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lock, Sir John Inglis, as well as many of their subordinate officers; and it is the same with the Correspondence.

Had the Editor consulted his own inclinations, he would. have interspersed the Despatches and Correspondence in such a manner as to form the whole into a continuous narrative. But, as Sir James Outram sent them home in separate fasciculi, the Editor has assumed that he wished them to be printed separately; though in the Parliamentary Blue Books no such technical distinction is maintained.

The Correspondence, it will be seen, does not extend beyond the date on which Sir James Outram took up his position on the plain of Alumbagh, to hold the armed hosts of Lucknow in check until the Commander-in-Chief should be in a position to undertake the capture of that city. There are many who will regret this: but the reason is obvious. Whatever differences of opinion may have existed, after that date, between Sir James and the Governor-General as to questions of policy, up to that period, the most perfect unanimity prevailed among all those on whom it devolved to guard the interests and honour of their country, either in the Cabinet or the Field: had they been brothers, it is impossible that a more affectionate cordiality or a more perfect harmony of views could have characterized their communications. It is gratifying to observe the incessant exertions made by the Governor-General and the Commanderin-Chief to supply Generals Outram and Havelock with the troops of which they stood so urgently in need, and curious to mark the extraordinary value attached to Europeans: even reinforcements of twenty or thirty men are announced by telegraph to the expectant Generals, and the grateful thanks of the latter for such valuable aid are promptly returned by the same

agency.

The Editor has, in obedience to his instructions, excised a portion of the Correspondence, both epistolary and telegraphic. He, however, trusts that he has not done so to such an extent as to impair the interest of the volume.

One portion of the Correspondence the Editor may possibly

be blamed by some for suppressing-that referring to the measures adopted and the severe orders issued by Sir James Outram on his way to Cawnpore, with the object of repressing the spirit of vengeance which had displayed itself among our European soldiers; who were too apt to regard every sepoy as a mutineer, and every native inhabitant of hostile villages as a treacherous enemy whom it was just to slay and criminal to spare. The reproduction of what was written on the subject would indeed bring into pleasant relief the equanimity and humanity of the officer whom Lord Canning had selected to reduce the Central Provinces to order, and to be the exponent and enforcer of his own merciful policy; but it would, at the same time, awaken painful reminiscences, and revive incidents which, lamentable as they were, have been greatly exaggerated. Sir James Outram's Orders on these events, though virulently assailed at the time by some newspaper critics, have since met with general approval; and from the first they received the cordial approbation of both Lord Canning and Sir Colin Campbell.

From the Correspondence it will be seen how eager the Commander-in-Chief ever showed himself to protect his Generals from the injustice of the Press. Sir James Outram having been denounced for having retarded the progress of some troops, when at the very time he was straining every nerve to hasten their advance, Sir Colin Campbell, who would probably have allowed a hundred such diatribes to pass unnoticed had they only affected himself, hastened to vindicate the reputation of his Lieutenant through the medium of a General Order.

The Despatches and Correspondence tell their own tale. In a few, but very few, places, the Editor deemed it necessary to introduce some explanatory remarks; but he has made them as brief as possible.

Three plans accompany this volume. The first is a copy of that sent by Sir James Outram to the Alumbagh, along with the instructions he furnished for the guidance of the force

which advanced to the second relief of Lucknow, in November, 1857. On this are indicated the route which Sir James Outram marked out for General Havelock's force, and that by which the Commander-in-Chief subsequently advanced. The second exhibits Sir James Outram's position at the Alumbagh; and the third illustrates the final capture of Lucknow by the army under Sir Colin Campbell in March, 1858.

PART I.

GENERAL ORDERS AND DESPATCHES,

RELATING TO

THE RELIEF OF THE GARRISON OF LUCKNOW;

THE

DEFENCE OF THE ALUM BAGH POSITION;

AND

THE SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF THE CITY OF LUCKNOW.

1857-58.

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