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Chapter 4 – Calcutta in May

Whilst little by little the details recited in the preceding chapter were making themselves known to Lord Canning in Calcutta, the Governor-General, calmly confronting the dangers and difficulties before him, was straining every nerve to repair the first great disaster, and to protect those defenceless tracts of country in which new rebellions were most likely to assert themselves. “The part of the country,” he wrote to the President of the India Board, “which gives me most anxiety is the line which stretches through the length of Bengal from Barrackpur close by to Agra in the North-Western Provinces. In that length of seven hundred and fifty miles, there is one European Regiment at Danapur, and that is all. Banaras has a Sikh Regiment, but no Europeans; Allahabad the same; not reckoning a hundred European invalids, who were sent there a few days ago. At one of these places the Native Regiment is a suspected one, and at either the temptation to seize the Fort or the Treasury will be very great, if they hear that Dehli continues in the hands of mutinous regiments. Therefore, the two points to which I am straining are the hastening of the expulsion of the rebels from Dehli, and the collection of the Europeans here to be pushed up the country.” What he did, in the early part of May, for the gathering of troops from a distance, has been told in the first volume of this History. The results of those initial efforts rapidly developed themselves; but what seems to be swift despatch, in tranquil times, is weary waiting, when the issues of life or death may depend upon the loss or gain of an hour.

Calcutta in the month of May

Meanwhile, in the great vice-regal capital of India there was much tribulation. For there were gathered together large numbers of Christian people,. men, women, and children. But numbers did not seem to impart to them either strength or courage. A vast majority of those Christian inhabitants were men who had

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been habituated, through long years, to peace and security. There was not in the world, perhaps, a more tranquil, self-possessed city, than Calcutta had ever been during a period of nearly a century. Even the local tumults, to which all great towns are more or less periodically subject, had been absent from the “City of Palaces.” The worst disturbances had resulted from the excitability of stray sailors from the merchant-ships overmuch refreshed in the punch-houses of the Dharmtala or the Chitpur Bazaar. And the Natives of the country generally had been regarded as a harmless, servile, obsequious race of men, to be reviled, perhaps beaten at discretion, by the haughty and intolerant Englishman.

The non-official Englishman

That Englishman, as seen in Calcutta, was, for the most part, of the non-official type; experienced in the ways of commerce, active, enterprising, intelligent, but with little knowledge of the Native character save in its trading aspects, and little given to concern himself about intricate questions of Indian policy. The name of “Ditcher” had been given to him, as one who seldom or never passed beyond the boundary of the Maratha ditch. The railway had done something to diminish this inclusiveness; but still many of the European residents of Calcutta knew little of the great world beyond, and were prone, therefore, to attach undue importance to the busy commercial capital in which they were buying and selling, and were holding their household gods. Their idea of India much resembled the Chinese map-maker’s idea of the world. The City of Palaces, like the Celestial Empire, covered, in their minds, nearly the whole of the sheet.

It was not strange that men of this class, unaccustomed to great excitements, little used to strenuous action of any kind, and in many instances, perhaps, wholly unskilled in the use of offensive weapons, should have been stunned and bewildered by the tidings from the North-West, and what seemed to them the probabilities of a recurrence of similar tragedies in Bengal. Nor was it strange that they should have looked eagerly to the Government to put forth all its available resources to protect them against the dangers which their excited imaginations beheld rapidly approaching. The very confidence which they had before felt in their security, and their general contempt for the subject races, now rendered the reaction which had set in all the more exaggerated and overwhelming. The. panic in May has, perhaps, been overstated in the recital. But stories are

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still current of Christian families betaking themselves for safety to the ships in the river, or securing themselves within the ramparts of the Fort, and of men staining their manhood by hiding themselves in dark places. But these manifestations of unmanly fear were principally among the Eurasians and Portuguese, or what are described as the “lower order of European shopkeepers.” That some people left their homes in the suburbs, that some took their passages to England, that many bought guns and revolvers, and lay down to rest full-dressed and full-armed, is not to be questioned83. And it is certain that the prevailing feeling was that the Governor-General failed to appreciate the magnitude of the danger – that nothing could rouse him from the lethargy indicated by his still face of marble and his tranquil demeanour – and that, in a word, he was not equal to the occasion.

It would be unjust to say that the apprehensions of the Calcutta community were altogether unreasoning and unreasonable, for there were many sources of alarm at this time. Foremost of all there was the great dread of the Sipahis, who, a little while before trusted guardians of our lives and properties, had suddenly grown into murderers and despoilers. There was but little space between Barrackpur and Calcutta. A night’s march might have brought the whole brigade into the capital, to overpower the European guards, to seize the Fort, and to massacre the Christian inhabitants. Then there was in the immediate suburbs of Calcutta, along the river-bank, the great, reeking, overflowing sewer of the Oudh household – the exiled King, his astute Prime Minister, and his multitude of dependants, all restless in intrigue, and eager to inflict measureless retribution upon the nation that had degraded and despoiled them. And then again there was a vague fear, dominant over all, that the vast and varied populations of the Native suburbs and bazaars would rise against the white people, release the prisoners in the

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gaols, and gorge themselves with the plunder of the great commercial capital of India. All these were at least possibilities. What had been done at Mirath and Dehli might be acted over again at Calcutta on a larger scale and with more terrible effect.

Bearing of Lord Canning

After a lapse of years we may speak lightly of these dangers, and say that Lord Canning discerned the true state of things, whilst others saw them darkly through the glass of their fears. But the difference, perhaps, was rather that of outward bearing than of inward appreciation of the position of affairs. It is hard to say how much depends, in such a crisis, upon the calm and confident demeanour of the head of the Government. Day after day passed, and the Governor-General sat there, firm as a rock, waiting for fresh tidings of disaster, and doing all that human agency could do to succour our distressed people and to tread down the insolence of the enemy. The great English community of Calcutta thought that he did not see the magnitude of the danger, because he did not tremble for the fate of the capital84. He did not know what it was to tremble, and some said that he did not know what it was to feel. But though he wore a calm face, in no man’s mind was there a clearer sense of the magnitude of the crisis85, and in no man’s heart was there a deeper pity. He pitied those at a distance, who were really girt about with peril, and whose despairing cries for help, in the shape of English troops, nearly broke his heart. But he

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pitied most of all, with a contemptuous pity, those who exaggerated the dangers around them, who could not conceal their fears, and who would fain have induced him to treat Calcutta as though it were the whole Indian Empire. If there were any impassiveness, any obduracy in him, it was simply that he could not bring himself to think much about the place in which he was living, whilst there were other places begirt with more imminent peril. He forgot himself, with the self-negation of a noble nature, and, forgetting himself, he may for a while have forgotten those immediately around him. And so it happened that the fears of many Englishmen in Calcutta were mixed with strong resentments, and they began to hate the Governor-General who could not bring himself to think that the Indian Empire was included within the circuit of the Maratha ditch.

As the month of May advanced, the panic increased. It has been shown, in measured terms, what the Governor-General thought of these manifestations of a great terror86.

Volunteer offers

In later letters he spoke out in more emphatic language, and contemporary records of a less exalted character seem to support his assertions. Perhaps his eagerness to encourage others, by showing that he had no fear for the Presidency, carried him into an excess of outward indifference. Certainly, he did not seem to appreciate, in the first instance, an offer made by the British inhabitants to enrol themselves into a volunteer corps for the protection of the great City of Palaces. Many public bodies came forward at this time with protestations of unswerving loyalty and free offers of service. The Trades Association, the Masonic Lodges, the Native Christian Community, and, side by side with our own compatriots and fellow-subjects, the representatives of the great French and American nations, sympathising with us in our distress. Such offers were worthy and honourable, and entitled to all gratitude from our rulers. Those communities desired to be armed and disciplined and organised after the manner of soldiers. Lord Canning told them in reply that they might enrol themselves as special constables. And it was thought that there was a touch of contempt in the very nature of the answer.

But, although Lord Canning believed that there was a

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“groundless panic87,” he had no design to reject contemptuously those offers of assistance. His desire was to display no outward symptom of alarm or mistrust. He was supreme ruler, not of a class or of a community, but of all classes and communities. He saw clearly that the great fear had possessed every quarter of the city and its suburbs, and was agitating the breasts of all the varied populations inhabiting them, and he knew that what might tranquillize and subdue in one direction might alarm and irritate in another. At no period of our history were the Natives of India in so great a paroxysm of fear. They shuddered to think that they might lose their caste – shuddered to think that they might lose their lives. All sorts of strange reports were afloat among the people, and the English were eager that Lord Canning should contradict them by public proclamation. “One of the last reports rife in the Bazaar,” he wrote on the 20th of May, “is, that I have ordered beef to be thrown into the’ tanks, to pollute the caste of all Hindus who bathe there, and that on the Queen’s birthday all the grain-shops are to be closed, in order to drive the people to eat unclean food. Men, who ought to have heads on their shoulders, are gravely asking that each fable should be contradicted by proclamation as it arises, and are arming themselves with revolvers because this is not done. I have already taken the only step that I considerable advisable, in the sense of a refutation of these and like rumours, and patience, firmness, and I hope a speedy return of the deluded to common sense, will do the rest.” And clearly recognising all these conflicting fears and suspicions, he walked steadily but warily between them, assailed on all sides by cries for special help, but knowing well that the safety of all depended upon the strength and constancy of his resistance.

Celebration of the Queen’s Birthday

May 25

The Queen’s birthday was celebrated in Calcutta after the wonted fashion. A grand ball was given at Government House88. It was the desire of Lord Canning, above all things, that nothing should be

done to betray any want of confidence in the general loyalty of the people. He had been besought to exchange his

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own personal guard of Natives for one composed of Europeans, but this he had refused to do. And the sweet face of Lady Canning was to be seen, evening after evening, calm and smiling, as she took her wonted drive on the Course or in the open suburbs of Calcutta. And now that it was represented that it might be expedient to omit the usual feu-de-joie fired in the Queen’s honour, the suggestion was rejected; but in order that there might be no misapprehension as to the ammunition used on the occasion, a guard of Sipahis was sent to bring some of the old unsuspected cartridges out of the regimental stores at Barrackpur. The ball in the evening was well attended; but some absented themselves, believing that the congregation under one roof of all the leading members of the English community would suggest a fitting occasion for an attack on Government House89. There was not, indeed, a ruffle even upon the surface; although the day was likely to be one of more than usual excitement, for it was the great Muhammadan festival of the Id, and it was thought in many places besides Calcutta that a Musalman rising might be anticipated. After this there was some little return of confidence. But any accidental circumstance, such as the explosion of a few festal fireworks, was sufficient to throw many into a paroxysm of alarm90.

The first movement on Dehli

All this time, Lord Canning, aided by those immediately around him, was doing all that could be done for the successful attainment of the great ends to which he had addressed himself from the commencement – the recovery of Dehli and the protection of the Gangetic provinces. But it was not easy in the existing dearth of troops to accomplish both of these objects with the desired despatch; and it is not strange, therefore, that some difference of opinion prevailed among the advisers of Lord Canning as to the policy which, in these straitened circumstances, it was more

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expedient to adopt. It is believed that the Civil members of the Supreme Council, seeing how large a portion of our available military strength would be locked up under the walls of Dehli, and how, in the meanwhile, large breadths of country would be exposed to the fury of the enemy, advised that the attack on the great city of the Mughul should be delayed for a while, in order to employ the European troops in Upper India upon the general defence of the country. Sir John Low was of a different opinion; and he drew up a minute on the subject, full of sound arguments in favour of an immediate effort to recover the lost position. But the Governor-General had already come to that conclusion. Indeed, he had never doubted, for a day, that let what might happen elsewhere, it was his first duty to wrest the imperial city from the hands of the insurgents. He saw plainly that the fall of Dehli had imparted a political, a national significance to a movement, which otherwise might have been regarded as little more than a local outbreak. It had, indeed, converted for a while a mutiny into a revolution; and the Governor-General felt, therefore, that to strike at Dehli was to strike at the very heart of the danger – that to deliver a deadly blow at that point would be to cause an immediate collapse of the vital powers of rebellion from one end of the country to the other.

So he at once issued his orders for the striking of that blow; and day after day the telegraph wires carried to the Commander-in-Chief briefly emphatic orders to make short work of Dehli. Though the Lower Provinces were all but bare of European troops, there was some wealth of English regiments upon the slopes of the Northern Hills, where the Head-Quarters of the Army were then planted; and Lord Canning, with something of the impetuosity of the civilian, which is prone to overlook military difficulties, believed that those regiments might be gathered up at once and poured down with resistless force upon Dehli. Severed by nearly a thousand miles from the point of attack, he felt that he himself could do but little. But he had faith in the Commander-in-Chief – faith in the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Provinces – faith in the great Commissioner of the Panjab; and in the first letter which he wrote to England, after the outbreak at Mirath, he said: “As to expediting the crushing of the Dehli rebels, I work at some disadvantage at a distance of nine hundred miles; but the forces are converging upon the point as rapidly as the season

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will admit, and I am confident that, with Colvin’s aid and example, every man will be inspirited to do his utmost. I have made the Commander-in-Chief aware of the vast importance to the Lower Provinces that an end should be made of the work quickly. Time is everything. Dehli once crushed, and a terrible example made, we shall have no more difficulties.” To what extent the realized facts fulfilled his sanguine anticipations, will presently be made apparent.

Movement of troops from below

Meanwhile, the Governor-General was anxiously turning to good account the first-fruits of his initial measures for the collection of European troops, and of trying to succour those defenceless posts at which the enemy were most likely to strike. The difficulties and perplexities which beset him were great. He had only two European regiments in the neighbourhood of the capital – the 53rd Foot, whose Head-Quarters were in Fort William, and the 84th, who had been brought round from Rangun in March, and who had since been stationed at Chinsurah, on the banks of the Hugli, above Barrackpur. He would fain have sent upwards a part of the little strength thus gathered at the Presidency; but those two regiments were all that belonged to him for the defence of Lower Bengal. There was not another English regiment nearer than Danapur, four hundred miles distant from Calcutta. And there, in the immediate neighbourhood of the capital, were many points which it was of extreme importance to defend. There was Fort William, with its great Arsenal; there was the Gun-manufactory at Kasipur, a few miles higher up the river; there was the Powder-manufactory at Ishapur, some twelve miles beyond; and there was the Artillery School of Instruction at Damdamah, with all its varied appliances for the manufacture of ordnance stores. A little way beyond Chauringhi, the fashionable suburb of the City of Palaces, lay the great gaol of Alipur, crowded with malefactors, many of the worst class; and hard by were the Government clothing godowns, or stores, from which the uniforms and accoutrements of the army were drawn. Then in different parts of the city were the Calcutta Mint and the Treasury and the Banks, all groaning with coin – so that there was nothing wanting that could have supplied an insurgent army with all the munitions and equipments of war, and enabled them to take the field against us with the unfailing cement of high pay to keep them together.

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Conduct of Government considered

Wise after the event91, public writers have said that if Lord Canning, in the third week of the month of May, had accepted the first offer of the European inhabitants to enrol themselves into a volunteer corps – that if he had disbanded the Sipahi regiments at Barrackpur and ordered the disbandment of those at Danapur – events which were subsequently rendered necessary – a large portion of the European force in Bengal might have been set free and pushed up by rail and road to the points which were most beset with danger, and that great disasters which subsequently befell us might thus have been averted92. There are, doubtless, many things which, in that month of May, would have been done differently, and might have been done better, if the future had been clearly revealed to those who had the conduct of affairs. But we must judge men according to the light of the day which shone upon them, not the light of the morrow, which had not yet broken when they were called upon to act. Illuminated by this morrow’s light, we now know that it might have been better if the Barrackpur and Danapur regiments had been disarmed in the middle of May93, but the former

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were then protesting their loyalty, and offering to fight against the rebels, and the latter were still believed in by General Lloyd, who commanded the Division94. The temper of the troops, in all parts of the country, seemed at that time to depend upon the fate of Dehli, and more experienced Indian statesmen than Lord Canning believed that Dehli would soon be crushed. And, whilst it was deemed expedient to keep the Bengal Native Army together so long as any hope survived, it was at that time, in Bengal, held to be impossible to disarm all the Native regiments. Disarming, said Lord Canning, is “a very effective measure, where practicable, but in Bengal, where we have, spread over from Barrackpur to Kanhpur, fifteen Native regiments to one European, simply impossible. A very different game has to be played here95.”

Moreover, in the neighbourhood both of Calcutta and of Danapur, there were other dangers than those arising from the armed Sipahi regiments. In the latter there was the excited Muhammadan population of Patna, of which I shall speak hereafter; and in the former there were the many local perils, of which I have already spoken. And it was at least doubtful whether an undisciplined body of sailors and civilians, even with a few staff officers to keep them together, would have supplied the place of a regular regiment of Europeans. Lord Canning, knowing well the constitution of the European community of Calcutta, did not think, from the very nature of their interests and their occupations, that they could form a defensive body on which any reliance could be placed. Where the treasure of men is there will their hearts be also; and, in many instances, if possible, their hands. It was hardly to be expected that, if there had been any sudden alarm – if the signal had been sounded, and every man’s services needed in a critical emergency – many would not have thought rather of their wives and children than of the public safety, and some, perhaps, more of

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their own material property than of that of the State96. Doubtless there were brave and patriotic spirits among them who would have gone gladly to the front; but Lord Canning, perhaps, did not err in thinking that the majority of members of the non-military community were too much encumbered by their worldly affairs to make efficient soldiers, either for the performance of ordinary duties or the confronting of imminent peril97. That they could have formed a substitute for regular soldiers was improbable, though they would have been a serviceable supplement to them.

If, then, the volunteers had been enrolled when the first offer of service was made to Lord Canning, he could not have done more than he did to send succours up the country. Nor did it, at the time, seem to him that the danger was so imminent on the Gangetic provinces as to demand that Bengal should be stripped, even for a few weeks, of her only reliable defences. It was just during that particular interval between the receipt of intelligence of the Mirath outbreak and the arrival of the first reinforcements from beyond the seas, that the accounts from the upper country were least alarming. There was, apparently, a suspension of rebellious activity. The telegraphic messages received from the principal stations were all of an assuring character. On the 19th and 20th the report from Banaras was, “All perfectly quiet,” “troops steady.” On the 19th Sir Henry Lawrence telegraphed from Lakhnao, “All very well in the city, cantonments, and country.” Sir Hugh Wheeler, at Kanhpur, on the same day, sent a kindred message, “All quiet here, the excitement somewhat less.” From Allahabad, on the same day, the tidings were, “Troops quiet and well behaved;” and the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West

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Provinces at Agra assured the Governor-General that “Things were looking cheerful.” “There may,” it was added, “be some delay in the actual advance on Dehli. It is generally felt, however, that it must soon fall, and the flame has not spread.” The following days brought intelligence of the same satisfactory complexion, the only evil tidings being those which spoke of mutiny at Aligarh, and that was quickly followed by the announcement from Agra that a strong expedition had been organised for the recapture of the place.

There was little, therefore, that Lord Canning could do in the earlier weeks of May to succour the North-Western Provinces, and judged by the light of the day no pressing necessity to incur, for that purpose, great risks in the neighbourhood of the capital. What little he could do with safety he did. He ordered up a detachment of the 84th to Banaras, and he suggested to General Lloyd, at Danapur, that he might, perhaps, send a company or two of the 10th to the same point. These first movements might save a few lives, and might give a general impression of action on our part, the importance of which was great at such a time. But it was to the reinforcements coming from beyond the seas that he eagerly looked for substantive aid. He had written on the 19th to the Indian Minister in England, saying: “Towards this object the steps taken are as follows – The Madras Fusiliers are on their way, and will be here on the 21st or 22nd. A regiment has been sent for from Rangun, and will arrive in the course of next week. Two regiments at least with some Artillery (perhaps three regiments) will come round from Bombay as soon as they arrive from Persia. They are all on their way. Another regiment from Karachi is ordered up the Indus to Firuzpur, as a stand-by, if John Lawrence should want help. An officer goes to-day to Ceylon to procure from Sir Henry Ward every soldier he can spare. I have asked for at least five hundred Europeans, but will accept Malays in place of or besides them. The officer carries letters to Elgin and Ashburnham, begging that the regiments destined for China may be turned first to India This is all that I can do at present to collect European strength, except the withdrawal of one more regiment from Pegu, which when a steamer is available will take place.” And now, before the end of the month, he learnt that the Madras Fusiliers were in the river. Such was his confidence, that when succours began to arrive, he felt, however small they might be in proportion to his needs, that

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the tide was beginning to turn in his favour. After a fortnight of enforced inaction, there was something invigorating in the thought that he was now beginning to hold palpably in his hands the means of rendering substantial aid to his defenceless countrymen. And he knew, moreover, that the moral effect of the arrival of a single European regiment would be greater than the material assistance, for it would soon be noised abroad that the English were coming from beyond the seas to avenge their slaughtered brethren, and Rumour would be sure to magnify the extent of the arrival98.

Colonel Neill and the Madras Fusiliers

Still, in itself the gain was very great; for the vessels which were working up the Hugli were bringing not only a well-seasoned, well-disciplined regiment, in fine fighting order, but a chief who had within him all the elements of a great soldier. The 1st Madras European Regiment was commanded by Colonel James George Neil. It was one of those few English regiments which, enlisted for the service of the East India Company, and maintained exclusively on the Indian establishment, bore on their banners the memorials of a series of victories from the earliest days of our conquests in India. It had just returned from the Persian Gulf, when Neil, fresh from Crimean service99, found to his delight that he was to be appointed to command the regiment with which he had served during the greater part of his adult life. He had gone down to see the regiment disembark, and he had written in his journal that they were “a very fine healthy body of men, fully equal to any regiment he had ever seen.” This was on the 20th of April, and

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he little then knew how soon he would be called upon to test their efficiency in the field. Three or four weeks afterwards, news came that Upper India was in a blaze, and the tidings were quickly followed by a summons for the regiment to take ship for Bengal. Then Neill rejoiced exceedingly to think of the lessons he had learnt in the Crimea, and the experience he had gained there; and he felt, to use his own words, “fully equal to any extent of professional employment or responsibility which could ever devolve upon him.”

Born in the month of May, 1810, at a short distance from the chief town of Ayrshire, in Scotland, James Neill had entered the Indian service in his seventeenth year, and was, therefore, when summoned to take active part in the Sipahi War, a man of forty-seven years of age, and a soldier of thirty years’ standing. Of a strong physical constitution, of active athletic habits, he shrunk from no work, and he was overcome by no fatigue. There were few men in the whole range of the Indian Army better qualified by nature and by training to engage in the stirring events of such a campaign as was opening out before him. He was a God-fearing Scotchman, with something in him of the old Covenanter type. He was gentle and tender as a woman in his domestic relations, chivalrous and self-denying in all the actions of his life, and so careful, as a commander, of all under his charge, that he would have yielded his tent, or given up his meals to any one more needing them than himself. But towards the enemies of our nation and the persecutors of our race he was as hard and as fiery as flint; and he was not one to be tolerant of the shortcomings of our own people, wanting in courage or capacity, or in any way failing in their manliness. He knew, when he embarked for Bengal, that there was stern work before him; and he brooded over the future so intently, that the earnestness and resolution within him spoke out ever from his countenance, and it was plain to those around him that, once in front of the enemy, he would smite them with an unsparing hand, and never cease from his work until he should witness its full completion, or be arrested by the stroke of death.

May 23

On the 23rd of May Colonel Neill was off Calcutta with the leading wing of his regiment, and soon the whole corps had disembarked. But it was easier to bring troops into port along the great highway of the ocean, than to despatch them with the required rapidity into the interior of the

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country. Every possible provision, however, had been made. and was still being made to push forward the reinforcements by river and by road. Every available horse and bullock along the line had been purchased by Government; every carriage and cart secured for the conveyance of the troops up the country100. The river steamers were carrying their precious freights of humanity, but too slowly for our needs, in that dry season, and the railway was to be brought into requisition to transport others to the scene of action. It was by the latter route that the bulk of Neill’s regiment, in all nine hundred strong, were to be despatched towards Banaras101. It might have been supposed that, at such a time, every Christian man in Calcutta would have put forth all his strength to perfect and to expedite the appointed work, eager to contribute by all means within his power to the rescue of imperilled Christendom. Especially was it to be looked for that all holding such authority as might enable them to accelerate the despatch of troops to our threatened, perhaps beleaguered posts, would strain every nerve to accomplish effectually this good work. But on the platform of the Calcutta terminus, on the river side, opposite to Haurah, all such natural zeal as this seemed to be basely wanting. There was no alacrity in helping the troops to start on their holy duty; and soon apathy and inaction grew into open opposition. When the second party of a hundred men was to be despatched, stress of weather delayed their arrival, from the flats in the river, at the platform or landing-stage, near which the train was waiting for them, under the orders of the Supreme Government. But as the Fusiliers came alongside and were landing, in the darkness of the early night, without an effort of help from the railway people, the station-master cried out that they were late, and

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that the train would not wait for them a moment. Against this Neill remonstrated, but the official, growing more peremptory in his tone and insolent in his manner, threatened at once to start the train. Other functionaries then came forward, and addressed him in the same threatening strain. One said that the Colonel might command his regiment, but that he did not command the railway, and that the train should be despatched without him. On this, Neill telling them that they were traitors and rebels, and that it was fortunate for them that he had not to deal with them, placed a guard over the engineer and stoker, and told them to stir at their peril. A few weeks later, in parts of the country more distant from the central authority, such traitors as these would, perhaps, have been hanged.

The train started, some ten minutes after its appointed time, with its precious burden of Fusiliers; and the tidings of what Neill had done soon reached Lord Canning. It was not in the brave heart of the Governor-General to refuse its meed of admiration to such an act. Even official Calcutta, though a little startled in its proprieties, commended, after a time, the Madras Colonel, whilst at all the stations above, when the story was known, people said that the right man was on his way to help them, and looked eagerly for the coming succours.

Legislative Enactments

And never, in a season of trouble, was there a more timely arrival; for the lull of which I have spoken now seemed to be at an end. As the month of May burnt itself out, the tidings which came from the country above were more distressing and more alarming. It was plain that the North-West Provinces, from one end to the other, were fast blazing into rebellion – plain that we were destined to see worse things than any we had yet witnessed – and that the whole strength of the British nation must be put forth to grapple with the gigantic danger. If there had been any hope before, that the rebellion would die out, or be paralysed by the infliction of swift retribution on Dehli, it had now ceased to animate the breasts of Lord Canning and his colleagues. They now saw that it was necessary to the salvation of the English power in India, not only that our people should be everywhere let loose upon the enemy, but that they should be armed with exceptional powers suited to, and justified by the crisis. A reign of lawlessness had commenced; but for a while the avenging hand of the English Government had been

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restrained by the trammels of the written law. It was time now to cease from the unequal conflict. The English were few; their enemies were many. The many had appealed to the law of brute force; and the few were justified in accepting the challenge. The time for the observance of municipal formalities – of niceties of criminal procedure – of precise balancings of evidence and detailed fulness of record – had clearly now passed away. A terrible necessity had forced itself upon the rulers of the land. In the great death-struggle which had come upon us, the written law had been violated upon the one side, and it was now to be suspended upon the other. The savage had arisen against us, and it had become our work to fight the savage with his own weapons. So the law-makers stood up and shook themselves loose from the trammels of the law. On the 30th of May, the Legislative Council passed an Act which swept away the old time-honoured seats of justice, wheresoever Rebellion was disporting itself, and placed the power of life and death in the hands of the executive officer, whatsoever his rank, his age, or his wisdom. The Act, after declaring that all persons owing allegiance to the British Government, who should rebel or wage war, or attempt to do so, against the Queen or Government of the East Indies, or instigate or abet such persons, should be liable to the punishment of death, transportation or imprisonment, gave the Executive Government of any Presidency or Place power to proclaim any district as in a state of rebellion, and to issue a Commission forthwith for the trial of all persons charged with offences against the State, or murder, arson, robbery, or other heinous crime against person or property – the Commissioner or Commissioners so appointed were empowered to hold a Court in any part of the said district, and without the attendance or fatwah of a law officer, or the assistance of assessors, to pass upon every person convicted before the Court of any of the above-mentioned crimes the punishment of death, or transportation, or imprisonment; “and the judgment of such Court,” it was added, “shall be final and conclusive, and the said Court shall not be subordinate to the Sadr Court102.” This gave immense power to individual Englishmen. But it armed only the civil authorities; so an order was passed by the Governor-General in Council authorising the senior

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military officer, of whatsoever rank, at any military station in the Bengal Presidency, to appoint General Courts-Martial, either European or Native, or mixed, of not less than five members, and “to confirm and carry into effect, immediately or otherwise, any sentence of such Court-Martial.”

June

More reinforcements

With the new month came in further reinforcements from beyond the seas, and something like confidence was re-established in the Christian communities of Calcutta; for although rebellion was spreading. itself all over Upper India, the continual stream of English troops that was beginning to pour into the capital seemed to give security to its inmates. The regiments released from service in the Persian Gulf, were now making their appearance on the banks of the Hugli. The 64th arrived on the 3rd of June, and soon afterwards the 35th came in from Moulmein. And then the kilted Highlanders of the 78th, also from Persia, were seen ascending the ghauts of Calcutta, with their red beards and their bare knees – an unaccustomed sight to the natives of Bengal, in whose eyes they appeared to be half women and half beasts. Others followed, and every effort was made to expedite their despatch to the upper country. At Raniganj, to which point the railway ran from the neighbourhood of Calcutta, an experienced officer was making arrangements to send on detachments by horse-dak and bullock-dak to Banaras; but the resources of the State were miserably inadequate to the necessities of the crisis, and prompt movement by land, therefore, on a large scale was wholly impossible. The journey to Banaras could be accomplished in five days; but it was officially reported to Lord Canning that only from eighteen to twenty-four men a day could thus be forwarded by horsed carriages. By the 4th of June, it was computed that, by these means of conveyance, ninety men with their officers would have reached Banaras; by the eighth, eighty-eight more; and by the 12th, another batch of eight-eight. The bullock carriages, which afforded slower means of progression, but which could carry larger numbers, might, it was calculated, convey the troops onward at the rate of a hundred men a day103. So, on the 10th of June, Lord Canning was able to write to Mr. Colvin, saying: “The Europeans are still sent up steadily

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at the rate of a hundred and twenty men a day, and henceforward they will not be stopped either at Banaras or Allahabad, but be passed on to Kanhpur. My object is to place at Sir Hugh Wheeler’s disposal a force with which he can leave his intrenchments at Kanhpur, and show himself at Lakhnao or elsewhere. He will best know where when the time arrives. To this end, I call upon you to give your aid by furthering by every means in your power the despatch southwards of a portion of the European force which has marched upon Dehli.” It had not yet dawned upon the Government that Dehli was not to be “made short work of” by the force that had come down from the North to attack it. And there were many others of large experience all over the country who believed that there was no power of resistance in the place to withstand the first assaults even of such an English army as Anson was gathering up and equipping for service. What that force was, and what its efforts, I have now to relate.

Footnotes

83. I wish it to be borne in mind that this refers entirely to the state of things in May. A far more unmistakable panic, of which some account will hereafter be given, arose in the middle of June. But even of the former month a contemporary journalist wrote: “Men went about with revolvers in their carriages, and trained their bearers to load quickly and fire low. The ships and steamers in the rivers have been crowded with families seeking refuge from the attack, which was nightly expected, and everywhere a sense of insecurity prevailed, which was natural enough when the character of the danger apprehended is taken into consideration.” – Friend of India, May 28.

84. [This is a complete mistake. I was one of the community of Calcutta, and was in the confidence of those who mistrusted not Lord Canning, but Lord Canning’s measures. They mistrusted those measures because they believed them to be inspired by the men about Lord Canning, men whose knowledge of the country was of the slightest, and whose ability to deal with the evil was of the most shadowy character. After events proved that the community was right. – G.B.M.]

85. Lord Canning’s correspondence abounds with proofs of this. Take the following from a characteristic letter to Bishop Wilson, which clearly shows that he (lid not underrate the danger, although he was confident of the national ability to surmount it: “The sky is very black, and as yet the signs of a clearing are faint. But reason and common sense are on our side from the very beginning. The course of the Government has been guided by justice and temper. I do not know that any one measure of precaution and strength, which human foresight can indicate, has been neglected. There are stout hearts and clear heads at the chief posts of danger – Agra, Lakhnao, and Banaras. For the rest, the issue is in higher hands than ours. I am very confident of complete success.”

86. Ante, vol. I. pp. 438–9.

87. [The words used by the Secretary to the Government were, “a passing and groundless panic.” There was no panic. There existed simply a desire to prepare to meet a real, and not a passing danger, the existence of which the Government denied. – G.B.M.]

88. The 24th of May fell on Sunday. The celebration was, therefore, on the 25th.

89. “Two young ladies refused to go at the last moment, and sat up with a small bag prepared for flight, till their father returned from the ball and reassured them.” ... “Miss ___ has hired two sailors to sit up in her house of a night; but they got tipsy, and frightened her more than imaginary enemies.” – Journal of a Lady, MS.

90. “A few nights ago woke up at two o’clock by what sounded like guns firing. Many thought the Alipur gaol had been broken open. Many gentlemen armed themselves, and got carriages ready for the ladies to fly to the Fort. On going into the verandah I was thankful to see a great display of fireworks going up, which was the cause of all the noise. It was the marriage of one of the Maisur princes.” – Ibid.

91. [The words, “Wise after the event,” are out of place. It was insisted upon at the time. It was the argument upon which the recommendations referred to in the text were based. – G.B.M.]

92. The two ablest of the early writers, the author of the “Red Pamphlet,” and Mr. Meade in his “Sipahi Revolt,” dwell very emphatically on this point. The former says: “An enrolment on a large scale at this time would have enabled the Governor-General to dispense with the services of one European regiment at least; but so bent was he on ignoring the danger, that he not only declined the offers of the Trades’ Association, the Masonic Fraternity, the Native converts, the Americans, and the French inhabitants and others, but he declined them in terms calculated to deaden rather than to excite a feeling of loyalty.” Mr. Meade says: “A thousand English volunteer infantry, four hundred cavalry, and fifteen hundred sailors were at the disposal of the Government a week after the revolt became known. ... Whilst the volunteers were learning how to load and fire, and the merchant seamen were being instructed in the use of artillery, Government might have placed from the terminus (at Raniganj) to Kanhpur a line of stations for horses and bullocks, guarded, if necessary, by posts of armed men. ... Had Government only consented to do just a fortnight beforehand what they were coerced to do on the 14th of June, they might have had on the first day of that month a force of two thousand Europeans at Raniganj, fully equipped with guns and stores.” [The words of the author of the “Red Pamphlet” were written at the very time, on the very spot, and represented the convictions of the European community of Calcutta. – G.B.M.]

93. [Yes; but the author of the “Red Pamphlet” and the ablest of the Calcutta merchants, judging from the light of the day, truly presaged the light of the morrow, whilst the Government failed to do so. – G.B.M.]

94. As late as the 2nd of June, General Lloyd wrote to Lord Canning, saying: “Although no one can now feel full confidence in the loyalty of Native troops generally, yet I believe that the regiments here will remain quiet, unless some great temptation or excitement should assail them, in which case I fear they could not be relied upon. The thing required to keep them steady is a blow quickly struck at Dehli.” – MS. Correspondence.

95. Lord Canning to Mr. Vernon Smith, June 5, 1857. – MS. Correspondence.

96. It is very vividly in my recollection that, on the famous 10th of April, 1848, when there was a vague expectation that London would be sacked by the Chartists, and immense numbers of special constables had been sworn in, I asked one of the most experienced men in the district in which I lived how many of those sworn in would turn out on the given signal (it was to be the ringing of the church bell), and I was told “not ten per cent.” [The result proved that the “experienced man” was wrong. – G.B.M.]

97. [Lord Canning, if he did think in the manner the author suggests, did err most grievously. In the end a volunteer regiment was formed, and its members, encumbered as they might have been by worldly affairs, made their duties as volunteer soldiers their first thought. In the darkest hours they patrolled efficiently the most dangerous parts of the city. – G.B.M.]

98. I am aware that a contrary statement has been made. It has been asserted that the Government took pains rather to conceal than to make known the arrival of reinforcements at Calcutta. Especially by disguising the names of the vessels in which the troops were coming up the river. If the Alethea, for example, were coming up, she was telegraphed, it was said, as the Sarah Sands. Assuming the facts to be as stated, we may readily understand the object of the concealment. It might have been sound policy not to make known the coming of the troops until they were lauded and fit for service. If there had been any combination for a rising, the moment seized would probably have been when it was known that our reinforcements were at the Sandheads. But I am assured, on the highest authority, that the story is not true. [I can state, on my own personal knowledge, that the story is true. I made my inquiries on the spot, at the time, and the course pursued was not only admitted, but justified. – G.B.M.]

99. He had been Second-in-Command, under Sir Robert Vivian, of the Anglo-Turkish Contingent

100. “A steady stream of reinforcements is now being poured into Banaras. Every horse and bullock that can be bought on the road is engaged, and the dak establishments have been increased to the utmost. The men who go by horse-dak reach Banaras in five days; those by bullock in ten. The former conveyance can take only from eighteen to twenty-four a day; the latter a hundred. Some are gone up by steamers. These will be sixteen days on the journey.” – Lord Canning to Sir H. Wheeler, May 26. MS.

101. “I landed and saw the Military Secretary and the Deputy-Quartermaster-General, and made all arrangements to start off the men I had brought up by steamers to Banaras. However, next day there was a change. Only a hundred and thirty men went up the country by steamer, and the rest I am starting off by the train.” – Private Letter of Col. Neill. The rail then only went as far as Raniganj.

102. The Act received the assent of the Governor-General, and thus passed into law on the 8th of June.

103. Mr. Cecil Beadon to Lord Canning, May 26. – MS. Correspondence.

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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