MUTINY AT MEERUT AND DELHI.

451

the opportunity would pass away for ever." The time for the Ch.31 revolt was well chosen.

A. D.

The strength of the European element in the army, owing 1857. to the unbounded confidence reposed in the Sepoy, had gradually been reduced to a point far below that to which it ought ever to have arrived. At the time of the outbreak the number Euroof native troops employed in the three presidencies was nearly pean strength. 300,000; while the total number of European troops was under 43,500, and of these 5,200 were in Persia. When to this grievous inequality in numbers is added the consideration that in the Bengal army a large proportion of the men were natives of Oude, sympathizing with the degraded landowners, and a still larger proportion Brahmins of high class, ever ready to take offence, it will readily be seen that great perils must for many years have been hanging over India. The wars with Persia and China no doubt precipitated the crisis.

break

The first sign of the coming storm occurred at Meerut, a military station about thirty-eight miles from Delhi, where 2,700 native troops, and 1,700 Europeans, were then placed. Here, on Sunday evening, the 10th of March, while the OutEuropeans were mostly at church, the mutiny broke out. It at took all parties by surprise. Before any effective measures Meerut. could be taken, many of the European officers were shot, the cantonments were fired, the gaol was broken open, and men, women, and children were indiscriminately massacred. By the time the European forces could be assembled, the rebels were on their way to Delhi.

Early on the morning of the 11th the mutineers appeared before the ancient capital of the Moguls, and, as if they had been expected, were immediately admitted to the palace by the aged monarch, and joined by the native troops.

The work of murder, as at Meerut, went on rapidly. One by one the European residents, among whom were several ladies, suffered death, sometimes, it is to be feared, under circumstances of aggravated cruelty. No resistance could be

452

A. D.

STATE OF THE PUNJAUB.

Ch. 31 offered. With the exception of two officers of artillery and three or four men, who had charge of the magazine, there was 1857. not a single European soldier within the walls of Delhi. Nor were matters much better in the cantonments; for while 3,000 native troops were there under arms, only forty-three were English, and these were officers. Deserted by the men they had commanded, those who escaped death fled to the Seizure neighboring stations. Lieutenant Willoughby, who had long Delhi. kept the mutineers from the magazine by vollies of grapeshot, finding further resistance impracticable, at length fired the train he had gallantly laid for its destruction, and in the confusion occasioned by the explosion, which destroyed hundreds of Sepoys, was supposed to have escaped: he was, however, never heard of, and probably perished near the walls.

of

Safety

of the

Punjaub.

The electric telegraph flashed the dismal intelligence from town to town, and from station to station, and everywhere preparations were made for the worst. At Meer 4,000 Sepoys were successfully compelled by 1,300 European soldiers to pile their arms, and to retire. At Ferozepoor a similar movement was successfully accomplished, and the magazine, which was then full of military stores, and of great value, was saved. At Peshawur, Umballa, and other places, mutinous tendencies were also put down in consequence of the information transmitted, and the priceless value of the electric wire was everywhere recognized.

The Punjaub was now safe; and Sir John Lawrence, with other officers, devoted themselves with indefatigable energy to the raising of fresh troops, which could be employed in retaking Delhi; the forces in Persia were recalled; and reinforcements from every possible quarter were urgently demanded.

The available army, although scarcely numbering more than 3,000 Europeans, was immediately pushed towards Delhi, and, after one or two conflicts with large bodies of the mutineers, occupied the cantonments in its front.

The mutiny at Lucknow broke out on the 30th of May,

when several officers were shot, and their bungalows were set Ch. 31 on fire. The outbreak was temporarily suppressed, and the A. D. time thus gained was instantly improved by the removal to the 1857. Residency,-around which lines of defence were constructed,of all the guns, shot, shell, and stores, that could be collected. Large bodies of the mutineers now approached the city, and the attack on the Residency, the heroic defence of which soon became famous throughout Europe, commenced. Into Mutiny the details of that long and frightful siege, deeply interesting Luckas they are, it is not possible here to enter. The courage and now. patient endurance of the garrison, civilians as well as military, were beyond all praise; and the skill and resolution with which the defence was conducted, first by Sir Henry Lawrence, and after his death by Col. Inglis, reflected the highest credit on the military capacity of both these great men.

at

of

The march of General Havelock and his devoted followers, as they gallantly fought their way to the succour of their countrymen, was one continued act of heroism. In nine days, under the pressure of intense heat and exhausting fatigue, that gallant band won four great battles, and captured more than forty guns. For a time, however, every effort seemed unavailing. The rainy season set in; cholera decimated the troops; and the mutineers by tens of thousands hung around them. At length, success crowned their efforts. On the March 25th of September the Residency was reached, and the garri- Haveson were saved. It was not, however, till Havelock and lock. Outram were in turn relieved by Sir Colin Campbell, on the 17th November, that the women and children, the sick and the wounded, could be removed to Alhahabad. Four days after, on the 21st of November, the brave and beloved Havelock sank, under an attack of dysentery. General Outram,—whose generosity in resigning the command to Havelock, deserves memorial,―happily survived, to receive in person from his countrymen the honors and the regard he had so richly earned.

While the siege of Lucknow was going on, the news of other mutinies and further massacres from time to time sad

454

A. D.

Cawn

MASSACRE AT CAWNPORE, AND SIEGE OF DELHI.

Ch.31 dened all hearts. But every other calamity sank into insign ficance when compared with the atrocities of Nana Sahib & 1857. Cawnpore. On the 5th of June the mutiny broke out ther and Sir Hugh Wheeler, the commander of the troops, wit the other European residents and their families, entrenched themselves for defence in the barrack-hospital. Here they resisted all attacks till the 20th, when Sir Hugh was killed Massa- On the 26th, being without either water or food, the garriso cre at entered into a treaty with the Nana, who undertook to convey them to Allahabad in forty boats. Scarcely, however, had the fugitives reached the middle of the river, when vollies of grapeshot were poured upon them. Most of the party were killed, the rest returned as prisoners. All the males were then murdered; the women and children were for the time reserved: but it was only to be subsequently sacrificed with still greater brutality. On the 18th of July these poor victims were al slaughtered by their enraged captor, and their mangled bodies were flung into a deep well near the spot where the crime was perpetrated.

pore.

The feelings excited in England by the news of this deplorable event cannot be described; one cry of execration, mingled with threats of vengeance, rose instinctively in every part of the land; and it was not till Christianity had lifted up her voice on behalf of mercy, that indiscriminate wrath gave way to temperate resolves that justice should be done even to the Sepoy.

The army before the walls of Delhi, during all this time, retained its position, and waited for reinforcements. The mutineers, during the same period, also received great accesSiege of sions. By the 14th of September every preparation had been Delhi. made for the assault, and after a series of bloody conflicts, which lasted seven days, the British ensign again waved over the city. The king's son and grandson, both of whom had participated in the massacre of the Europeans, were taken and shot, and their bodies exposed to the people. The old monarch was detained as a prisoner.

RENEWED HOSTILITIES IN CHINA.

455

A. D.

After this conquest, the mutiny was in fact at an end. Ch.31 Gwalior had been captured on the 19th of June by Sir Hugh Rose, and on the 23rd the city and fort of Calpee had also 1858. fallen. The rebel army now broke up into fragments, and was gradually crushed in detail by the English power.

ment of

India.

On the 2nd of August, 1858, by an act of the Imperial Parliament, the entire administration of the British empire in GovernIndia was transferred to the Queen, and the power of the Company passed away. The government of India will henceforth, therefore, be under the administration of Her Majesty's ministers, the office of President of the Board of Control being superseded by that of a Secretary of State for India.

In CHINA, at the close of 1856, fresh troubles arose, and hostilities were renewed, in consequence of the seizure by the Chinese authorities of a small trading vessel which was under the British flag. The viceroy of Canton refusing to hold personal communication on the subject with the British admiral, the city was attacked on the 24th of October, and about a week afterwards was bombarded by the British fleet. Things remaining unsettled, a second bombardment took place on the 28th December, 1857, when the city was taken, Commissioner Yeh made prisoner, and the governor directed to continue in the discharge of his office under the direction and control of the British authorities. On the 26th

of May the treaty of Tien-tsin, negotiated by Lord Elgin, was War in signed, the fulfilment of which has since been evaded, and led China. to another war, now in progress. A treaty with Japan, also negotiated by Lord Elgin, was signed at Jeddo on the 26th August (1858), and it may be hoped this new opening will prove commercially advantageous to both countries.

The last and only great event which now remains to be noticed is the Italian war. In order to understand the causes and bearings of this contest, it will be necessary to notice some of the circumstances that preceded and occasioned it.

The return of the Austrians to Italy, after the suppression of the revolutions of 1848 and 1849, was marked by a deter