Elphinstone, as Resident, had taken up his quarters at the Sungum. Misguided and ill-advised, the Peishwa Bajee Rao committed folly after folly, until his mind became imbued with the extravagant idea of driving the English, not only out of the Deccan, but, if necessary, into the sea. The sire of Tantia Topee had risen to be an officer of the Peishwa's household; and was, moreover, one of those who, hating the English, advised his master to declare war. The result is well known; the genius of Elphinstone had foreseen the danger, and was prepared for it. Sir Lionel Smith scattered to the winds the army of the Peishwa ; and he who had been but a few hours before the proud occupier of a palace, was a fugitive and a wanderer. The father of Tantia Topee clung to Bajee Rao in his broken fortunes, and accompanied him to Bithoor, which the British Government had selected for his residence. After he had settled himself in his new home, as it were, he sent to the Deccan for his family, who soon afterwards joined him. From that time until the breaking out of the mutiny in 1857, the pensioners of Bithoor engaged but little attention. It is, however, to be presumed, that Tantia Topee had profited by the experience and instructions of his father; as when Dhondoo Punt, the adopted son of Bajee Rao, and commonly called the Nana Saheb, took up arms against the British, he was invested with a high military command in the so-called Peishwa's army. He was present at Cawnpore when the massacre took place; and although he denied at Seepree all participation in the atrocity, yet Government, it is said, were in possession of proofs, showing that he was something more than a mere passive spectator of the inhuman butchery. On the advance of Havelock upon Cawnpore, he appears to have detached himself from the army of the Nana Saheb, and to have proceeded in the direction of Delhi. At all events, we know that he was present at the action before Agra on the 10th October 1857, when Greathed's column was attacked by an overwhelming body of the enemy, while engaged in pitching their camp. Although the surprise was complete, the rebels were

repulsed with great slaughter, the ground being covered with their dead and dying for miles. After this defeat, he collected his scattered forces, and joined the Gwalior Contingent, who, gathering strength as they advanced, attacked the camp of General Wyndham in November 1857. Tantia, although repulsed, succeeded in burning the camp of the British general, destroying_his military equipage, and killing a number of distinguished officers and brave men. His triumph, however, had brief duration. On the 6th December, he sustained a severe repulse at the hands of Sir Colin Campbell, losing sixteen of his guns, and hundreds of his men. He then crossed the Jumna, and marched upon Calpee. But here he did not remain long intelligence of the victorious entry of Sir Hugh Rose into Central India, the relief of Saugor, the fall of Garrakota, and the perilous position of the Ranee of Jhansi, induced him to evacuate Calpee, and march southward. On the 1st April 1858, he first crossed swords with Sir Hugh Rose on the banks of the Betwa, where his troops were driven in disorder by only a handful of the Central India Field Force, from under the very battlements of the beleaguered city he had come to relieve; the operations of the siege, moreover, never having been for a moment interrupted. On this occasion, Tantia Topee commanded an army of more than 22,000 men, well mounted, and well equipped; but the indomitable courage of British troops triumphed over numbers. The battle commenced at dawn, and before sunset, an army of 1,500 men had driven from before the walls of Jhansi the imposing array of Tantia Topee and the Rao Saheb. He lost all his guns, and his troops were pursued with great slaughter for more than nine miles from the field of battle. This overthrow must have been excessively mortifying to the proud mind of Tantia Topee. Instead of plucking the laurel of victory, he gathered the cypress of defeat; and instead of relieving Jhansi, he only precipitated its fall. His great object at this time undoubtedly was to make a descent upon Poona, proclaim the Nana Saheb Peishwa, and install the Rao Saheb as his regent. It was, doubtless, a bold design;

but when it was first conceived, fortune seemed to favour its realisation: the Southern Mahratta Country was disturbed; Poona itself was agitated; and a considerable portion of the Nizam's Dominions was ripe for revolt. То а man of ardent temperament, like Tantia Topee, the enterprise was not only attractive, but alluring. He saw in the distance a glorious goal: the temples and towers of the Deccan capital rising proudly from amidst groves of greenest foliage, and shining bright as silver in the morning sun. He saw himself entering Poona in triumph, and hailed as the emancipator of his country. He perceived the grandeur of the past restored, and, in the dazzling vision, overlooked the chasm that yawned almost at his feet. But the repulse on the Betwa and the fall of Jhansi must have taught him the nature of the power with which he was contending, and the vast resources of the general to whom he had opposed himself. Still, he looked forward to a glorious future : he outnumbered the hundreds of the English by thousands; and although his first venture had been a failure, his next might be a success. Reverses which would have paralysed most men, had no effect upon Tantia Topee. Trusting to the Pindaree system of warfare, he felt that he could not only distance, but, if necessary, double or outflank our fleetest columns. He, therefore, deliberately fell back upon Koonch, leaving squadrons and detachments on the way to cover the retreat of the Jhansi garrison. The heat was intense, and our soldiers suffered dreadfully. It was, therefore, the object of Tantia Topee to keep them as much as possible under arms, so that fatigue and exposure might accomplish the work of legitimate warfare. On the 3rd April 1858, Jhansi was stormed, and on the 26th of the same month, Sir Hugh Rose took his departure for Koonch, en route to Calpee, where he hoped to finish the campaign by a coup-de-main. Tantia Topee and the Ranee of Jhansi had, however, resolved to oppose and dispute his advance upon Calpee inch by inch. Koonch was favourably situated for an engagement, the occupants of the town having all the advantages on their side. The country all around was nearly a dead-level plain, every foot of which was

Sir Hugh

turned up for cultivation. Rose's force had not even a tree for shelter in the broad champaign country which stretched away on every side as far as the eye could reach. The town covered about a mile of ground of varied breadths, and was almost hid amidst the foliage of topes and gardens. On the approach of Sir Hugh Rose, Tantia ordered his cavalry to break cover, and as our troops halted after their nightmarch, they beheld glittering masses of horsemen bursting forth from the shadows of their camp and debouching upon the plain, their accoutrements shining like silver beneath the smiles of morning. After a slight refection of biscuit and grog, our troops were formed in line of battle, and at a given signal the divisions marched upon the devoted city. At three hundred yards, the artillery opened fire; but the enemy's guns were badly served, and it soon became evident that Tantia was preparing to evacuate his position. He managed, by some misconception of orders, to quit the town, with the main body of his troops, in the most perfect order, leaving only his rear-guard to dispute our entrance into Koonch. They maintained their position for a short time only, and then slowly retreated in the direction of Calpee. The cavalry and artillery took up the pursuit; but on this occasion they were opposed to well trained soldiers, who cared little for their lives. They retired in perfect order, reserving their fire until our dragoons were within ten paces of them. For eight miles they covered the retreat of the main body, leaving their dead in hundreds along their line of retreat. In the pursuit, a woman was killed by a cannon-shot, and was found by our men lying beside her horse; but as she had been stripped of all her clothing, they had no means of determining her rank. She was exceedingly fair, and very handsome, and was in all probability one of the attendants of the Ranee of Jhansi, who took an active part in the fight at Koonch.

After this second defeat, Tantia Topee and his companions do not seem to have drawn rein until they reached Calpee. Upon their arrival, the most strenuous measures were adopted for

the defence of the town ; and as it was backed by the Jumna, and surrounded on three sides by broken ground, full of holes and dry watercourses, Tantia's army required but little entrenchment or fortification. Foreseeing, however, that he might have to evacuate the town, he despatched emissaries to Gwalior, to ascertain the sentiments of Scindia and his people, so that, if worsted at Calpee, he might fall back upon that city. In the meantime, clouds of his horsemen hung daily upon the flanks of Sir Hugh Rose's advancing columns. At night, they swarmed round the British camp; and the little rest our soldiers were able to snatch at intervals was in marching order and under arms. On reaching Angowlee, close to Calpee, Tantia came out to give the English battle. His troops attacked, with great fury, the front and right line of Sir Hugh Rose's camp, and were only repulsed at the point of the bayonet. On the advance of the whole line, however, the rebels made a rapid retreat upon Calpee, which Sir Hugh Rose attacked on the morning of the 23rd May, and, before noon, the British standard waved from the citadel of the town. The Ranee of Jhansi fought here with great bravery. addressed her whole army on the evening of the 21st May, previous to the attack upon our camp at Angowlee. She told them, that if they drove the English back, they would, on their return, receive a gold-mohur each and well did they attempt to earn it; for their efforts in trying to capture our guns amounted almost to the courage of desperation. Tantia Topee was recognised on several occasions, far in advance of his men, with a bugler by his side continually sounding the advance. He repeatedly brandished his sword in defiance at the men of H. M.'s 86th regiment, and led on the attack upon our guns in person. All his efforts were, however, unavailing; and his well equipped army returned to Calpee a disorganised host. The Ranee of Jhansi shed tears of indignation when she beheld the fugitives-reproached them with cowardice, and drove her officers from her presence sword in hand. Had her followers only possessed a tithe of her

She

courage, the Central India campaign might have had a less brilliant termination.

of

But while our officers and men were congratulating themselves upon their crowning triumph, as they imagined, and looking forward to a little rest after late fatigues, the indefatigable Tantia Topee and the Ranee of Jhansi were rapidly marching upon Gwalior. The emissaries of the former had found the city ripe for revolt, and ready for mischief; and having been unable to hold Calpee, he determined either to make Scindia join his standard or drive him from his throne. The rebels, on their way to Scindia's capital, were joined by thousands of other insurgents, with guns, from various parts of the country; and as Tantia Topee approached, his army presented a very imposing and formidable appearance. On hearing of their advance, Scindia took up a position some distance to the eastward of the Morar cantonment, and there awaited the attack, drawn up in three divisions, of which the centre, consisting chiefly of his body-guard, was under his own personal command. The enemy came on in a mass mounted skirmishers, on which the left division instantly broke and fled, deserting their guns, and throwing away their arms. The centre, however, stood firm, and fought manfully. The right division soon followed the example of the left, and their guns fell into the hands of the rebels. The centre division now fell back, at first steadily, and in good order; but, being outflanked, owing to the defection of the other divisions, their guns were also eventually captured, and the whole division driven in disorder from the field. The Maharaja, who up to this moment had remained with the troops, encouraging them by his example and personal exertions, was then obliged to fly for his life; and, instead of going back to the Lushkur, where all was confusion, he made his escape to Agra. The fight was for a time renewed at the Phool Bagh; but the Mahrattas were finally borne down by numbers, and Tantia Topee entered the palace of the Lushkur in triumph. Mounting the throne of Scindia, he proclaimed himself Maharaja of Gwa

lior; owing, however, allegiance to the Peishwa. For sixteen days, he held high revelry in the regal halls of the Lushkur; but, on the morning of the seventeenth, his repose was rudely disturbed by hearing the sounds of our bugles, and the blasts of our trumpets, resounding through the deserted cantonments of Morar. The notes fell ominously on his ear: he felt the diadem melting from his brow; he beheld his splendour vanishing; and, as he looked from the highest turret of the Lushkur, and perceived the advance of the victors and the avengers, he felt that his royalty was passing away. A roar like thunder fell on his ears, and announced to him that the British guns had opened fire. The battle raged with great fury for hours; but the rebels were eventually compelled to give way, and as his broken legions rushed past him, Tantia Topee stoically relinquished the sovereignty he had usurped, and slank from the palace in which he had reigned.

The defeat at Gwalior was fatal to the fortunes of Tantia Topee. He lost hundreds of his best men, the greater number of his guns, many of his most distinguished leaders, and, amongst others, the brave but ill-fated Ranee of Jhansi. This gallant lady fell valiantly fighting at the head of her men in the cantonment of Morar. A rifle-bullet entered her breast, and she fell from her horse dead, without having breathed a sigh, or uttered a murmur. She was a high-hearted woman, and died, as she had lived, sword in hand, disdaining flight, and refusing quarter. It was for a time believed that the Jhansi massacre was mainly attributable to her cruel disposition; but the report has been officially contradicted. Our unhappy countrymen and countrywomen may have been, it is true, killed with her sanction but it is generally believed that she could not have saved them had she wished. The terrible atrocities imputed to her have been proved to have been purely fictitious. Her victims were merely killed, not tortured and dishonoured, as was at first asserted. But, even if she was guilty, she expiated her crimes with her life; and now that all is over, one cannot help admiring the intrepid

horsewoman, who only left Jhansi when its walls were crumbling about her ears, and only lived for the purpose of fighting to the death. Her life was a brief and eventful one, and gave to the revolt its only romantic tinge. Whatever opinion the world may entertain of her cruelty, her courage shoue pre-eminent, and is not eclipsed even by that of Joan of Arc. She played for a high game, and when she found that she held losing cards, did not even then despair, but looked defiance to the last.

In six successive engage

ments she personally opposed Sir Hugh Rose, and, at Calpee, would have died rather than have yielded, had her men been as daring and devoted as she was. She was only twenty-three years of age when she fell at Gwalior, and is described to have been as beautiful as she was brave.

After his defeat at Gwalior, Tantia Topee took the direction of Jeypoor; but the rapid advance of General Roberts saved the town from plunder. He then bent his flight towards Oodeypoor, but General Roberts overtook him at Kotarea, defeating him, with the loss of hundreds of his men, and a number of his guns. He, however, managed to evade our columns, and, being joined by numbers of wandering bands, descended into Malwa, and gave battle to General Michel at Rajgurh. The defeat he sustained here would have overwhelmed most men. He had managed to collect thirty guns, and these all fell into the hands of the English General. The number of killed and wounded was also very great. But all these reverses were unable to extinguish hope in the bosom of Tantia Topee. He therefore fell back upon Seronge, which, on the approach of Smith's and Parke's brigades, he abandoned, and by rapid marches reached Esaugurh. The place offered but a feeble resistance, and Tantia spent four days in plundering it. At the end of that time, he evacuated it, taking with him twenty-one of Scindia's guns. He then marched upon Chundairee, and, after only a show of resistance, the garrison surrendered. But Tantia did not feel himself secure in this fortress. Our columns were closing upon him, and he resolved once more to trust to