Anonymous

THE REIGN OF VICTORIA (continued).

The State of Central India—Objects of Rose's Campaign—The two Columns—Capture of Ratghur—Relief of Saugor—Capture of Gurrakota—Annexation of the Rajah of Shahghur's Territory—Capture of Chandaree—Rose arrives at Jhansi—The Ranee and Tantia Topee—Bombardment of Jhansi—Tantia Topee beaten off—Jhansi is stormed—Battles of Kooneh and Calpee—Tantia Topee captures Gwalior—Smith and Rose rescue the Place—Lord Elphinstone's Proceedings—Flight of Tantia Topee—Lawrence in the Punjab—Banishment of the King of Delhi—Other Rewards and Punishments—The Subjugation of Oude—Hope Grant's Flying Column—Britain does her Duty—Transference of the Government to the Crown—The Queen's Proclamation—Clyde enforces the Law—The Hunt for Bainie Madho—Further Flights and Pursuits—An Accident to Lord Clyde—His Last Action—Disappearance of the Begum and Nana Sahib—The Country at Peace—The Last Adventures of Tantia Topee—His Flight into Oodeypore—He is headed from Rohilcund—And from the Deccan—He joins Feroze Shah—Disappearance of the latter and Execution of Tantia Topee—Settlement of India—The Financial Question—The Indian Army—Increase of European Troops—The Native Levies—Abandonment of Dalhousie's Policy.

SIR HUGH ROSE, it will be remembered, arrived at Indore on the 16th of December, 1857, and assumed command of the Central India Field Force, mustering 6,000 men, of whom nearly one half were Europeans. He had a severe task to accomplish with these means. The whole country north of the Vindhya range of mountains was in the hands of the enemy. The only British post was Saugor, where several hundred Europeans were shut up in a fort, but where, strange to state, the 31st Native Infantry and part of the 42nd were faithful. Deeper in the country, towards the Jumna, the Ranee of Jhansi held the town and district of that name, and kept up communication with the disaffected subjects of Scindia, the remains of the Gwalior Contingent reorganising itself at Calpee, and the rebel bands who wandered up and down the Jumna, and made dashes into the Doab, from Allahabad to Agra. Sir Hugh Rose was entrusted with the duty, first, of relieving Saugor, then of capturing Jhansi, and finally of making his way to Calpee. He was to be supported on his left by another column from Bombay, under General Roberts, which was collected at Nusseerabad, in Rajpootana; and on his right by a Madras column, under General Whitlock, whose starting-point was Jubbulpore, on the higher waters of the Nerbudda. Thus, while Rose swept the country between the Sinde and the Beas, and Whitlock marched on his right between the Beas and the Sone, his object being Banda, Roberts was to march eastward by Kotah, then in the hands of the rebels and mutineers, into the Gwalior country.

Sir Hugh Rose divided his force into two columns or brigades. The first, under Brigadier Stuart, was formed at Indore; the second was collected at Sehore, about ninety miles to the north-east, on the road to Bhopal. The first was ordered to march on Chandaree, a very strong place on the left bank of the Betwa. The second, or right brigade, with which Rose himself marched, was directed from Sehore upon Ratghur and Saugor. Stuart's brigade was not to leave Indore until Rose had started for Bhopal, so that the two columns, although separated by a wide interval, might march in parallel lines, and then converge to a point north of Chandaree. Stuart's course lay down the left bank of the Betwa, and he had no serious hostility to apprehend until he approached Chandaree.

Rose's column was joined on the 15th of January, 1858, by the siege-train from Sehore. After executing 149 mutineers of the Bhopal Contingent, Rose started on the 16th. On the 21st the column entered Scindia's territory, and encamped at Bilsah, famous for tobacco. Three more marches brought the brigade in front of Ratghur, the first obstacle to be overcome on the road to Saugor; for the enemy had occupied the fort, and showed a readiness to bar the road. On the 24th Rose drove in the outposts of the enemy, and invested the place. Having disposed his troops around the place, keeping a good look-out towards Saugor, whence interruption might come, he pushed his siege guns, under a sufficient escort, up the hill and through the jungle, making a road for the heavy pieces as he advanced. All this time the troops around the town were engaged in constant skirmishes against irregular forces on the outside. By dint of perseverance these were driven off, and the town was occupied. Then the heavy guns were mounted in a battery, made by the Madras Sappers, most efficient soldiers, on the north hill, within 300 yards of the north wall, and opened fire, while other guns shelled the fort from the plain, and the Enfields were busy duelling with the matchlock-men. The breach had been examined, and declared to be practicable. It was supposed that it would be stormed on the 29th; but when that day dawned, two enterprising officers, suspecting the quiet, climbed up the breach, and found that the enemy had fled. The garrison had scrambled down a precipice, women and all, and had got away through the lines of the Bhopal Contingent, who were supposed to be guarding that side. The cavalry went in pursuit, but were not able to catch the fugitives: indeed, the latter halted eight miles distant. Sir Hugh went out to attack them, and defeated them, yet could not take their guns. But the effect of these actions was that the roads to Saugor and Indore were freed from the enemy; and, on the 3rd of February, the Europeans shut up so long in Saugor were liberated by the arrival of Sir Hugh. They drove out to meet him, "looking pale and careworn," as it was natural they should look after eight months' imprisonment.

The next obstacle to be removed was a body of mutineers, men of several regiments, who had thrown themselves into the fort of Gurrakota, which fifty years before had defied a European army. This fort lies over the Beas, east of Saugor, and until it was taken Rose could not move on Jhansi nor Whitlock on Banda. The Sepoys entrenched the road into the fort from the south. But the troops advanced from the west. The horse artillery ranged up and opened fire in this unexpected quarter. Whereupon the Sepoys, greatly to their credit, sounded the advance and, moving boldly out, seemed disposed to charge the guns. Upon this the 3rd Europeans came into play and drove them back. Not satisfied yet, the enemy re-formed and came up with great steadiness and obstinacy, and were not broken and routed until they were close upon the guns. When they fled, the Hyderabad horsemen were soon amongst them, and their charge split them in two, one body hurrying into the fort, the other rushing off to the south and suffering loss at every step. Batteries were at once erected to breach the west face. The enemy worked their guns with vigour and coolness, but they were soon silenced, all but one, and this one was finally knocked over by Lieutenant Smith, of the Bombay Artillery. On the 13th of February the enemy were seen escaping from the fort, and the infantry, hastening in upon them, found that nearly all had gone. The fugitives were pursued five-and-twenty miles by the Hyderabad Horse. In the fort were found great stores of provisions, and quantities of plunder taken from Europeans in the mutiny. Provided for a long siege, the Sepoys had been ousted in three days, and such of the provisions as could not be carried away were given to the starving villagers whom they had so long oppressed. Gurrakota was blown up by the sappers. The troops returned to Saugor on the 17th, and halted until they could be adequately furnished for a long march through Central India.

The troops rested ten days, Sir Hugh Rose marching for Jhansi at two a.m. on the 27th, the time when Sir Colin crossed the Ganges into Oude. There were two means of access—the Pass of Malthon and the Pass of Mudanpore. Malthon was the northern outlet and stood directly in front of the line of march followed by the column. Here the enemy were supposed to be encamped, and indeed it was soon found that they held the fort of Barodia as an outpost. From this they were rapidly expelled by a few shells. This also helped the purpose of Sir Hugh, which was to deceive the enemy and make them believe that he intended to storm the Malthon Pass, while he really turned it by Mudanpore. But the enemy were not wholly deceived, for they occupied both passes. Leaving a small party of all arms to attack Malthon, or rather keep the enemy occupied, Sir Hugh, with the bulk of the brigade, went south along the foot of the hills through the pathless jungle. He then turned toward the gorge and at once came under fire. The Rajah of Shahghur, in whose territory the pass was situated, headed the enemy, and his general, late a Sepoy sergeant, had occupied the hills on both sides of the pass. Thence he opened such a storm of cannon shot and musketry that he brought our men to a halt, and even obliged Sir Hugh, whose horse was shot under him, to withdraw the guns farther to the rear. The check was only momentary. Keeping up a hot fire, Sir Hugh directed his infantry upon the flanks of the pass, and Europeans and Hyderabad natives went with shouts into the jungle. This was more than the enemy could endure, and without waiting for the assailants, they ran down the hills into the pass and through it, carrying off their guns. Our troops followed towards the town. The enemy endeavoured to stand once more, but his heart soon failed him. Nevertheless, he got away with his guns. Encamping near the fort of Soorai, the troops halted while this fort was destroyed. On the 6th of March the brigade moved on Murowa, seized the fort, and declared the territory of the rebel rajah to be annexed to the British possessions. While here the detachment sent against Malthon came into camp. They had marched through with little opposition, as the men who were to hold it grew alarmed when they heard the cannon at Mudanpore and, alarm becoming panic, they ran away.

In order to protect the friendly ruler of Tehree, Sir Hugh sent thither the Hyderabad Contingent and marched himself upon Baunpore, where he came within hearing of the cannonade directed by his 1st Brigade against Chandaree. This brigade had laid siege to the strong fort in due form, and was reducing it with heavy guns. Quitting Baunpore, Sir Hugh, having determined to clear his right effectually, marched upon Tal Behut, from which the Hyderabad Contingent, that most active force, had driven the enemy. He arrived on the 14th of March. The fort had been abandoned, luckily for him, as it was a place of very great strength and might have been defended for weeks. Having opened communication with the 1st Brigade, and having learned that it was making good progress, Sir Hugh detached the sappers and contingent to secure the fords of the Betwa; then, turning westward, he marched the whole column to the river, and crossed it on the 17th of March. That day the 86th Foot and the 25th Bombay Infantry had carried Chandaree by storm; the 86th, an Irish regiment, fighting none the worse because it was St. Patrick's Day.

Having heard of the fall of Chandaree, Sir Hugh Rose marched at once upon Jhansi. On the 19th the brigade halted, while cavalry and guns reconnoitered Jhansi, and on the 21st the whole force set out and halted before that place. Jhansi, the reader will remember, was the scene of one of the bloodiest tragedies in India, the scene of a foul massacre, accomplished by treachery, and only exceeded in magnitude by that at Cawnpore. The brave but vicious Ranee was, like the Begum of Oude, determined to hold her own. Since she had been in full possession she had repaired the strong walls surrounding the city, mounted guns upon them and on the flanking bastions, cleared out the ditches, erected outworks well devised and well built, and even when the British encamped before her stronghold, her willing subjects were still hard at work throwing up fresh defences. She had been aided by Tantia Topee, a retainer of Nana Sahib. This remarkable man had served in the Bengal Artillery. He was a weaver by trade—hence his name, which means the "weaver artilleryman." After leaving the British service he entered that of Nana Sahib at Bithoor, and when the latter struck for empire, the talents of his artilleryman soon came into play. Tantia Topee had the brain of a soldier without the heart. He could plan, and scheme, and raise armies, and direct their movements, but he could not lead them. An avowed coward, the natives regarded his cowardice as an infirmity, and were willing to accept his services without demanding from him qualities he did not possess. As Sir Hugh Rose appeared before Jhansi, Tantia Topee rode off to Calpee, there to organise a relieving army around the wreck of the famous Gwalior Contingent.

The British troops encamped on a plain without shelter of any kind, for, with great judgment, the Ranee had caused the trees to be destroyed. As soon as he encamped, Sir Hugh Rose surveyed the place thoroughly, riding all day in the burning sun and seeing everything for himself. Thus he was enabled to direct the investment of Jhansi with his cavalry, a work that was completed on the 22nd. That night the first battery was constructed, about 300 yards from the town wall. It was done silently and effectually. But daylight disclosed the work and the enemy began to pound it, soon getting the range, and to raise a counter-battery intended to enfilade it. By the 24th four batteries were constructed and in action. Their shot silenced several guns and demolished the works of the enemy and their shells set fire to the town; while the infantry, spread out in front, skirmished with the Sepoys in the cottages and enclosures. The force was now strengthened by the arrival of the 1st Brigade from Chandaree, and Sir Hugh immediately extended his front of attack and established batteries on his left. For the next five days the bombardment continued. The enemy fought his guns admirably, and showed great determination. Our troops grew excited with the work. They were eager to storm and sack a city infamous for the murder of so many of their countrymen and countrywomen, and they laboured in the summer heat with a cheerfulness and constancy that must have made glad the heart of Sir Hugh Rose.

SIR HUGH ROSE (AFTERWARDS LORD STRATHNAIRN).

(From a Photograph by A. Bassano.)

On the 31st a new danger, not wholly unforeseen, appeared. Sir Hugh, anticipating a movement of the rebel army at Calpee, had established a telegraph on the hills to the east, worked with flags. On the 31st the flags waved saying, "Here come the enemy in great force from the north." Sir Hugh was not at all disconcerted. He had expected that an effort would be made to relieve the place and had meditated on the best mode of thwarting it. As soon as he heard, therefore, that Tantia Topee had brought 20,000 men from Calpee, and placed them on his right flank, close to the city, he knew what to do. It was evening when the news came. Knowing where the enemy was, the general prepared a surprise for them. He determined to fight the enemy and continue the siege—one of the hardiest resolutions ever taken by any general, especially when we consider the fact that he had only 1,200 men available for battle. As soon as it was dark he caused his 1st Brigade to strike tents, and then he marched them silently into a position on the left flank of the foe. Then he reinforced it by two 24-pounders, so placed that they swept the road to the city. The enemy were the more elated because they saw but few tents in our camp, and they halted at dusk close on the front of the 2nd Brigade and made merry. But morning showed them another sight. At daylight we opened on them with artillery, cutting up their left flank. The unexpected fire of the 1st Brigade guns soon shook them; and, swiftly discerning symptoms of unsteadiness, our cavalry went in with a crash, Rose leading one body, Prettyjohn another. The flank was rolled up in a moment, and the infantry following the cavalry, the enemy was driven back with great slaughter. Then the infantry, moving across the battle field, fell upon the opposite flank, cut the rebels off from the city and followed them up with vigour. Tantia Topee had prepared a second line, but Rose left him no time to use it. Bursting in on both flanks, our troops forced the enemy to retreat upon the Betwa, and pursued so sharply that they drove the rebels over the river with the loss of every gun brought into the field. Thus did 1,200 men, of whom only 500 were Europeans, defeat 20,000, while their comrades carried on the siege with unrelenting vigour. This battle was fought on the 1st of April; on the 3rd it was resolved that Jhansi should be taken by storm. From the right batteries the walls were to be carried by escalade; on the left the stormers were to sweep in through a breach; the signal was to be the opening of guns on the west face, as though an attack were to be made there.

The moon shone brightly as the columns marched out of their camps to the appointed places. The Sappers, the 3rd Europeans, and the Hyderabad Infantry were to scale the walls; the 86th Foot and the 25th Native Infantry were to go in at the breach. The signal was given and the men emerged from cover into the broad moonlight. The enemy were on the alert and met the columns with a storm of shot. "We had upwards of 200 yards to march through this fiendish fire," writes Mr. Lowe, who, as medical officer to the Sappers, accompanied the right column, "and we did it. The Sappers planted the ladders against the wall in three places for the stormers to ascend; but the fire of the enemy waxed stronger, and amid the chaos of sounds, of volleys of musketry, and roaring of cannon, and hissing and bursting of rockets, stink-pots, infernal machines, huge stones, blocks of wood, and trees, all hurled upon their devoted heads—the men wavered for a moment, and sheltered themselves behind stones. But the ladders were there, and there the Sappers, animated by the heroism of their officers, keeping firm hold until a wound or death struck them down beneath the walls. At this instant, on our right, three of the ladders broke under the weight of men, and a bugle sounded on our right also for the Europeans to retire. A brief pause, and again the stormers rushed to the ladders, led on by the engineer officers," and carried the position.

As soon as they were in, they heard the shouts of the left column, who had broken in at the breach and came rushing along the ramparts. The two columns joined and dashed into the town. No quarter was given. The city and its people were held to be accursed. There were fights in every street, almost in every house; and in the palace and stables, battle and slaughter and conflagration. The Ranee, who had fled into the fort, kept up a fire on the palace. The Sepoys and rebels were surrounded in the town and out of it and very few escaped who stayed to bear the shock of fight. This went on all the 3rd and 4th, and on the 5th Lieutenant Baigrie, of the 3rd Europeans, found the fort had been abandoned. Our loss in this storm of Jhansi was 300 killed and wounded.

The weather was now so hot, and the force so exhausted, that Sir Hugh found himself obliged to give the troops some rest, and also to replenish his stores. He halted three weeks, and then, after leaving a garrison in the place, resumed active operations. The 1st Brigade marched for Calpee on the 25th; the 2nd a few days afterwards. The sufferings of the troops on the march were dreadful, chiefly from want of water—a want that the transport animals, even the camels, felt keenly. On the 5th of May the two brigades, reinforced by the 71st Highlanders, united. The enemy made a stand at Koonch and was routed, with the loss of eight guns. The battle of Koonch would have been more disastrous for the enemy had not Brigadier Stuart held back his brigade. The sun killed more on our side than the enemy and Sir Hugh Rose himself was prostrated three times with the heat.

The enemy, weakened and disheartened, drew up at Calpee. Here were the Ranee of Jhansi, the Nawab of Banda—driven off by Whitlock's column, which had slowly and without adventure worked its way as far as Banda—and Tantia Topee. Here they drew up among the tombs and ravines on the south side of Calpee. But Sir Hugh Rose swept round to the east, and encamping on the Jumna, entered into communication with Colonel Maxwell, who held his brigade on the opposite bank of the river. It was now the 15th of May. The strong front of the enemy's position had been turned, but he found in the ravines that ran between Sir Hugh's camp and Calpee endless facilities for attack; and every day until the 22nd the enemy made repeated attacks. On the 20th Maxwell sent over a few troops, and on the 21st his artillery shelled the town. On the 22nd the enemy came out in great force, and attacked Sir Hugh in position at Gowlowlee. This combat was, perhaps, the sharpest in which Sir Hugh had been engaged. The enemy, in thousands, not only attacked the front with great resolution, but repeatedly tried to turn the left flank. Several times his infantry charged up to the guns. For some time, so numerous were the assailants, it was with the greatest difficulty that our soldiers held their ground; and had not the right been promptly reinforced it must have been overpowered. But Sir Hugh Rose, at the right moment, assaulted the enemy's right with a vigour that was irresistible; and then, advancing the whole line, drove the enemy in disorder from the field. He retired to Calpee; but on the 23rd of May he was driven out without much trouble, pursued by the cavalry, and relieved of all his guns.

Such seemed to be the natural termination of this astonishing campaign in the hot season. The troops had traversed Central India from Indore to Calpee, had been four months in the sun, and were literally exhausted. But now came startling news. Gwalior was in the hands of the rebels, and the Maharajah Scindia a fugitive at Agra. Defeated at Gowlowlee, driven out of Calpee, Tantia Topee and his shattered troops hurried off towards Gwalior. It was a bold stroke, worthy of the subtle brain of the ablest leader of the Hindoos. Scindia had not befriended the rebel cause: nay, he and his sagacious Minister, Dinkur Rao, had helped the Europeans in every way; yet the Gwalior people were hostile to the British. Why not, then, dethrone Scindia and, seizing Gwalior, hoist the Mahratta flag in the capital of that great Mahratta State? Tantia Topee was equal to the emergency. Preceding the army by forced marches, he secretly entered Gwalior and began to intrigue with the leaders of the disaffected. The fruits were soon seen. Hearing of the approach of the rebel force, Scindia marched out to attack them on the 30th of May. But when the combat began, half his army threw down their arms and fled. The Maharajah's body-guard of horse alone fought, charging the enemy repeatedly, and only retiring when two-thirds were slain. Then the faithful remnant hurried their chief out of the field. They took the direction of Agra, and falling in with a troop of British horse, Scindia entered Agra a fugitive on the 3rd of June. Tantia Topee entered Gwalior in triumph and proclaimed Nana Sahib Peishwa of the Mahrattas. It was the news of this that brought Sir Hugh Rose from his sick bed and set his weary brigades in motion once more. They marched at once, one from Calpee, the other from Jaloun, to unite at Indoorkee.

A great movement of concentration on Gwalior was in progress. A body of Europeans marched out of Agra. Orders were sent to Brigadier Smith operating in the heart of Scindia's country, to hasten on to Gwalior from Goona. It was needful that a severe blow should be struck, and struck at once, lest Tantia Topee should succeed in raising the whole country south of the Jumna, and in spreading the contagion to the Deccan, where the Nizam's Minister, Salar Jung, another able Hindoo, held down the disaffected with difficulty; therefore the troops marched with rapidity under the scorching sun. Sir Hugh pushed up close to Gwalior, and then waited for Scindia, whose presence with the army gave it a moral weight and, it was hoped, would save the city from plunder. On the 17th Brigadier Smith, issuing from the Pass of Antree, south of the town, found himself in front of the rebel army. It was led by the Ranee of Jhansi, who, it is said, was dressed like a man and who fought like one. Brigadier Smith, after surveying the enemy's position, drove off their cavalry by a charge of the 8th Hussars, who had to ford a ravine full of water before they could get at the enemy. Then the infantry went in and, fighting and marching all day, expelled the enemy from his position and drove him back upon Gwalior. Smith encamped within range of the enemy's guns, and they pounded him at intervals, although the troops were not allowed to light fires. The next day Sir Hugh Rose arrived and the two columns, united, assailed the enemy with such fury, on the 19th, that, after a sharp combat of five hours, they drove him away. Tantia Topee fled to the west pursued by the British cavalry. The Ranee of Jhansi, mortally wounded on the 17th, was carried from the field, and Rose wrote, "the best man upon the side of the enemy was the woman found dead." All night the fort fired guns at intervals; but in the morning, when the troops entered, it was found that this was the work of eleven fanatics, only two of whom knew how to load and fire a gun.

As soon as Gwalior fell, the Agra brigade came up, and Scindia was ceremoniously restored to his throne by Sir Hugh Rose. Thus, within the space of three weeks, the Mahratta prince had been worsted in battle and driven from his capital by men of his own race and religion; and they in turn had been routed from the field and he had been restored by the white men from the Western world. A great danger had been met with energy and overcome. The lesson was not lost on the native princes far and near. It made our hold on the neighbouring Doab more secure, and it relieved the mind of Sir Colin Campbell of any apprehension he might have felt touching an irruption on his flank and rear from the south of the Jumna. On the 28th of June Sir Hugh Rose, having done his work and being really ill, resigned his command and started for Bombay.

The reader will be naturally solicitous to know how Brigadier Smith came to be at Goona and thus in a position to aid Rose in the vital operation of recovering Gwalior. The brigadier's column had come from the west. Lord Elphinstone's first care had been to recover Indore and reassure Holkar. This was effected by the troops Rose had collected at Mhow and Indore and by Stuart's campaign at Malwa. Lord Elphinstone's next care was to assemble troops in Western Rajpootana, in order to recover that country, keep the enemy out of Gujerat and, by a forward movement to the east, defeat the mutineers and rebellious chieftains between the Sinde river and the Chumbul. As reinforcements arrived from England, they were sent into Rajpootana. Camps were formed in the winter of 1857-8, and when Rose moved from Saugor, General Roberts, who commanded in Rajpootana, marched upon Kotah. On the 30th of March, the day he attacked the place, he was joined by 1,500 horsemen, who had marched from Cutch. Having dispersed these rebels, the division under Roberts broke up and engaged in diverse harassing expeditions during the whole of the year. Part of the force (Smith's brigade) marched over the Chumbul into the Gwalior country. When Sir Hugh Rose had captured Jhansi, the rebels, pressed from the west by Roberts, assembled in detached bodies in Rose's rear, and Smith's brigade was occupied in marching and fighting and dispersing the enemy. It was thus that, in June, he was at Goona and was called up to drive Tantia Topee out of Gwalior city.

After that defeat the rebel chief hurried westward, was defeated again, with the loss of his remaining guns, and pursued by Sir Robert Napier, who succeeded Rose in command of the Central India Field Force. But although the weaver-artilleryman attracted towards himself a host of enemies—Napier from Gwalior, Showers from Agra, Roberts from Nusseerabad—he managed to slip through their hands; to raise fresh armies as often as his soldiery were surprised and broken; to steal artillery from native rajahs; to fight and fly, and fly and fight, and to keep all the troops between the Jumna and Nerbudda constantly employed for six months. His great object was to reach the Deccan or Candeish; and to accomplish this he made incredible efforts. But the story of his wanderings and adventures belongs to a later stage in the revolt.

While Campbell had been capturing Lucknow and Bareilly, and Rose had marched and fought from Indore to Gwalior, by way of Calpee, the great force that held down the North-West and made the Punjab a tower of strength had not ceased to exert itself for the weal of the empire. Mr. Montgomery had issued an order in the very midst of our troubles, declaring that the system of caste could no longer be permitted to rule in our service; that soldiers and Government servants should be entertained irrespective of class, caste, or creed, and inviting native Christians to seek our service, promising to appoint those who were properly qualified. This was a great step; not taken before it was needed. Moreover, the Punjab Government determined that all loyal natives who had suffered in consequence of the acts of mutineers should be compensated by contributions levied in the offending districts—thus rewarding the faithful at the expense of the malcontents. Sir John Lawrence in the summer of 1858 was able to organise a plan for relieving himself of the huge army of disarmed Sepoys. He separated the faithful from the faithless. He sent off all the latter to their homes, passing them on in small batches of twenty a day, under escort, until they reached their native States, and then turned them adrift. Only two regiments, those at Mooltan, resisted and they met with terrible punishment. Three regiments and one wing of a fourth were re-armed. Another body, faithful men from several regiments, was formed into a new regiment, to be known in future as the Wuffadar Pultun, or faithful regiment; while the 21st, which had been armed all along, which had resisted every appeal from its fellows, and the Khelat-i-Ghilzies, were all that remained untouched in any way of the 41,000 Bengal Sepoys who in May, 1857, were in the Punjab and the Upper Doab.

During the spring of 1858 the King of Delhi had been tried, convicted, and sentenced to banishment. It was clearly proved that he was guilty of rebellion and murder. The rebellion was patent: he had proclaimed himself Emperor of India. The murders were proved: it was shown that he gave express permission for the massacre of the forty-nine women and children whom he had in confinement, and that one of his sons took an active part in the foul work. The old man was fairly tried; had not Hodson, with the sanction of General Wilson, promised him life, he would have been hanged. As it was, he was banished to Burmah. Thus Mohamed Bahadoor Shah, the last of the Moguls, terminated the dynasty of Timour; and in the words of the Advocate-General, he was degraded by his crimes to a felon, and the long glories of a dynasty were effaced in a day.

Before the trial of the king had come to an end, the rebel Nawab of Jhujhur and the rebel Rajah of Bulubgurh had been hanged; both having been proved to be accomplices of the king and participators in the rebellion. At the same time the Maharajah of Puttiala, the Rajahs of Jheend, Nabha, and Kuppoorthulla—all of whom had given unhesitating aid in men, money, and provisions, and who had taken the field in person—were amply rewarded by an increase of dignity and territory. Besides these several minor chiefs in the same district also received acknowledgments for their services. Thus, justice and political equity and expediency were alike satisfied. We showed those chiefs that in trusting to us they trusted not only to the strong, but to the just. By able and judicious measures Sir John Lawrence rapidly organised the territories over which he exercised unquestioned sway, and turned all the strength at his disposal to the promotion of the Imperial cause.

In another quarter the work to be done was of a different kind. The presence of such large masses of rebels in Oude led to great disturbance on the eastern frontier of that country. The marches and battles of Franks, and the progress of Jung Bahadoor had not crushed opposition, nor had the capture of Lucknow reduced Oude. It was in this extensive district that Colonel Rowcroft, with a small force of European and Ghoorka infantry, and Sotheby's Naval Brigade, chiefly sailors of the Pearl, and a mere handful of Bengal yeomanry cavalry, made head against an enemy who outnumbered them ten to one. It was to their exertions, aided by detachments from Dinapore, that Sarun was saved from invasion, and that the rebels could gain no footing in Azimghur and Goruckpore. Sometimes acting together; sometimes working in detachments; now repelling with heavy loss an attack; now beating up the enemy's quarters and shattering his masses, this energetic and much-enduring force did most admirable service. Throughout the year, and with unvarying fortune, our soldiers and sailors continued the combat, shielding the eastern provinces of Bengal, north of the Ganges.

During the hot months, also, Sir Hope Grant, justly styled indefatigable, had moved about Oude with a flying column, to prevent the enemy from establishing himself too strongly at any point. In June Sir Hope returned to Lucknow from one of these expeditions. He had received information that the Begum had collected an army at Nawabgunge Bara Bankee, the place selected for a rendezvous by the Oude regiments at the outbreak of the mutiny, and whence they advanced upon Chinhut and finally to Lucknow. Now Sir Hope Grant determined to attack them. He had with him about 4,000 men and eighteen guns. The enemy mustered 20,000 men and an unknown quantity of guns. They were routed from the field with a loss of 600 killed. One advantage of this action was seen in the great moral effect that it produced in the country north of the Goomtee.

The cause of the Oude rebels had grown desperate. They had lost their ablest leader, the famous Moulvie, who fell in a fight before a mean mud fort; and now, their largest force beaten at Nawabgunge, they began to see that they had little, indeed no, hope of winning the game. Yet, with a good deal of fortitude, the Oude chiefs held out, and there was yet to be a cold weather campaign before the conquest of Oude was complete. Hope Grant marched from his camp at Nawabgunge in July to Fyzabad, and drove off a body of the enemy who were besieging Maun Singh, the most powerful talookdar in those parts, and who now unhesitatingly rallied to our side. From Fyzabad he detached Brigadier Horsford, an excellent soldier, to Sultanpore, where he defeated the enemy; and, being reinforced by Grant himself, drove him from all his works and secured that part of the country. Thus the summer campaign ended. There were only two Oude armies of any strength at large. The Begum was on the north-east of the Gogra, between that river and the Raptee; and Bainie Madho, of Amethie, held Roy Bareilly and the country around south of the Goomtee, and between that river and the Sye. The Begum had an open line of retreat to the hills. Bainie Madho was supposed to be surrounded by our posts. When these two were defeated, Oude would be again in our possession.

Britain had not forgotten India. In 1857 she sent out thousands of troops, as in duty bound, to suppress the mutiny, and her patriot sons and daughters subscribed tens of thousands of pounds to relieve the sufferings of those who had fallen a prey to the merciless Sepoys. For the dead nothing could be done; for the living much—and much was done. Britain had been filled with horror, and her horror was succeeded by a rage that, for a time, overpowered every other feeling. In 1858 she sent more troops—nearly 30,000; but she did more. Her Legislature effected a grand reform in the Government of India, and a measure undertaken by Lord Palmerston was carried out, with great improvements, by Lord Derby. An Act was passed that abolished the rule of the East India Company and transferred the government of India to the Crown. Thenceforth, instead of a Board of Directors and a Board of Control, there were to be a Council of India, and a responsible Minister—a Secretary of State for India—through whom and by whom all business was to be transacted. The Company, which had endured so long and had been so mighty, ceased to have any political power and continued to exist solely because its machinery was required to look after certain pecuniary interests and distribute dividends upon East India Stock. As a matter of course the local European army was afterwards absorbed into and amalgamated with the Queen's army and the civil and military servants in India became servants of the Crown. This was an immense change, not only in name, but in principle; for thus India became virtually a part of Britain, and directly under the control of British Governments. On the passing of the Act a proclamation by the Queen in Council was addressed to the princes, chiefs and people of India, and sent to Lord Canning, who was appointed "first Viceroy and Governor-General," to administer the Government in the name and on behalf of Queen Victoria. This proclamation was received in the autumn of 1858, when Oude alone remained to be reconquered; and when Colin Campbell, then just raised to the peerage by the title of Lord Clyde, was preparing to overthrow the rebel hosts of the Begum and Nana Sahib. It was determined that before he marched into Oude the Queen's proclamation should be published; and Lord Clyde, all being in readiness on his part for action, went to Allahabad, at the end of October, to be present when the Governor-General solemnly published the proclamation. This was done on the 1st of November. A platform was erected near the fort. Lord Clyde and General Mansfield accompanied Lord Canning to this appointed spot, and there the first Viceroy read the document that created a revolution in the fundamental principles of Indian government. The ceremony, we are told, was tame and spiritless; but the fact behind it was one of the most solid and substantial in India. The pith of the proclamation was the transfer of power—the extinction of the Company Bahadoor. But it also went on to describe the spirit in which the Queen, through her Viceroy, would rule in the land.

"We hereby announce," said the Queen, "to the native princes of India, that all treaties and engagements made with them by or under the authority of the Honourable East India Company are by us accepted, and will be scrupulously maintained; and we look for the like observance on their part.

"We desire no extension of our present territorial possessions; and while we will permit no aggression upon our dominions or our rights to be attempted with impunity, we shall sanction no encroachment on those of others. We shall respect the rights, dignity, and honour of native princes as our own, and we desire that they as well as our own subjects should enjoy that prosperity and that social advancement which can only be secured by internal peace and good government....

"Firmly relying ourselves on the truth of Christianity, and acknowledging with gratitude the solace of religion, we disclaim alike the right and the desire to impose our convictions on any of our subjects. We declare it to be our royal will and pleasure that none be in any wise favoured, none be molested or disquieted, by reason of their religious faith or observances; but that all shall alike enjoy the equal and impartial protection of the law; and we do strictly charge and enjoin all those who may be in authority under us, that they abstain from all interference with the religious belief or worship of any of our subjects, on pain of our highest displeasure....

"Already in our province, with a view to stop the further effusion of blood, and to hasten the pacification of our Indian dominions, our Viceroy and Governor-General has held out the expectation of pardon on certain terms to the great majority of those who in the late unhappy disturbances have been guilty of offences against our Government, and has declared the punishment which will be inflicted on those whose crimes place them beyond the reach of forgiveness.

"We approve and confirm the said act of our Viceroy and Governor-General, and do further announce and proclaim as follows:—

"Our clemency will be extended to all offenders, save and except those who have been, or shall be, convicted of having directly taken part in the murder of British subjects. With regard to such the demands of justice forbid the exercise of mercy.

"To those who have willingly given asylum to murderers, knowing them to be such, or who may have acted as leaders or instigators in revolt, their lives alone can be guaranteed; but, in apportioning the penalty due to such persons, full consideration will be given to the circumstances under which they have been induced to throw off their allegiance, and large indulgence will be shown to those whose crimes may appear to have originated in too credulous acceptance of the false reports circulated by designing men.

"To all others in arms against the Government we hereby promise unconditional pardon, amnesty, and oblivion of all offence against ourselves, our crown and dignity, on their return to their homes and peaceful pursuits. It is our royal pleasure that these terms of grace and amnesty should be extended to all those who comply with their conditions before the first day of January next.

"When by the blessing of Providence internal tranquillity shall be restored, it is our earnest desire to stimulate the peaceful industry of India, to promote works of public utility and improvement, and to administer its government for the benefit of all our subjects resident therein. In their prosperity will be our strength, in their contentment our security, and in their gratitude our best reward. And may the God of all power grant to us and to those in authority under us strength to carry out these our wishes for the good of our people." The last sentence was, says Sir Theodore Martin, added by the Queen's own hand.

Such are the principles upon which the future government of India was to rest. Armed with this proclamation, and one issued in his own name, in which he promised protection to all who submitted, Lord Clyde, that same night, crossed the Ganges and entered Oude to enforce the law and reduce the last remaining rebels to obedience. We have already stated that one great body of rebels, led by Bainie Mahdo, held the forts and jungles between the Goomtee and the Ganges. It was against him that the Commander-in-Chief directed his first efforts. His own camp was near Pertabgurh on the Sye, and his troops formed the main central column. On the right was Sir Hope Grant, near Sultanpore; on the left Colonel Wetherall, near the Ganges. These columns were to sweep the country before them, and concentrate on Amethie, a strong mud fort held by the rajah of that ilk, and garrisoned by 20,000 men of all sorts with thirty guns. The rajah, after much shuffling, surrendered.

Dismantling the fort, Lord Clyde despatched three columns in pursuit of the fugitives; and conjecturing rightly that they would in the main make for Shunkerpore, the stronghold of Bainie Madho, the columns marched towards that place, halting at Oodeypore. But Bainie Madho had fled. From Shunkerpore Lord Clyde continued the pursuit of the enemy; but, as intelligence of the whereabouts of Bainie Madho was contradictory, he halted a few hours near Roy Bareilly in order to obtain exact information. It did not come, but some information came which warranted a move, and the army defiled through Roy Bareilly and went up the Sye. Colonel Evelegh, commanding a light column, was ordered to follow and not lose sight of Bainie Madho, while the army crossed the Sye above Roy Bareilly. Then in came a courier from Evelegh, with certain news that he had tracked the foe to Dhondiakera, on the Ganges. Lord Clyde immediately marched on the fort. A bridge was thrown over the Ganges below the rebel position, from the opposite bank, and a force crossed over, while cavalry and guns from Cawnpore patrolled the Doab shore. It was supposed that Bainie Madho had about 8,000 Oude Sepoys and many thousands of irregular levies; and the British brought up 6,000 men. For a brief space there was brisk exchange of musketry, then the enemy opened with cannon, and our guns were ordered up to the front, just as our line pushed on. From that time the British advance was continuous, Lord Clyde still leading the eager skirmishers. After a brief but heavy cannonade, our "advance became a run. The men cheering, broke out into a double, at last into a regular race, Lord Clyde himself leading them on." The ridge was crowned just in time to see the enemy in full flight up and down the banks of the Ganges. In a moment the cavalry and horse artillery and some of the foot went off in pursuit, while another body, with two guns, opened upon a host of fugitives who were trying to escape across the Ganges. But the rebel chief escaped with his treasure, and lost only some hundreds killed and his stronghold. Nevertheless the blow was in one sense effective. The rebel force was broken up; its leaders were convinced that there was no safe place for them south of the Goomtee, and they fled even beyond the Gogra.

Lord Clyde, directing his army from Lucknow, encamped there a short time. More talookdars surrendered. Practically, Southern Oude was free from organised revolt, and it now only remained to deal with the Begum, reinforced by Bainie Madho, and with Nana Sahib, all of whom had been driven to seek refuge in Beyratch, with their backs to a pestiferous belt of forest land, called the Terai, that skirts the foot of the Himalayas. The British forces were now widely distributed in posts all over the country, and when in December Lord Clyde heard that the rebels were assembling on the Gogra, not far from Nawabgunge, he had to collect a column wherewith to attack them. He marched north from Lucknow on the 4th of December. On the 6th he heard that the enemy were in force at Beyram Ghat on the Gogra. Directing the infantry to follow, he made a forced march with the cavalry and four guns, hoping to surprise the enemy and drive them into the river before they could destroy their boats. But, although he rode at speed all the way, he reached the river only to find that the enemy had just fled.

The army was next marched to Fyzabad, and thence it crossed the Gogra into Beyratch. Maun Singh and his brother accompanied the force. Halting for some days in the town of Beyratch to receive and answer letters from the rebel leaders, some of whom were willing to come in on terms, Lord Clyde would not listen to anything but unconditional surrender, and finding it impossible to effect an arrangement, the army marched on Nanparah. A few miles beyond, the troops came up with a body of the enemy in the jungle, but the latter would not stand an attack. They fled in all directions before the cavalry and the guns. Here it was that Lord Clyde met with a severe accident. Galloping over the fields, his horse put one foot in a hole, and coming down threw the Commander-in-Chief with such force that his right shoulder was dislocated. This was soon remedied by the surgeons, but Lord Clyde was much shaken and obliged to follow the troops in a litter.

The operations were now rapidly coming to an end. On the 27th of December, hearing that a body of the enemy had collected in the fort of Mejidiah, Lord Clyde marched upon them, drove them out with his guns and then went in and took their artillery. It was a very strong place and its easy capture showed that the enemy had lost confidence. On the 30th Lord Clyde was informed that Nana Sahib and Bainie Madho were at Bankee, twenty miles north of Nanparah. He determined to march all night, and if possible, surprise them. This was the last action of the war on this side and resulted in a complete defeat of the enemy, who made hardly any stand. Nana Sahib, unhappily, got away. He was in a wood, two miles in rear of the position, when the guns opened. He gave orders for flight at once, and with elephants, bearing himself and his treasure, dashed over the Raptee into the Terai and Nepaul. Sir Hope Grant had followed his brother, Bala Rao, into the jungle beyond Toolsepore, and had dispersed his soldiery, taking fifteen guns. "Thus," says Lord Clyde, in his official report, "the contest in Oude has been brought to an end, and the resistance of 150,000 armed men subdued with a very moderate loss to her Majesty's troops, and a most merciful forbearance towards the misguided enemy." One after another the chiefs surrendered, and Major Barrow held his court to receive these rebels, who acknowledged that they had lost the game. The rebels, with the Nana and the Begum, were held fast in the Terai, where they perished one by one. The Nana and the Begum never reappeared. They may have found shelter in Nepaul or Tibet, but the probability is that they were eaten by wild beasts. All the other leaders, except Feroze Shah, of Delhi, were either captured, killed in action, or surrendering, were punished according to the nature of their crimes. Oude was disarmed, the forts of the talookdars were demolished; Lucknow was fortified, and the province was permanently occupied. Mr. Montgomery, and after him Mr. Wingfield, were left to reorganise the government. Lord Clyde went to Simla to restore his health, and Lord Canning returned to Calcutta to undertake the gigantic task of reorganising the whole Government of India on the new basis of Imperial rule, and as a fundamental step was obliged to take in hand the finances, which the mutiny had so greatly disordered. After the end of January, 1859, there were combats and skirmishes here and there with bodies of turbulent men, the dregs of the native armies raised by the rebellious chiefs; but they only measured the regular subsidence of the great tempest which had swept over the land. With one exception, we have now followed the track of every rebel leader to its close. That exception is the career of Tantia Topee, who, with Kour Singh, was the only able man thrown to the surface by these great events. His romantic course is worth sketching, at least in outline.

Driven from Gwalior, Tantia rode off to the westward. Pursued and stricken by Robert Napier, turned aside by the appearance of Brigadier Showers with the Agra troops at Futtehpore Sikri, he made with all speed for Jeypore, seizing camels, horses, elephants, carts, provisions, as he went. His object was to seize some large town and plunder it, taking arms and cannon and coin, and getting together as large a mass of mounted men as he could. The native ruler of Jeypore was on our side and there was, therefore, a double motive for saving him. Accordingly, General Roberts, as soon as he learned that Tantia was marching on Jeypore, broke up his camp at Nusseerabad and, by rapid forced marches, interposed just in time between the rebel and his prey. Frustrated in his move upon Jeypore, Tantia turned abruptly southward and rode straight for Tonk, a town and native principality on one of the affluents of the Chumbul. Roberts now followed and other columns closed from different quarters towards the rebel line of march. Tantia was first at Tonk. The rajah shut himself up in his fort and kept the enemy at bay, but he plundered the town and carried off four guns. Colonel Holmes now took up the chase, but was soon stopped by want of carriage. Then Roberts went on and by long marches overtook the enemy, forced him to an action and routed him. The light-heeled rebels rushed away towards Oodeypore. Roberts followed and overtook them again, this time getting well among them with his horsemen, cutting them up and retaking the Tonk guns. The enemy scattered to avoid the pursuing cavalry, and then crossing the Chumbul, and being reinforced by the desperadoes of the country-side, laid siege to and took the important town of Julra Patun. Here they levied very heavy contributions and obtained a large number of guns. This was Tantia's greatest triumph. He had sacked Julra Patun in the teeth of our troops.

But he dared not halt. Roberts was following. Smith's troops on the Agra trunk road were approaching him. The Mhow force, under General Michell, was preparing to strike. Tantia's object was now the Bhopal State; his ultimate design being to cross the Nerbudda and the Taptee, and breaking into the Deccan or Nagpore, raise a mighty insurrection and gather the Rohillas to his flag. This was a great danger, and it was necessary to strain every nerve to ward it off. Smith detached Robertson, of the 25th Bombay Native Infantry, and Michell moved up from Mhow. Robertson overtook part of the rebel force at Bajapore, mostly Sepoys, many wearing medals. He came upon them as they were cooking, drove them into and over a river, and killed many hundreds. Michell had even better fortune, for he routed the main body on the 13th of September, and took nearly thirty guns, the spoil of Julra Patun. Thus, headed off from Bhopal, Tantia hastened to Seronge, on the Betwa, and halted to refit and recruit. But he dared not stay long. His spies told him that columns were afoot, east, west, north, and south. So he broke up from Seronge a few hours before Captain Mayne rode in with part of Smith's force, and going northwards, attacked and captured Esaughur, a fortress belonging to Scindia. Smith and Mayne followed him, making a march on Esaughur in concert with troops from Jhansi and Gwalior. Again the rebel rapidly retreated, striking in between the advancing troops, and making eastward for the Betwa. He crossed this river on the 9th of October, intending to seize and plunder the friendly native State of Tehree. Here he had the aid of an ally. The Nawab of Banda came up the river on the left bank to oppose Michell advancing from Seronge, while Tantia sacked Tehree. But on the very day when Tantia crossed the Betwa, Michell met the nawab and, fighting him at once with characteristic vigour, routed him with great loss. In the meantime Tantia had formed a column on the road to Tehree; and when, on the 11th, he was moving back to the Betwa, Michell, who had crossed that river at Mungrowlee, fell in with Tantia at Sindwah and took four of his guns.

Thus frustrated and defeated, this persevering partisan fled first towards the north, but doubling back, stole away between his pursuers, and made for the Nerbudda, by way of Ratghur. He had not effected this movement without suffering one more defeat at the hands of the energetic and tireless Michell. In spite of these defeats Tantia was now apparently nearer than ever to the object of his endless manoeuvres; for, at the end of October, he actually crossed the upper waters of the Nerbudda, east of Hoosingabad. He had but to pass one line of posts, and he would be in Nagpore, or the Deccan. This was the one moment of great peril for us. If Tantia, with even a broken force of 7,000 men, entered the Deccan, he would in a week have been at the head of 100,000 men. The Government was really alarmed; but as the danger was greater, so were the means of parrying it greater, since Lord Elphinstone had pushed up a large force of European and native cavalry to render the hunt after Tantia more effective; while, from Kamptee, in Nagpore, to the Gulf of Cambay, there was a great stir of troops, and a readiness to move at the shortest notice to guard the passes, and fords, and great roads southwards. And the measures adopted proved to be effective. Tantia found he could not get farther than the hills of Sindwarra. Out of these he was forced by Lieutenant Kerr. Flying by devious routes, he sought the Nerbudda again; but, being headed, he turned westward, and traversed the hills between the Taptee and Nerbudda at racing speed. It is assumed that his aim was Candeish. Moving into Nimar, he actually prevailed on 1,000 men of Holkar's Horse to desert and join him, and with this reinforcement rode off to Burwanna, evading our troops. Finding it impossible to remain in the valley of the Nerbudda, or to break into Candeish, he once more crossed the great river and hurried into Malwa; not, however, before he had been hit very hard by a new enemy—the Camel Corps; that is, infantry mounted on camels. It was this force that drove Tantia over the river. Brigadier Parke now came up. He formed a flying column, all horsemen, except 100 Highlanders. With these he crossed the river, and marched 241 miles in nine days; he caught Tantia near Chota Oodeypore. Forced to fight, the rebel chief showed his usual judgment in the selection of a position on broken ground. Parke put his handful of Highlanders in the centre, and placed horse on the flanks, and formed a reserve wholly of cavalry. Then, although overlapped on both flanks, he charged in upon the foe, drove him from his strong ground, and pursued him for miles. He fled deeper into Malwa.

In the meantime Feroze Shah, who had been fighting in Oude, found a gap in Lord Clyde's line, and crossing the Goomtee, he made his way over the Ganges into the Doab. Here Brigadier Percy Herbert marched upon him, and, wresting from him his only gun, drove him over the Jumna. Feroze Shah made for the west. Robert Napier, hearing at Gwalior of the advent of this new foe, took with him 300 men, horse and foot, and marching 140 miles in four days, came up with the rebels at Runnode, smote them heavily and forced them to turn towards Kotah. Met at various points, Feroze Shah wound in and out and at length succeeded in crossing the Chumbul near Inderghur. Tantia Topee, smarting under the rough punishment inflicted by Parke, now sought to join the Delhi Shazadah. In spite of numerous defeats, he made for the Chumbul again, crossed it, and joined Feroze Shah somewhere in the Jeypore country. The whole of these operations were performed at racing speed between the 20th and 30th of December. Brigadier Showers got wind of their whereabouts, and marching ninety-four miles in three days, overtook the two worthies on the 16th of January, 1859, and slew some of their followers, but failed to catch chiefs who were so prone to fly at the sound of the cannon. Thus reduced to extremities, Feroze Shah disappeared and was never captured. Tantia Topee, making a fruitless effort to break into Bikaneer, doubled back again to Central India and, his fightings and flyings over, took to the jungle. Beset on all sides, having made many enemies, he dared not venture abroad, and his very life now depended on the fidelity of those who knew his secret. In April a native betrayed him; he was captured in the jungle near Seronge, tried by court martial, and hanged at Sepree, having furnished for ten months ample occupation to all the troops in Central India. With the capture and execution of Tantia Topee the war came to an end.

The struggle was over then, but now a new one arose. The stupendous exertions required to suppress the mutiny had created great confusion. Order, in another sense, had to be restored. The mutinous Sepoys, the rebellious rajahs and their followers, had been exterminated or quelled. Now it became of the last consequence to revive public confidence, to bring back order and solidity to the finances of the country, to re-establish the principles of government, and to reorganise the army. This gigantic task Lord Canning, aided by the Home Government, had to undertake and accomplish; a task not so exciting as that of suppressing a mutiny backed by insurrection, but perhaps even more laborious and exhausting, because more tedious.

A very few figures will serve to prove the magnitude of the financial undertaking. Just before the mutiny the Indian Budget showed a small surplus—contrary to the rule, which was that it should show a deficit. But the mutiny, as a matter of course, rapidly restored, in an aggravated form, the normal state of the finances. With a revenue of nearly £32,000,000, the Budget of 1857-8 showed a deficit of nearly £9,000,000, which in the next year rose at a bound to nearly £15,000,000, making a total deficit in two years of £24,000,000. The revenue, by dint of taxation, had actually increased during the first year of the mutiny; a fact that testified to the wonderful elasticity of the resources of India. The great deficit was provided for by loans, nearly one-half of which were raised in India itself, showing that public confidence in British power and good fortune had not been impaired, although the debt rose in two years to £81,500,000, and in three to £95,000,000. The question for Lord Canning and the Home Government to solve was, how to balance revenue and expenditure. In order to effect this, Sir Charles Wood determined to present India with a Chancellor of the Exchequer. In England, as all know, the Chancellor who has to meet the expenditure has also to provide the ways and means, and has, of course, considerable power and influence in the Government which decides on the policy, and, as a consequence, the expenses to be incurred. But in India the department that provided the money had no connection with the department that spent it. There were consequently carelessness, extravagance, and confused accounts. The first remedy, then, was to send out Mr. James Wilson, the well-known economist, a statesman familiar with our mode of keeping accounts, to take charge of the Indian department, with power and authority sufficient to combat and overcome the tendency to delay and obstruct but too common among the servants of both the great branches of the Government. Mr. Wilson went, restored order to the finances, and died in his duty; a great loss to India and to England. In addition to the gain we looked for by the adoption of a sound system worked out with vigilant superintendence, the Indian Government was obliged to have recourse to extra taxation. These labours began as soon as the insurrection was suppressed; and within five years of the end of these great troubles not only had the revenue increased, but the expenditure was appreciably diminished, and the Government of India was even able to reduce taxation and secure a small surplus.

The army presented difficulties as great as the finances. No sooner was one mutiny at an end than Government was threatened with another. We have already recorded the transfer of authority from the Company to the Crown. Under that Act the army became, of course, the Queen's army. Here, however, arose a serious difficulty. There were nearly 20,000 European soldiers who had enlisted to serve, not the Queen, but the Company. Technically, no doubt, they had all along been servants of the Queen, whose agent the Company was. But soldiers do not understand these refined distinctions; and when the men were simply told that they would in future be Queen's soldiers, they first murmured and then mutinied. The act of mutiny is always indefensible. In this case, however, it admits of some excuse; for, as the men said, the Government had no right to transfer them from one service to another, "like cattle." It was true: they had no moral and only a barely legal right. If, instead of dealing with the soldiers as if they were cattle, the Government had told them of the transfer, and given them a small bounty, the men would have been pleased with the consideration displayed; as it was, every one sympathised with the men who were punished, and even the Queen's troops betrayed a strong inclination to take their part, and gave unmistakable signs of their anger. And, after all, the Government had to do with an ill grace what it should have done at first with a good grace. And at great cost; for a bounty of £2 sterling per man would have amounted to only £40,000; whereas the course adopted—that of giving every man the option of taking his discharge—cost nearly a million; and many of the men, when brought home, re-enlisted.

CAPTURE OF TANTIA TOPEE. (See p. 283.)