Capture of 1858 this revolt than the rapidity with which the insurgent A.d. sepoys rallied after a defeat, and presented a new and more formidable array. Tantia Topee, Gwalior by after his defeat at Koonch, proceeded to Gwalior the rebels. to organise a conspiracy against Sindia. The troops driven from Calpee hastened to join him, and within a week a force of 18,000 mutineers was embodied in the cantonment at the capital. Sindia's able minister, Dinkur Rao, advised him to await the arrival of the troops which were marching down from Agra, but his ardent spirit led him to attack them with his household troops, about 8,000 in number, who either joined the rebels or withdrew from the field, and on the 1st of June he fled to Agra. The rebels then took possession of the capital, and supplied themselves with stores and ammunition from the royal arsenal, and, with the far-famed Gwalior artillery, plundered the treasury of half a crore of rupees, distributed six months' pay to each sepoy, and then proclaimed Nana Sahib, Peshwa. Sir Hugh, on receiving intelligence of this astounding event, resumed the command he had laid down, and hastened on to Gwalior without a moment's delay, Recovery of though the heat was 130° in the shade; and on Gwalior. the morning of the 16th June, though the troops were exhausted with marching all night, attacked the sepoys at once, and chased them with heavy loss from the cantonment. The next day, Brigadier's Smith's column came up from the westward, driving the rebels before him, and it was in his last charge that the valiant ranee, who had taken a share in every engagement since she left Jhansi, was killed by a hussar who was ignorant of her sex. On the 18th, the whole of the enemy's entrenchments and positions were stormed and fifty guns captured, and they sought refuge in flight; but a compact body of 6,000 with a splendid field artillery retired in good order from the field, when Brigadier Napier hastened after them with 600 cavalry and six field guns, and, dashing into the midst of their ranks, put them to utter rout. With this brilliant action the campaign was brought to a close, and Sindia remounted his throne amidst the acclamations of his subjects. LLY SECTION IV. LORD CANNING'S ADMINISTRATION-THE MUTINY EXTINGUISHED. The Dooab A.D. DURING these operations, which completely crushed the 1858 mutiny in Central India, Sir Colin Campbell was employed in extinguishing it on the east of the Jumna. His first object was to clear the Dooab, lying between that river and the Ganges. Towards the end of November, Colonel Seaton left Delhi with a movable column and marched downwards, while General Walpole moved upwards. The sepoys were beaten in every encounter, and the power of the nabob of Futtyghur, who had assumed independence early in the mutiny, was annihilated. By the end of December the authority of the Company was re-established throughout these districts, and Sir Ĉolin Campbell found himself at the head of 10,000 troops at Futtygurh. The mutiny was now confined to the two provinces of Rohilcund and Oude, but Sir Colin, whose movements would have been more successful and satisfactory if they had been less tardy, wasted two months idly in this neighbourhood. Meanwhile, General Franks was organising a force at Benares, which eventually amounted to 6,000 men, to clear March into the lower portion of Oude of the rebel bands, and Oude. in his triumphant progress defeated them at every stage. Jung Bahadoor, the regent, but in reality the ruler, of Nepaul, marched down with a body of 9,000 hardy Goorkhas to assist the British Government in the reconquest of Oude, and on two occasions defeated the insurgents with great slaughter. Sir James Outram, who had been left in command at the Alum-baug, had been twice assailed by the rebel army and population of Lucknow, and had dispersed them though six times his number. At length, on the last day of February, Sir Colin Campbell saw his force, consisting of 18,277 horse, foot, and artillery, Europeans and Sikhs, across the Ganges, and on the 5th March was encamped at the Dilkoosha outside the fortifications of the city, where he was joined by the army of General Franks and Jung Bahadoor. The siege opened on the 6th. The defence was the most obstinate our arms had ever encountered in India, not excepting even that of Delhi. The rebels were animated by the presence of the begum of Oude, a woman of indomitable A.d energy, who had been the soul of the insurrection and had 1858 prevailed on the chiefs and sepoys to recognise her son as king. During the time lost at Futtygurh, the mutineers had availed themselves of the opportunity of improving the defences of the city, and the extraordinary industry displayed by them had seldom been equalled, and never surpassed, in India. Every outlet had been covered with a work, and barricades and loopholed parapets had been constructed in every direction. The various buildings formed a range of massive palaces and walled courts of vast extent, and they had been fortified with great skill. It was not till after ten days of incessant fighting that the recovery of the city was complete; but by some mismanagement on the part of one of the British commanders, Sir Colin was deprived of the full fruit of victory by the escape of the greater part of the mutineers, together with their leaders. The number of killed and wounded throughout the siege did not exceed 900. It was impossible to restrain the victorious soldiers from the rich plunder of the city, of which, however, the largest share fell to the Goorkhas, who returned to Nepaul with some thousand cartloads of spoil. On the capture of Lucknow, Lord Canning, on the 31st of March, directed Sir James Outram, the chief commissioner, to issue a proclamation confiscating the Confiscation proprietary right of every estate in Oude, with of the land the exception of six zemindarees. Sir James in Oude. earnestly remonstrated against the injustice, as well as the impolicy, of a measure which confounded the innocent with the guilty, and could not fail to retard the peaceful settlement of the kingdom. The proclamation was repudiated in England by a spiteful and sarcastic despatch from Lord Ellenborough, then President of the Board of Control, but Lord Canning was, in the meanwhile, induced to mitigate the severity of the order, and to entrust large discretionary powers to Mr.-now Sir Robert-Montgomery, the successor of Sir James Outram, who had been raised to Council. He concluded a fresh settlement with the Talookdars, the proudest aristocracy in India, upon a moderate rental, and gave them the advantage of a new and Parliamentary title to their estates, and, moreover, endeavoured to attach them to the interests of the Government by appointing them honorary magistrates. Bareilly the capital of Rohilcund was held by Khan Bahadoor Khan, a descendant of Hafiz Ruhmut, of the days 1858 Operations cund. A.D. of Hastings, who had proclaimed his independence in the early stages of the mutiny, and put two judges in Rohil- to death under the mimic forms of European justice. In the town were collected the begum of Oude, the Nana, Prince Feroze, and the other chiefs and rebels who had escaped from Lucknow, and three columns were sent against it. One column, 6,000 strong, with light and heavy artillery under Brigadier Walpole came upon a petty fortification, fifty miles from Lucknow, consisting of nothing but a high loop-holed wall and a ditch, held by about 400 men. Instead of shelling them out, the commander, contrary to the express injunctions of Sir Colin Campbell, determined to carry it by assault, but the assailants were driven back with the loss of 100 men, among whom was Brigadier the Hon. Adrian Hope, "the most "gallant and best beloved soldier in the army," the idol of his own Highlanders, who invoked malisons on the Commander. By the beginning of May, the columns under the personal command of Sir Colin closed upon Bareilly, which was speedily captured with all its stores and ammunition; but the prize was again lost; the rebel chiefs, with the bulk of their armed followers, made their escape. They were followed up by Sir Hope Grant, and a body of 16,000 posted in a jungle at Nabob-gunge was attacked and defeated, but the indefatigable begum rallied her forces anew on the Gogra, where she was again assailed and routed. She was hunted from post to post down to the Raptee, where, although hemmed in on every side, she made her escape across the river, together with the remaining leaders and their followers, and got away safe into the Nepaul territory. Jung Bahadoor did not refuse permission to Lord Canning to pursue the fugitives, and thousands perished under British weapons and from the malaria of the terace. The mutiny was virtually at an end, though in some districts bands of rebels continued for several months to maintain a show of resistance. The Nana and his brother died in the jungles of Nepaul during 1859; the begum found a peaceful asylum at Katmandhoo; Prince Feroze made his way through Oude and joined Tantia Topee in Central India, where he was moving about with the remainder of his troops and a large amount of treasure, baffling the various columns which were in pursuit of him. He was at length betrayed by his most trusty companion, and was seized on the 7th April while asleep in the jungle, and tried and executed at Sepree. With the exception of the ranee of Jhansi and the begum of Oude, he was the only great leader A.D. whom the rebellion produced, and the extraordinary energy 1859 and valour he displayed might have entitled him to a more lenient penalty; but, for the monster who had taken his seat on a stage and directed the diabolic massacre at the ghaut of Cawnpore, there could be no compassion. On the 8th July 1859, peace was proclaimed by Lord Canning throughout India; and on the 12th October he made a royal progress through the provinces, receiving the homage of chiefs and nobles. On the 3rd November he held a durbar at Cawnpore, with a display of magnificence well suited to captivate the native mind, and to demonstrate the restoration of British power. All the loyal chiefs were collected at that brilliant assembly, and as the representative of the Queen who had assumed the sovereignty of India, he decorated them with dresses of honour and titles of distinction. The mutiny has been attributed by different writers to a variety of causes-to the annexations during Lord Dalhousie's administration; to the rapid introduction Cause of the of improvements, such as the rail and the tele- mutiny. graph, which bewildered the native mind; to the spread of English education and European science, which were undermining Hindooism and disquieting the orthodox; and to a national revolt against British authority. On the other hand, Sir John Lawrence asserted, "The mutiny had "its origin in the army itself; it is not attributable to any "external or antecedent conspiracy whatever, although it 66 was taken advantage of by disaffected persons to compass "their own ends; the approximate cause was the cartridge "affair, and nothing else." But we live too near this stupendous event, and the excitement it created is as yet too fervid, to admit of a calm judgment of its origin, which must be left to the unruffled determination of posterity when it has ceased to be a party question. To assist that decision, it may be remarked that the conduct of the people, even in the most disturbed districts in the north-west, was eminently neutral. The agricultural, the mercantile, and the industrial population, made no demonstration in favour of the revolt. There was no insurrection where there were no sepoys; the Sikhs, and more particularly the rajas in the Cis Sutlej states, rendered the most essential service in quelling the insurrection; the princes in Rajpootana were perfectly loyal; Sindia, Holkar, the begum of Bhopal, and the nabob of Rampoora, sided with the British Government; the Nepaul cabinet sent down 9,000 troops to its aid. In |