial. My head seems to have hung down ever
since, and although reconciled to the blow, I still
feel its crushing effect. I have been afflicted ever
since. My health seems to have given wray, and I
have scarcely known a day that I have felt well as
I used to do. In fact, about three months ago, I
thought I was gradually sinking into the grave,
and that I w7as going to join my loved ones who
vTere gone before. I was brought very low, but
the Lord helped me. I cried unto God, and He
heard me, and, through strengthening medicines
and God's blessing, I have been pretty well restored
to my general health. But a disease in my ear is
HUMBLING VIEWS OF SELF.
219
still continuing, and of late it has grown much worse,
and gives me great pain, so that I have made up
my mind to go to London, to have some skilful
advice, and I hope by God's help and blessing to
return restored, so that I may again pursue my
labours among my dear sailors.
" But it may be otherwise ordered. I may never
return. It may be that I have finished my work.
If so, I regret very much that I have not done more.
How this may be, God only knows. I feel that I
should like to be spared yet a little longer, although
I do not deserve it. I am so grieved that my
labours have been so small and so unsuccessful.
Only one or two souls can I look to as seals of my
ministry, Therefore I pray, Lord spare me a little
longer that I may win some more souls to Thee !
" Just now a poor little moth has burned itself
to death, by coming too near the candle. Thus
have I been burnt by approaching too near to sin.
My want of success has been because of my un¬
faithfulness, my sinfulness, my want of a single
eye, and a holy heart. Alas ! alas ! God's chastise¬
ments, severe as they have been, have not crushed
out the enemy from my soul. I have parleyed
with sin, indulged sinful thoughts, until it has
seemed to me that I might as well have committed
the sin itself. But the Lord has preserved me from
being thus overcome, and in faithfulness has afflic¬
ted me to keep me low at his feet. To God be all
the praise ! I see God's love written on it all, and
220 COOKE GOES TO LONDON FOE ADVICE.
He wlio lias enabled me to straggle against sin, and
to loathe it, will yet give me the victory, and bless
me with inward holiness. The mischief lies in my
own heart. How easy it is to live an outwardly
moral life, but oh ! God sees the heart. There it is
where all my trouble lies. I will trust and hope
through Christ to be able to address my enemy
thus, in Wesley's words :—
' 0 my old, my bosom foe, rejoice not over me,
Oft-times thou hast laid me low, and wounded mortally ;
Yet thy prey thou couldst not keep, Jesus, when I lowest fell,
Heard my cry out of the deep, and brought me up from hell.'
" May the Lord still keep and guide me, and at
last bring me home to heaven, where all conflicts
will cease, and where I shall be
'Free from grief, and pain and sin,
With God eternally shut in.' "
So ends his journal, and shortly after his work
at Boulogne finally came to a close. He went to
England to consult Mr. Harvey, the celebrated
aurist, and some painful operations were performed,
and it seems, so far as the ear was concerned, with
success. But his constitution was too much re¬
duced to bear the drain upon his system, and though
hope of recovery was entertained for a considerable
time, the disease at last fell upon his lungs, and it
was soon apparent that he was rapidly approaching
the gates of the grave.
The Committee of the Sailors' Institute showed
their sympathy with him, by continuing to the last his
full salary as lay-agent, notwithstanding that they
THE WINTER'S VISIT TO IIIS DEATH-BED. 221
were obliged to pay another person to do his work,
and that he had been so short a time in their service.
The writer of these pages visited poor Cooke in
London. He found him tenderly watched over and
cared for in the house of Eev. S. D. Stubbs, where
he had been most kindly taken in. From Mr.
Stubbs, he learnt for the first time that he had made
a will, disposing of his little effects for the benefit
of his first-born and only surviving child, and that he
had requested Mr. Stubbs and the writer to act as his
executors. In that will he left his private journals
and other papers to the writer. From these journals
the extracts in these pages have been given, the
language having been left as unaltered as possible,
though corrected throughout, as Cooke's education
was very deficient even for a man of his position in
life. His grammar, therefore, needed to be thoroughly
revised, as well of course as his orthography.
On the writer approaching his bedside, Cooke
wept bitterly, and exclaimed, " Oh, I am so glad to
see you, dear Mr. Wright, I am as glad to see you
as if you were my brother. How kind of you to
come to London to visit me!" After a few
words of sympathy had been spoken, he said: "Dear
Mr. Wright, I have left you my journals; you
will find a sad, sad story contained in them, especi¬
ally the story of my sad fall in India after I had
been converted to Christ. The thought of it afflicts
me, it oppresses me. I don't know what to think
about myself then. I often fancy I was a hypocrite,
222
SPIRITUAL DARKNESS.
but God knows, though I was entangled in sin, and
fell again and again, that even at the time, after
every commission of sin, I bewailed it bitterly, and
prayed God earnestly for strength against it. And
yet I fell again and again under its seductions."
The writer spoke to him of the boundless love of
Christ, and of the blood that cleanseth from all sin,
and said, " The more deeply humbled you are, dear
friend, the more simply you can flee for refuge to
the Bock of Ages." We talked long on this theme,
and he seemed comforted therewith.
lie spoke then of his poor boy whom he was
leaving a complete orphan, and with scarce any
means even to give him the ordinary education of
a working man. And then he returned again to
the subject of his journals, and said, "I don't know
what to say, Mr. Wright, perhaps the history of my
sad life may be a warning to others. I don't know
whether a little tract, telling how bad I was, and
how I yet found mercy, might not help to bring
other sinners to Jesus." But he added again and
again, " My sins after conversion, they gall me
still." " However," said he, " read all through your¬
self, and do as you think fit, burn my journals if
you think it best, tell my sad story if you think it
wise. I leave all to your Christian experience and
judgment."
He remained silent a few minutes, and then said,
"If you do, dear sir, publish any thing, you know how
I loved the army, and the case of British soldiers
TRIUMPH THROUGH CHRIST—DYING MESSAGE. 223
in India lies on my heart, dedicate the tract, or
whatever it may be, ' to British soldiers in India.'"
He then spoke of his longing desire to get better,
and said to me, "Dear Mr. Wright, is there no hope
of my getting well again ?" On the writer's telling
him that it was very, very unlikely, he wept like
Hezekiah of old very bitterly. " Oh," said he, " it
is very dark, I don't feel sometimes as if I loved
Jesus. I sometimes feel that He would do well to
cast me off." The writer again pressed home the
gospel message, and proposed prayer. "Oh, do
pray for me," said he, " and pray very plainly as for
a very guilty sinner, don't speak well of me in
prayer, but pray for pardon, grace and assurance,
and for the gift of the Holy Ghost." The writer
did so, and the poor fellow seemed not a little com¬
forted by prayer and by the ministry of the Word.
He then referred to his work at Boulogne and
said, " Oh, that I could go back to my work there. I
would speak as one alive from the dead. I tried to
speak earnestly, but oh, the earnestness that I would
now speak with, if God were to grant me to return."
The writer then urged him to remember that he
should pray " Thy will be done," to which he replied,
"Yes, indeed, God knows best."
After a few minutes silence, he again said, " Sir,
will you take my dying message back with you to
the seamen at Boulogne. Tell them how I have
loved them, and wanted to save their souls. Tell
them that in the face of death, my whole confidence
224 letter of rev. s. d. stubbs.
is in Christ alone, tell tliem that my works, even
the best of them, my efforts for Christ look miserable
and poor now in sight of the grave. Tell them to
trust to Christ's merits alone for salvation, and to
flee now to Him, ere they are brought to dying beds.
It is hard enough for a Christian to die, but what
must it be for one who has no hope in Christ ?"
This interview took place on the 12th of Decem¬
ber. Oil the 26th he entered into his rest. " A
sinner saved by grace," may well be inscribed over
his tomb, as indeed over the tombs of all the Lord's
people. Yet he was a faithful worker, diligent in
his calling, and though marked by some impetu¬
osity of manner, and some roughness of expression,
there beat under that exterior a warm and gentle
soul. The sins of his youth lay sorely on his
memory, and especially the other sins after his con¬
version. Though he found peace at the last, yet
his experience was a fearful exemplification of the
Scripture statement even in the case of believers, "It
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the liviim
God." " If the righteous scarcely shall be saved,
where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear ?"
We close this memoir with annexing the following
letter received from Rev. S. D. Stubbs, who knew
Cooke well, and in whose house he died.
" My Dear Friend,—It is with much pleasure,
though in the midst of pressing occupations, that I
sit down to tell you some of my recollections of
John Lovering Cooke.
LETTER OF EEV. S. D. STUBBS. 225
" At the time when I made his acquaintance, in
the winter of 18C7-8 he was a constable in the
Metropolitan Police force at Highgate. I knew him
then as a Christian man and a total abstainer, and
one who had seen a good deal of life, and could give
a reason for the views he held as well as deliver an
instructive lecture. About this time I received a
visit from the Rev. E. Templeman, who knew him
as a gunner in India, and had become much interested
in him.
" At Highgate he was accustomed to take part in
an open air mission, and the only request made to
him on the subject by his inspector, a Roman Catho¬
lic, was that he would not stand up and preach im¬
mediately opposite to the police station. The
courage and boldness that such an open profession
of Christ implied can be realised by those who
know what it is to act in like manner.
" He used also to render assistance at religious
and temperance meetings at the Workman's Hall,
Gordon Place.
"In the autumn of 1868 I was asked to recom¬
mend a suitable man for the post of missionary to
the sailors at Boulogne, and manager of the Insti¬
tute, and he seemed to be the right man for such a
position. He entered upon his work immediately,
and from that time I saw him frequently and felt that
the confidence of your committee was fully justified,
"In August 1872, as I was passing through the
port of Boulogne, though far from well, he met me
P
226 LETTER OF REV. S. D. STUBBS.
on the quay, and took great pleasure in showing me
the new building then just opened. On my return
home to London in a few days, I found that he had
preceded me, and was at my house in much suffer¬
ing, and under the kind and skilful care of a cele¬
brated aurist, to whom he had been recommended
by his English doctor at Boulogne. At his request
I attended him on an early visit to Mr. Harvey, and
though desirous to render assistance at the opera¬
tion, found myself quite unable to do so. His pri¬
vate prayer for strength and patience, which his
deafness probably prevented him from knowing to
be audible, was very touching.
"For some weeks his strength held out, notwith¬
standing the drain upon his constitution, and he
fully expected to recover. But after two months
his condition seemed to us very critical, and his
strength to fail, and he was advised to keep the
house and regard himself as an invalid. He was
tenderly nursed by his late wife's sister, and minis¬
tered to by the lay assistant of the parish, the city
missionary, and myself. Christian friends from
Higligate and Upper Holloway also came to visit
him. When first made to realise how improbable
was his recovery, he suffered much spiritual depres¬
sion, and could enter fully into the bitter words of
Job, 'Thou makest me to remember the sins of my
youth.' Dying grace was reserved for a dying hour,
but was then granted by Him ' who giveth to all
men liberally and upbraideth not.'
LETTER OF REV. S. D. STUBBS. 227
" Our seasons of private communion were very
sweet, and lie always desired that a hymn should be
sung at their close, and his voice, even to his last
communion, was ever mingled with ours. He very
specially delighted in the hymn commencing—
'My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thon art mine,
For Thee all the pleasures of sin I resign ;
My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art Thou,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.'
" My little children, when hidden from his view,
had the privilege of singing this hymn to him when
he was too weak to join, or even to see them. They
sang to him from behind a curtain.
" One day, when asked his wishes concerning his
boy, his only child, about to be an orphan indeed,
he showed his appreciation of spiritual work by ex¬
pressing an earnest hope that he might be a preacher
of some kind.
" On Christmas-day, the day before his death, on
my giving him my text at the morning service, he
showed how clear were all his faculties by remem¬
bering that he had addressed his sailors from those
same words the previous Christmas.
" His end was truly peaceful. Early in the
afternoon of December 26th, I heard that he seemed
very low and restless, and proceeded immediately
to his room. So far now from being deaf, he could
hardly bear my voice,—his ears being quite un¬
stopped, as if in preparation for hearing the chorus
of angels. His medical attendant, who was im-
228 letter of rev. s. d. stubbs.
mediately summoned, would not allow liim to enter¬
tain the impression that he was really better. I
felt sure that the end was drawing near, hut little
thought that it was so near, and left the house for
a parochial engagement, but was soon followed by
my second son with the sorrowful, but tt> the suf¬
ferer happy, news that the ransomed spirit was
delivered from the burden of the flesh, and was in
'joy and felicity!' He had truly 'fallen asleep
in Jesus.'
" Cooke was a true soldier of the cross and fought
manfully under Christ's banner. The depression
that he for a time experienced was probably a
chastening of the Lord, but the cloud dispersed be¬
fore his departure, and we believe that he had a
good view of the Promised Land, reminding us of
the Lord's dealings with his servant Moses, ' Pre¬
cious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his
saints." —Yours &c., S. D. Stubbs."
the end,
Printed by Sanson & Company, Edinburgh<
WORKS
BY
C. H. H. WEIGHT, M.A.,
OF TRINITY COLL., DUBLIN, AND EXETER COLL., OXFORD,
first Class Divinity Tcstimonialist, and First Class Prizeman in Hebrew,
A rabic, &c , in the Univcrsity of Dublin ; Chaplain of Trixity Church,
Boulogne s. Afer.
I.—CRITICAL AND PHILOLOGICAL.
A Grammar of the Modern Irish Language, designed
for the use of the Classes in the University of Dublin.
Second Edition, revised and enlarged. London and Edin¬
burgh : Williams & Norgate. Dublin : Hodges, Smith, &
Co. 1860. Price 2s. 6d.
The Booh of Genesis in Hebrew, with a critically re¬
vised Text, various Readings, and grammatical and critical
Notes. London and Edinburgh : Williams & Norgate.
1859. Price 5s.
The Booh of Ruth in Hebrew, with a critically re¬
vised Text, various Readings, including a new collation of
o
Twenty-eight Hebrew MSS. (most of tliem not previously
collated), and a Grammatical and Critical Commentary, to
which is appended the Chaldee Targum, with various Read¬
ings, Grammatical Notes, and a Chaldee Glossary. London :
Williams & Norgate. Leipzig : L. Denicke. 1864. Price
7s. 6d.
• >
" From the high testimonials which this work has called forth
from scholars like Rodiger in Berlin, Riehm in Halle, Fleischer in
Leipzig, Thenius in Dresden, and others, we judge that it must
evince accuracy and learning. In our eyes, its chief value is for
students. There is scarcely a book in the Bible more adapted to
beginners than that of Ruth, though it is rarely taken ; and we
have never seen an aid so deserving of the name as Mr. Wright's."
■—British Quarterly Review.
" This volume, like its predecessor on the Book of Genesis, will
render valuable aid, not only to those who are commencing the
study of the Hebrew Scriptures, but to the more advanced scholar.
. . . . Upon the whole, this volume is a very careful and
scholarlike monograph."—English Churchman.
The Pentateuch, or the Five Boohs of Moses, in the
Authorised Version ; with a critically revised Translation,
a collation of various Readings translated into English, and
of various Translations, together with a Critical and Exe-
getical Commentary. For the use of English students of
the Bible. Specimen Part, containing Genesis I.-IV., with
Commentary, pp. viii. 48. Price One Shilling. London:
Williams et Norgate. 1869.
" We need say no moi'e with regard to Mr. Wright's scholarship
than that it has won the ardent praise of such men as Professor
Payne Smith [now Dean of Canterbury] among ourselves, and of
Delitzsch, Hupfeld, and Tholock among' the Germans."—Clerical
Journal.
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II.—THEOLOGICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The Spiritual Temple of the Spiritual God: being
the Substance of Sermons preached in the English Church,
Dresden. London : Nisbet & Co. Dublin : Gr. Herbert,
186*4. Price 2s.
Banyans Allegorical and Select Poetical Works.
Edited with Notes, original and selected. London : .T.
Hagger. Leipzig and Dresden: A. H. Payne. 18'i6.
Illustrated. Price £1, 16s.
Ritualism and the Gospel: Thoughts upon St. T'avis
Epistle to the' Galaticins. London: Nisbet & Co. 1866.
Price Is.
The Fatherhood of God, and its Relation to the l'< r-
son and Work of Christ, and the Operations of the Ho!,/
Spirit. Edinburgh : T. & T. Clark. London : Hamilton,
Adams, & Co. 1S67. Price 5s.
" We can appreciate the conscientiousness from which he writes,
and the ability with which he argues His mental
vigour has been here controlled by a strong love for the truth. He
has written with great cogency and clearness, yet with no illibe-
rality. "■—Christian World.
" Mr. Wright has dealt with these problems in a scholarlike,
and withal a Christian spirit, and has shown that the freest discus¬
sion is compatible with the most reverent regard for Divine reve¬
lation He brings with him to the subject all the
aid which a logical mind and a thorough scholarship can bestmv,
and whilst every page attests the extent of his reading and infoi-
mation, there are the evidences of an honest and independent criti
cism pervading all he writes."—(Dublin) Christian Examiner,
4
" Mr. Wright has given a very useful manual on the entire sub¬
ject discussed, and the manly, free, generous spirit in which he
has accomplished his task deserves all recognition. We wish we
had more such British Chaplains on the Continent."—English
Independent.
A Memoir of John hovering Cooke, Gunner in the
Royal Artillery, and late Lay-Agent of the British Sailors'
Institute, Boulogne, with a sketch of the Indian Mutiny of
1857-58, up to the final capture of Lucknow. Nisbet &
Co. 1873. Price 3s. 6d., Illustrated.
III.—PAMPHLETS.
The Importance of Linguistic Preparation for Mis¬
sionaries in General: with some Remarks on Christian
Literature in Eastern Vernaculars. Read before the Dub¬
lin University Prayer Union, December 6th, 1862. Re¬
printed from The Journal of Sacred Literature for April
1863. London and Edinburgh : Williams & Norgate.
Dublin : George Herbert. 1863. Price Sixpence.
The University of Dublin: a Scheme of Reform,
submitted to the Board of Trinity College, and the Senate
of the University. London and Edinburgh : Williams &
Norgate. Dublin : Hodges, Foster, & Co-, Booksellers to
the University. 1873. Price 6d.
The Footsteps of Christ. Translated from the Ger¬
man of A. Caapers, Church Provost and Chief Pastor at
Husum, by Adelaide E. Rodham. Edited with a Preface
by Rev. Charles H. H. Wright, M.A. Edinburgh: T. &
T. Clark. 1871. Price 7s. 6d.