CHAPTER II.

1857.

Summons to India.—Arrival at Bombay and Calcutta.--Appointed to command two divisions of the Bengal Army.-Moves up the river to Banáras, Allahabad, and Kánhpur.-Advance upon Lakhnau.-The troops reach the Residency.

'WRITE to Sir James Outram, that I wish him to return to India immediately, and the same to General Jacob-we want all our best men here.' Such was the telegram which Lord Canning addressed to Lord Elphinstone, and which the latter nobleman forwarded to the commander of the Persian Expeditionary Force, with a letter dated June 3, 1857. There was meaning in the words; the crisis was urgent; it was no time for empty compliment; plain truths were shorter, too, than conventional circumlocution. Outram received the summons at Bushahr when arriving at that place on or about the 13th of the inonth, and he lost no time in re-embarking for Karáchi, accompanied by General Lugard and other officers of the staff. This arrangement would not greatly delay his passage to the Presidency, and would enable him to consult with the Commissioner in Sindh as to the necessity for General Jacob's immediate return to that province. He could not make up his mind to dispense thus suddenly with the services of an officer so valuable in his position at the head of the troops still in Persia, until he had ascertained what would be the further pleasure of the Indian Government, when made aware of his own particular views on the subject. On June 26, his arrival at Bombay was notified by telegraph to the Governor-General; but no reply to his

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BRIEF DETENTION AT BOMBAY.

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repeated request for instructions having reached him, he took the steamer leaving for Galle on July 9, intending to avail himself of the first opportunity to continue his voyage to the Húgli. A few days before this, he had arranged a carriage dâk to Dhúlia in Khandesh, whence he was to make his way to Máo, and so on to his head-quarters as Political Agent in Rajputána; but the spread of the insurrection in Western India had compelled him to change his plans; and as the prevalence of the monsoon was opposed to his passage to Gujrát by sea, he determined to proceed at once to Calcutta. Thence he hoped to reach Agra in a week; and from Agra his further course would be guided by circumstances.1

While awaiting orders at Bombay, under the Governor's hospitable roof, his attention was naturally engaged in gaining every information on the rebellion, which had already assumed formidable proportions, and in discussing those measures which appeared the more practical for its early suppression. Nor was his action at this time confined to personal consultation with Lord Elphinstone, with whom, as we have already seen, he had been in such constant correspondence during the Persian campaign. His official letter to the Governor, dated July 7, makes the sensible proposition that, instead of increasing the strength of native infantry regiments, as then determined, by 200 men added to the ranks, two supernumerary companies, to be afterwards embodied, should be raised for each. The promotion of native commissioned and non-commissioned officers entailed hereby would be but a just acknowledgment, it was argued, of the loyalty shown by the local troops, and the

After Sir James Outram's departure from Bombay, Lord Elphinstone received a telegram from the Governor-General to the effect that he should be placed in command of the troops in Central India; but a subsequent telegram ruled his despatch to Calcutta. A copy of the former was put into the General's hands at Madras; but, fortunately, no steamer was there available to admit of his return. The Nubia' had just left the roads on her way to Suez.

substantial boon conferred would act as an encouragement to continued faithful service. Sir Patrick Grant subsequently expressed his high approval of the suggestion. He had himself proposed a similar modification of the scheme of increase to the Madras army.

Outram reached Calcutta on July 31, and was welcomed on board by Lord Dunkellin, who brought an invitation to Government House, where he took up his quarters. Writing to Lord Elphinstone the second day after disembarkation, he mentioned that events had occurred in Dánapur and elsewhere which called for his 'immediate services in command of the two divisions of the Bengal army,' occupying the country from Calcutta to Kánhpur inclusive. On August 5, his nomination to this double charge appeared in general orders. But this was not all the task allotted to the soldieradministrator. The Chief Commissionership of Oude, resigned by him fifteen months before, and now vacant by the death of Sir Henry Lawrence, was to be joined to the military control.

The whole situation was critical, and we note it as it appeared to Outram himself the day after he had been gazetted to his all-important office. General Havelock, after the victories of Unao and Bashirat-ganj on July 29, had fallen back to within six miles of Kánhpur to await reinforcements. Whence to furnish these with promptitude was a difficult question in the disturbed state of the country below and on all sides. Neill had sent him a company of the 84th and two guns out of Kánhpur, but he could do no more—and yet a rapid advance seemed urgent for the safety of the Lakhnau garrison, hemmed in as it was by a large force which, keeping up an unremitting fire, progressed from day to day to closer quarters, both by advance above ground and by the still more dangerous process of mining below. There were barely enough troops to hold Kánhpur.

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THE SITUATION IN INDIA.

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The well-equipped and organised Gwáliar contingent hung like a thunder cloud, ready to burst either upon it or upon Agra, which was now completely isolated and contained a garrison only sufficient to hold the overcrowded fort. From Dehli came the same pressing demand for material aid; and though the besieging force was described as in 'excellent heart and health,' it was really besieged itself, and no expectation was held out of attempting an assault on the city until more troops could arrive from the eastward. The Panjab trembled in the balance, uncertain of the issue, and preserved to us only by the personal qualities of John Lawrence and his lieutenants. In this emergency, the fall of Lakhnau, or failure to maintain our advanced position towards its relief, might lead to incalculable mischief, in addition to the fearful calamity of the sacrifice of Inglis and his precious charge. For, supposing the enemy's legions to be once released from Oudh, there was great probability that Allahabad and Banáras would be beleaguered before competent reinforcements could come up to the rescue; or that the ranks of the insurgent army at Dehli would be so strengthened as to compel General Wilson to raise the siege, and thus, probably, seal the fate of Agra and the Panjáb; in other words, of Northern India.

Such being the state of things above Allahabad, how was it between that all important point and Calcutta? The chain of positions along the river was maintained by small and miscellaneous detachments, scarcely adequate to hold their own in case of attack. Not only so, but at Dánapurthe cantonment which overawed the great city of Patna, the most virulent focus of Muhammadanism in Indiathe mutinous native regiments had just been permitted to escape with their arms, to muster round Kunwar Singh, and to besiege Wake's gallant little band at Árah. Thus the action of the only body of European troops, sufficiently

VOL. II.

numerous to spare a few men for other places, had been paralysed. Nay, more; the catastrophe of Dunbar's costly defeat, in his attempt to relieve Árah on July 29, had just been reported. So Bahár was' up,' under an enterprising chief, and it seemed difficult to exaggerate the probable effects of such disaster, at the very heart of our road communication with Banaras.. We all know now how the providential appearance on the scene of an exceptional soldier, Brevet Major Vincent Eyre, followed by his singularly prompt and skilful action, altered the state of affairs, and saved Bahár just at the critical moment. He relieved Árah on the 3rd, and dispersed Kunwar Singh's forces at Jagdispur on August 11, but at Calcutta only disaster had been heard of as yet, and in a letter written a few hours before he sailed, all Outram could say of 'Captain Eyre' was, that he ' and his bullock battery' were somewhere between Dinapore and Benares.'

6

This very brief and imperfect survey of the aspect of affairs, as viewed from Government House on August 6, will enable us to appreciate the position of the officer who now became responsible for the peace of the country from Calcutta upwards. The reinforcements at his disposal consisted nominally of H.M. 5th and 90th Foot, and Eyre's battery, on their way up the river, and of sundry portions of Havelock's regiments, detained at stations en route. These last were to be exchanged for other small detachments, or, as was afterwards remarked in regard to Sir Colin Campbell's measures, 'torn from the reluctant grasp of the civil authorities.' Some companies of the 5th, so appropriated, had to be released. The nature of the emergency rendered it imperative to hurry upwards every available man. As regards

1 These are spoken of as 'regiments,' but they were not sent up complete, for, on August 25, the Governor-General promised that over 400 of them, then in Calcutta, would be despatched by bullock-train at the rate of eighty a day.