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ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF SERVICE.

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devotion with which the gallant dead, and equally gallant survivors, staked their lives to rescue the Lucknow garrison, will be deeply appreciated by our Queen and our country; and the safety of those whom we, under God's blessing, have been permitted to redeem from a dreadful fate, must be our consolation for the loss of so many of our noble comrades.

The Major-General begs to return his most sincere and heartfelt thanks to the General and his gallant army for their glorious exertions, the only acknowledgment of their achievements which it is in his power to render. On General Havelock it will devolve, in his reports to the Commander-in-Chief, to do justice to the army which has so devotedly carried out his orders. But while fully aware that every arm was stimulated by the same brave spirit, the Major-General deems it right to bear his personal testimony to the admirable conduct of such of the troops as acted under his immediate observation. He would specially note the behaviour of the 90th Regiment, who led the advance of the left attack at Mungulwura; that of the Volunteer Cavalry, who charged the artillery of the retiring enemy, and captured two of their guns; that of the 84th and detachment of the 64th attached to it, who led the attack on the enemy's left at Alumbagh; that of Captain Olpherts's battery, who so bravely followed up their retreat on that occasion-as of Major Eyre's battery, in opposing the enemy who afterwards bore on their position; that of the 5th Fusiliers and Captain Maude's battery, who led the column on the 25th instant, under a most murderous fire; that of the 1st Fusiliers (Madras), who charged the bridge and battery at the entrance of the city, headed by the gallant Assistant Adjutant-General, Lieutenant Havelock; and finally that of the 78th Highlanders, who led the advance on the Residency, headed by their brave commander, Colonel Stisted, accompanied by the gallant Lieutenant Hargood, aide-de-camp to General Havelock; Captain Grant, 1st Madras Fusiliers; Lieutenant Hudson, 64th Regiment, and Lieutenant Chamier, aide-de-camp.

A supplementary order supplies an inadvertent omission to mention the good service rendered by the gallant Captain Brasyer and his regiment of Firuzpúr, which had come under the Major-General's personal observation.

In his despatch of September 30 he alluded to the

completion by the enemy of six mines. To the credit of the ever-honoured garrison it should be stated that, however skilfully these were designed, and however cautiously worked out, our vigilant engineers had become aware of their existence in time to render them innocuous by countermining. But there was no question of the risk of delay; and the following extract from the same despatch notices the course pursued in hastening the expected succour :

To force our way through the city would have proved a very desperate operation, if indeed it could have been accomplished. After passing the bridge, therefore, which is at the entrance, General Havelock took his force by a detour to the right, where but little means comparatively of opposition had been prepared, until he approached the front of the Kaisar Bagh,' whence a heavy fire was opened upon us; and from that point (through a limited extent of about a quarter of a mile of street which then intervened before reaching the Residency), the troops were much exposed to the fire of the enemy occupying the houses on both sides, as well as to some of the besieging guns which had been turned against us, besides being obstructed by ditches which had been cut across the street-all which obstacles were overcome by the usual gallantry and dash of British troops, but at a heavy cost. The Residency was gained in the evening; and the cheers of our rescued comrades overcame for the time our regrets for the many who had fallen in their cause.

Relief or reinforcement-or whatever name be applied to it-the great feat of arms achieved on this occasion has been commemorated in Brigadier-General Havelock's official report from which we have already quoted. But the details supplied by minor actors in, and independent historians of the Indian Mutiny must be studied and understood if justice is to be done to the glorious march of the 2,0001 from the 'Alambágh to the Lakhnau Residency on September 25, 1857.

The number roughly given in Outram's telegram as having 'forced their way into the city,' 3,179 of all arms, was the estimated force at Havelock's disposal; but from this must be deducted the garrison, and sick and wounded at the 'Alam-bágh.

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CHAPTER III.

1857.

Lakhnau, from September 25 to November 22, 1857-Relief and withdrawal of the garrison-Death of Sir H. Havelock.

THE Generals had not needed to speak face to face with the gallant defenders of the Residency, to realise the stubborn fact that the bold stroke which they had accomplishedwhatever its moral effect-was no literal or effectual relief. Outward signs had suggested this truth to them before they had crossed the canal south of Lakhnau; and every step of their passage through the occupied part of the town had tended to confirm their belief in the persistent character of the local rising. But it turned out, notwithstanding, that Outram had been right in his anticipation that a decided success at that particular time would have been followed by immediate restoration of British ascendency in Oudh. It was in fact a crisis with our foes as with us; and if the relieving force had been large enough and mobile enough to follow up its victory, every purpose might then have been accomplished. It is probable that aggression would have ceased and resistance become desultory; while provisions would have been obtainable, together with transport for the withdrawal of the garrison and for further operations. Some of the enemy's positions around the Residency were accidentally found to be empty that night, which confirmed the intelligence, afterwards collated from various sources, to the effect that the same state of things prevailed generally, that

the regular sipahis, with the exception of the artillerymen, had in fact fled, and that opposition was confined to the irregulars and bad-ma'áshes.' The great Zamindárs and their retainers, as yet half-hearted and but partially compromised, were ready to accept the proffered mercy, while the mass of the trading population of the city were eager only for restoration of peace and security. But our true position became manifest in the morning; and the heads of the many soldiers who had fallen into the enemy's hands were despatched in all directions as unquestionable proofs of victory to our assailants and of disaster to ourselves. Then a reaction set in which brought back the fugitives to their abandoned positions, decided all waverers against us, and effected a cohesion among the discordant elements of rebellion such as had not before existed. Under the Bigam and Maulavi the armed hosts of Lakhnau became a fairly coherent army which, well equipped as it was, attracted to itself the scattered remnants of sipahis and fanatics dislodged from Delhi and other centres by our advancing armies. Thus it became more formidable week by week, and the worn defenders of the Residency, waking to the bitter reality, found themselves only reinforced after all, and that without being revictualled. True that they would be hard pressed no longer, and the incessant hail of bullets and round shot which they had so long endured was to be modified into an occasional visitation of such missiles. But privations must be increased rather than otherwise, and the long-deferred release indefinitely postponed once more. Nobly did they respond to this severe test, and no less nobly did the brave men who had hazarded all for their rescue take their place beside them, and share their hardships.

Varied then were Outram's emotions as he, almost the

1 The bad-ma’ásh, lit., man of ‘bad life,' is the Indian vagabond or blackguard.

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THE LAKHNAU RESIDENCY.

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first to enter the battered entrenchment, received the enthusiastic greetings of many an old and many a new friend on that eventful evening-among them standing safe, though hardly well, a valued brother-in-law, Lieutenant J. C. Anderson, then Commanding Engineer officer. All was rejoicing around him, and he shared in it with the full warmth of his sympathetic nature. But there, in the gloom, stood the shattered ruins of what had been his home, and around its crumbled walls clustered sad memories. There had the noblest of his friends made his last glorious effort to do his duty.' Of all contemporaries, perhaps, Henry Lawrence had been most akin, in spirit and in career, to James Outram, and though seldom brought into personal contact, each held a very high place in the other's heart. There it had been the great delight of his own and Lady Outram's daily life to make all comers welcome to their open house.' And of these, how many a brave heart, full of life and hope and zeal, had been stilled for ever-how many a bright young form had been bowed to death or bitter widowhood, during the few short months of his absence. Truly, sorrow could not but intrude on joy. And now came a burden of responsibility such as falls to the lot of few men in a century. Never in his life did he experience anxiety such as he passed through during that closing week of September. The strain was great, indeed terrible. Before him loomed the near prospect of utter failure of provisions, and it soon became evident that to withdraw the non-combatants from the garrison and to obtain supplies would be alike impossible. As he brooded over this, one thing he inwardly resolved, that whatever the extremity, the surrender of Kánhpur should not be imitated.

1 In a letter addressed to Outram in Persia, Henry Lawrence thus alludes to his acceptance of the Oudh appointment offered to him by Lord Canning:'I felt I could hardly refuse. I go, however, with a faint heart, and would much rather be your Chief of Staff. Will Lugard change? Ask him, with my love.'