Major-General Windham to the Governor-General of India in Council. (Telegraphic.) Cawnpore, 14th November, 1857, 8 P.M. News from Commander-in-Chief's camp at Alum Bâgh, 9 A.M., the 13th. After several skirmishes in the day, ending in the capture of two guns, the Fort of Jellalabad was taken and blown up. The Commander-in-Chief communicated with Sir J. Outram by means of a semaphore, and will probably occupy the Dil Khoosha to-day. The country people round Lucknow are hostile. Captain Bruce to the Governor-General of India in (Telegraphic.) Council. Cawnpore, 16th November, 1857, 11 A.M. The Commander-in-Chief occupied the Dil Khoosha and the Martinière after a running fight of two hours yesterday, at noon. The enemy came forward to attack at 3 P.M.; after a struggle of an hour he was beaten back, repulsed heavily. An advanced picquet having cleared some villages across the canal, we took post there for the night. Our loss was very trifling:-Lieutenant Mayne, Horse Artillery, Quartermaster-General's Department, and Lieutenant Wheatcroft, Carabineers, killed. The Governor-General of India in Council to Brigadier Campbell, Allahabad. (Telegraphic.) Calcutta, 17th November, 1857. Pray endeavour to send the following message to the Commanderin-Chief: "I have received your letter of the 10th. I earnestly hope it may be possible to avoid a total abandonment of Oude, and to retain a safe position at some point between Lucknow and the Ganges. A complete withdrawal will do us much mischief. "I write to-day." The Governor-General of India in Council to the Commander-in-Chief. (Telegraphic.) Calcutta, 21st November, 1857. I congratulate you, my dear Sir Colin, with all my heart, on this great and joyful success. Pray let me know how your wound is, and do not put yourself in the way of another. You have effectually inspired your 93rd. I fear their whole loss must be very great. The Commander-in-Chief to the Governor-General of India in Council. (Telegraphic.) Camp, Lucknow, 20th November, 1857, 6 P.M. The garrison of Lucknow has been removed, and I am now engaged in carrying the women and wounded to the rear. I propose to move the whole force to an open position outside the town, without further loss of life. Sir James Outram, on the contrary, desires that an attack on the Kaiser Bâgh should be made, and then to continue to hold the position in the town. He thinks that two strong brigades of 600 men would suffice to hold the town after the Kaiser Bâgh had fallen. But I am of opinion that at least the same force would be necessary to preserve the communication now mentioned by me to the Alum Bâgh, and constantly under the fire of the enemy that is to say, four strong brigades would be required, unless it is wished that the garrison should be again besieged. I have always been of opinion that the position taken up by the lamented Sir Henry Lawrence was a false one; and after becoming acquainted with the ground, and worked my troops upon it to relieve the garrison, that opinion is confirmed. I therefore submit, that to commit another garrison in this immense city is to repeat a military error, and I cannot consent to it. I conceive that a strong moveable division outside the town, with field and heavy artillery in a good military position, is the real manner of holding the city of Lucknow in check, according to our practice with the other great city of India. Such a division would aid in subduing the country hereafter, and its position would be quite sufficient evidence of our intention not to abandon the province of Oude. Such are the general grounds for my opinion. The more special ones are the want of means, particularly infantry; field and musket ammunition for prolonged operations, owing to circumstances beyond my control; and the state of our communications in the North-West Provinces. The first of these is, of course, unanswerable; the second appears to me an insuperable objection to the leaving of more troops in Oude than such a division as I have mentioned, as evidence of the intentions of Government. In the meantime I await the instructions of your Lordship in the position I have taken up. Owing to the expression of opinion by the political authority in the country, I have delayed further movement till I shall receive your Lordship's reply. The Governor-General of India in Council to the Commander-in-Chief. (Telegraphic.) Calcutta, 21st November, 1857, 3 P.M. I have received your message of yesterday. The one step to be avoided is, a total withdrawal of the British forces from Oude. Your proposal to leave a strong moveable division, with heavy artillery, outside the city, and so to hold the city in check, will answer every purpose of policy. Major-General Windham to the Governor-General of (Telegraphic.) India in Council. Cawnpore, 23rd November, 1857, 4 P.M. Not a word from Lucknow for three days. One-half the Gwalior Contingent has crossed, and eighteen guns. The force at Shewalee has moved towards Akberpore. Captain Bruce's police were attacked at Bunnee the day before yesterday; 74 killed. I sent LieutenantColonel Fischer, and 400 of the 27th Madras Native Infantry, and two 9-pounders, this morning at 3 A.M., to hold the place for the future. The police having absconded after the convoy of 300 Europeans I had sent, under command of Fischer, of her Majesty's 53rd, had passed to Alum Bagh with ammunition. The Commander-in-Chief to the Governor-General of India in Council. (Telegraphic.) Lucknow, 23rd November, 1857. Last night I caused the garrison of Lucknow to execute its retreat from the Residency, covered by the relieving force, which then fell back on Dil Khoosha, in the presence of the whole force of Oude. The women, wounded, and State prisoners, and King's treasure, and twentythree lakhs of rupees, with all the guns worth taking away, are in my camp: a great many guns were destroyed before the Residency was given up, those that were worth bringing having been transported with much labour and made available for our own purpose. The State prisoners were brought with us. Maior-General Windham to the Governor-General of (Telegraphic.) India in Council. Cawnpore, 27th November, 1857, 10 A.M. All going on well at Alum Bâgh. General Havelock died two days ago. Captain Bruce to the Governor-General of India in (Telegraphic.) Council. Cawnpore, 27th November, 1857, 10 A.M. I am desired by the Commander-in-Chief to transmit the following to your Lordship, dated Alum Bagh, 24th November : "I have arrived here with all the long convoy attendant upon the rescued garrison. I propose to march the day after to-morrow for Bunnee, leaving Sir James Outram with a division, which will be complete in all details except carriage." The Governor-General of India in Council to Brigadier Inglis, Cawnpore. (Telegraphic.) Calcutta, 3rd December, 1857. I have heard of your arrival at Cawnpore with the greatest pleasure, and I beg you and your gallant band to accept my hearty congratulations. I thank you for your admirable report of the 27th September, and for your letter. The report will be gazetted in time for the English mail. I shall be glad if a return of casualties can arrive before that, but the publication of the report shall not be delayed. Be sure that justice shall be done by me to your truly heroic companions and to yourself. Captain Bruce to the Governor-General of India (Telegraphic.) in Council. Cawnpore, 5th December, 1857, 7 P.M. The following has only just reached me, and, although his Excellency is now in camp, the information has not been previously communicated; therefore, I forward it to your Lordship. From the Commander-in-Chief to the Governor-General, Camp, near Alum Bagh, 26th November, 1857 : "I march to-morrow for Bunnee, with all the wounded, &c. I leave Sir James Outram in possession, with a force, including the post of Alum Bagh and Bunnee, of 4,000 men, with twenty-two guns, of which four are heavy, besides ten mortars, namely, six 8-inch and four 5-inch. If it is completed with a month's supplies and ammunition of every description (and I have denuded my moveable columns of tents to supply his troops, which will be in a standing camp), I think his position a good one; but I learn from him that he would rather have it farther back, near the Ganges. Sir James will probably address your Lordship on the subject. I beg only to report that your Lordship's instructions have been carried out to the letter." Here terminates the correspondence, &c., relative to the relief of Lucknow. On the extrication of the garrison, in November, 1857, Sir Colin Campbell redistributed his army, which then consisted of three different elements: the European and native force which had served under Sir John Inglis; the force with which Generals Havelock and Outram effected the first relief in September; and that with which Sir Colin Campbell succeeded in effecting the second relief in November. With the main body of the redistributed army, he escorted the women and children, with the original garrison and the sick and wounded, to Cawnpore, leaving Sir James Outram to hold the armed hordes of Lucknow in check, until circumstances admitted of his undertaking the recapture of that city. Sir James Outram was engaged in the execution, of this very delicate and difficult duty from the 25th November, 1857, till the beginning of March, 1858, during which period he had to conduct a copious correspondence; but this, having reference to his duties, present and prospective, in his capacity of Chief Commissioner of Oude, he has not felt himself at liberty to print, though portions of it have already been published by authority of Parliament. The active part he took in the operations which resulted in the final capture of Lucknow, is sufficiently elucidated in the despatches which immediately precede the correspondence. On the fall of Lucknow, there devolved on him the difficult and important duty of re-establishing order in that city, obtaining the confidence and securing the return of its peaceable inhabitants, and extemporizing a civil government for the province. But, for reasons which the parliamentary papers have made known, and which it is unnecessary to allude to in this place, he begged to be speedily relieved of his duties as Chief Commissioner of Oude, and to be permitted to proceed to Calcutta to occupy that seat in the Supreme Council of India, to which, some months previously, he had been provisionally appointed by the Court of Directors. On the 3rd April, therefore, he handed over his office to Mr. (now Sir Robert) Montgomery, and left Lucknow amidst the affectionate and tearful farewells of the whole army. Were the editor at liberty to consult his own wishes, he would in this place reproduce some of the affecting descriptions of Sir James's departure from Lucknow that appeared in the Indian newspapers of that day; but, knowing that this would not be approved by Sir James himself, he abstains from doing so. The same consideration has prevented him from giving insertion in this volume to the very touching testimonials of the devotion with which Sir James was regarded by the regiments which served under him both in Persia and India, contained in a correspondence which has been submitted to the editor, and which it would doubtless gratify these regiments to have printed. |