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    No. 440, August 28,1858.] THE LEADER. 87...

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    The Indian Rebellion. Eight Mouths' Camj...

    larly upon the great Military Revolt , -we are accustomed to hear it remarked by the unthinking that " the subject is worn out , " "the public are sick and tired of it , " and the like . Both , these observations are erroneous . The pre-revolutionary history of India has all to be reconsidered , and in part rewritten , for the deductions drawn from fallacious views of our influence and of the native ; character , have now crumbled under the foundat 1 on 6 of our

    polity . Jfow that the annexation of the peninsula to the British Crown lias brought the Government and progress of India more legitimately within the scope-of the'British public , a degree of inquisitiveness may be expected , and will insist upon being gratified , far beyond that which was wont to be satisfied by volumes authorised at Leadenhall-street , written by Leadenhall-street pensionaries , or Leadenhall-street expectants . The penetrating gimlet of a

    free press , over which Crown officials will be comparatively powerless , will , now that Hindostan takes full instead of brevet rank as a colony , commence ere long its searching operations into all things Indian . The double Government , which has favoured joint irresponsibility for ill-deeds and unfairly divided credit for good ones , is at an end . The trade in Indian politics is in fact thrown open , and all Indian information will henceforth be more

    greedily sought for than was conceivable in , the days when the threat of an Indian debate could all but clear the benches of the House or Commons ; and when most of those whom ' official position , or a high sense of legislative duty brought to face it , were lulled to helpless sleep by the Uien uninteresting periods of the speakers . The grand dimensions of the subject , worn out

    or threadbare , are only now beginning to be appreciated . Its surface is as yet but scratched ana far from being glutted , the '' market : for IndianJ intelligence is still , we believe , as brisk as when the horrors of Meerut and Cawnporc first broke upon us . In the early days of our curiosity about the Sepoy revolt , hardly had the first consignment s of the sick and wounded military and of the refugee civilian families reached us , than . ' the ' / press groaned with memoirs and recollections . All of . 'these' were not

    the works of persons whose experience was worth having as materials for history . Some of them were rechauffes of . diaries , by people who had either been long home from India , or -who ,, quitting in an excitement on the verge of stirring times , had seen next to nothing . Some were frauds da circonstance , perpetrated by sound cocknevs , who would " get up "—as Mr . Dickens would say . —at the British Museum a treatise on Chinese Metaphysics and on the Kevolt of the Sejioy army Avirh equal facility . Others were the halting brood of CacoetUes—and a few Avcrc thrown together at flic request of " indulgent friends . " Oh those "indulgent friends , " what misery have thev not inflicted upon us !

    \ Ncxt there came a superior class of works , such as Captain " Wilson ' s Diary and Lieutenant . Inncs ' s Itotiifh Notes . Of these gentlemen , one belongs to the Native Infantry , and Ilie other to the Engineers ; and have well detailed as much as any men engaged in actual warfare can be supposed to have seen . But now we liavc daily sent to us the works of men of older standing , of enlarged Indian experience , and of considerable power , who were capable , and often unhappily so for themselves , of sifting and duly weighing Ihe conflicting opinions , rumours , and scraps of intelligence , that fill the very air hi times of trouble , and whose position gave them access to the best of information .

    The curiosity of the reader , { sir from relaxing , seems \ o increase as he makes his way through the mass of stirring adventure , condensed historical and political narrative , and able civil ami military comment , to . be found in the . works of Colonel BouTchier and Mr . Edwards , fho authors whose names we have bracketed at < ho head of our article . These nrc both men of mark of a time now passed away ; and of an order which , in suite of pretended care for the middle classes , ( he absorption of the East India Company by the upper classes may happily shut out in future from ( he highest Indian

    appointments heretofore open to them . They have both seen , and dared , and suffered much . The gallantry of Colonel llourcliicr aud his beloved No . 17 battery have made the modest soldier i \ belted knight ; and , at the outbreak of tlie revolt , Mr . Edwards , magistrate and collector of . Budaon , sole European ofiiecr in a district comprising a lawless population of more than a million souls , and thirty niilea from any European assistance , stuck to his post until the mutineers and released gaol birds had

    closed in upon him from all sides , and were , ia fact , looting his house and office . The first care of each , after verifying the fact of the rebellion , was for his family , and the next his duty . The man of the sword , who was at Sealkote when Sir John Lawrence ordered the removal of ladies and children to a place of safety , entrusted Ins own to a Punjabee gentleman , who escorted them as far as Lahore , and went himself into camp with the thermometer at 120 ° ; patrolled the "Punjaub with the movable column under General Nicholson , helped to disperse the Sealkote brigade of mutineers , aud having had a flying visit to Simian , there to deposit his heart ' s treasures , rushed down lieadlonw after Nicholson to

    our camp before Delhi . " He would sooner , " he said , " have lost his commission than have allowed his hattery to march into Delhi without him . So he made friends with the jolly old landlady of " the Bull Inn" at Halka—a kind of Mrs . Seacole , by all accounts . She prevailed—softened postal officials who had been obstinate to the gallant colonel , and got him a seat on the mail cart , whereon he plunged down at the rate of eleven miles an hour to the postal junction at Umballa . Here it was necessary to change carriages , or rather carts , and as a sable-countenanced apothecary appeared upon the stage , wh p was as anxious as our hero to get down to Delhi , and had been waiting for three days for a place : —

    An argument ( not of the gentlest kind ) , says the colonel , then arose , as to whether the inflicter or healer of wounds was most urgently required at Delhi . He was positive that his advent would be bailed-with , joy , while that of a captain of artillery would be but a matter of indifference . Perhaps he was right ; but be that as it may , while lie stormed , I . adjusted my seat and started , leaving my little black friend vowing that all sorts of pains and penalties should attach to my devoted person . . ¦¦¦ -. ..

    The colonel was in this fever to catch his battery at Kurval . No . 17 , however , Avas & yi ignisfatiws , h \ i . t at last , having caught her at Paneeput , he arrived before Delhi on the . 14 th : of August . Since the 8 th of June , "Wilson had been holding a position there analogous to that of the allied army before Sebastoppl— -that is , of besieged besiegers . The author ' s narrative of the siege , while interesting as a professional man ' s record , is enlivened by the natural spirits he obviously enjoys ; but we have not space to fight again in our flying columns the fights of

    Delhi , Luckuow , and Cawnpore . "We must part with him on the very threshold of the eight months ' campaign in which he saw and did a great deal of hard service , with a kind word and a hearty commendation to our readers . None who really desire to be more than very superficially acquainted with the rise and progress of the rebellion may consider their studies complete until they have read Colonel Bourchicr . The very i \ iccly engraved plans from the Colonel ' s own sketches confer additional value upon his contribution to the literature of the Indian war .

    While Ihe revolution ; was ' not yet an accomplished fact , aud the civil servants of standing who saw the storm blowing up , and had no course open to thcin but to wait its bursting with what dignity they might , ] VIr . Edwards had hardly disposed of his family , than he was aware of a piot among the Mahomedans of his district- to plunder ana destroy the place . He succcdcd in delaying the impending catastrophe by a magnificent effort of moral courage . He summoned the leading men of that religion to meet him at his house on the day and at the hour fixed for their rising ; talked against time to them ,

    played upon their internal feuds , and contrived to occupy their attention until the moment they believed propitious had passed by , and for a season only , the danger with it . But the respite was brief . The entire district of Budaon became a scene of ut I er anarchy . The ancient proprietary took the opportunity of murdering or expelling those who had purchased their ancestral fiefs at Government auctions . The ilimsy pretext of greased cartridges or human bone flour were soon abandoned , and the struggle was more or less openly avowed for their hereditary landholdinga , called by them "jan se aziCCK , " dearer than life .

    The magistrate ' s duty was to stay by the sinking ship , and nobly he did so . Nearly entranced by a freachcrous native officer into the hands of the Sepoy guard , ho was saved by Ihc entreaty of his Sikh ' Peon and henchman . At length the main flood of the Bureilly mutineers and convicts surged upon Budaon , and not , until the Treasury va 3 sacked , the gaol burst open , and his own house and cllccts divided among them , did he take one lingering look behind , anil start upon a scries ol

    painful adventures , the artistically artless detail of which , combined with , its native hue of Orientalism , reminds the reader more of an Arabian tale than of a modern narrative . With a heavy heart the collector left bis on . ee peaceful , happy home . Of all his retinue , and of all the public establishment , but one Afehan bodyservant and the Sikh . Peon were faithful to their salt . Without a change of clothes , but with a little Testament , " darling little Mary ' s parse , intended for my birthday present , " his watch , revolver , and 150 rupees between them , the little party started upon their perilous journey for Nynee Tal , where Mrs . Edwards was already in safety .

    In their miserable wanderings they met with oases of gratitude , devotion , and friendship , of which the mere narrative is affecting- They traversed by night great tracts in the power of the murderous enemy—now wading through morasses , now tracking the densest jungles , hardly able to distinguish the genuine offer ot sympathy and protection from , the treacherous allurement into ambush and destruction . They were tempted as well as guided by unknown and anonymous communications conveyed through mysterious channels . "We have not space for extract of the interestine story

    of Misser ^ B yjenatli ' s generosity , and the talent of his messenger Khan Singh , nor of the adventures of the author and Probjn with Hurdeo Buksch ; but we cannot resist the story about Rohna the letter-carrier . Rohna was a peasant whom the fugitive judge encountered at liis most desperate need , when lurking about the country with Mr . Probyn . He had oeen attached to our commissariat in the Sutlej campaign , and was grateful to the British Government tor their generosity to him . He undertook to deliver a letter to Mrs Edwards at Nynee Tal by way of Bareilly : —

    I had , says Mr . JEdwards , but a small scrap of paper ( half the flyleaf of Bridge ' s on the 119 th psalm , which happily ' we had . with us ) on which , to write both notes . Pencil or ink I had . none , and only the stump of a lead pencil , of which the lead was so nearly exhausted , that only a little atom remained quite loose . I at once-commenced my -writing 1 ; in the middle , the little atom of lead fell oat , and I was in despair . At last , af ter much searching in the dust of the mud floor , I found it and contrived to refix it in its place sufficiently to enable me to finish two very brief notes ,, about one inch square ; which , was all the man could conceal about his person ,

    or would consent to take , as it was reported that the rebels were in the habit of searching all travellers for letters and papers , and had already killed several who were discovered with English letters upon them . "When the notes were ready , 1 got a little milk to make the writing indelible , and then put them out to dry in the sun on a wall . In an instant a crow pounced on one , and carried it off ; it was that for my wife . Wwrzeer Singh had , unknown to me , seen the crow , followed it with one of the herdsmen , and , after a long chase of about an hour , saw the l ) ird drop it , and recovering it brought it back to me uninjured .

    But this letter was to have yet another narrowescape , for , during the difficult journey through the beleaguered country between Bareilly aud the hills , Rohna was nearly detected by a rebel sentry : — He had concealed the tiny despatch in a bamboo walking-stick , and knowing that this would be most likely seized and examined , he cracke d it across half way up , so that if taken from him and broken , it might give way at that exact part . This actually occurred . He was stopped at a post between Bareilly and Rampore by a soldier who took the » tiok from him , struck one end on the ground , breaking it in half as -was intended , and then , thinking it contained nothing , throw the pieces away . Kohnu picked them up again , and proceeded on his wuy without further notice .

    The two fragments , we must say , should have been more dangerous to tlicir bcarec than the entire stick . Some too practical reader might like to enquire what Rohna did , or would have done , when next challenged . But the tale , like many more of the author ' s adventures , is well told , and interspersed as are his pages with sound reflections , they will , we are sure , much interest all wlio take

    them up . The trials of the little party- after they were ngain . united at Nyncc Tal were iar from over ; but we must leave to tiic reader the agonies and ImirhrendtU ' scapes of their voyage down t . lio river to Cawnporc , where they arrived on the 31 st of August . We have suiliciontly indicated ( Uc style and character of the work , and a mere dry precis of it , though it might crowd our columns , would do small justice to the author .

    No. 440, August 28,1858.] The Leader. 87...

    No . 440 , August 28 , 1858 . ] THE LEADER . 873

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 28, 1858, page 873, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_28081858/page/17/