State of Patna at this time-Character of Mr. Tayler, the Commissioner- His prompt and vigorous measures-Suppression of the Outbreak at Patna-Trial and execution of the Insurgents-Murder of Major Holmes and his wifeInsurrection at Patna-Its suppression-Unjust treatment of Mr. Tayler by the Government-Sepoy regiments at Dinapore-Refusal of the Governor-General to disband them-Feeble and hesitating conduct of General LloydMutiny of the Sepoys-Ill-managed and unsuccessful attempt to overtake them-Dunbar's expedition - The disastrous retreat-Gallant exploits-The British at Arrah-Fortification of Mr. Boyle's house-Its siege by the Mutineers and Rajah Kower Singh-Gallant defence of the garrison-Major Vincent Eyre's prompt action-Defeat of the enemy-Flight of Kower Singh-Destruction of Jugdespore-General Lloyd superseded and succeeded by Sir James Outram-State of affairs in the Punjaub-The Sikhs-Sir John Lawrence-Events at Meean-Meer-Disarining of the Native Regiments-The Mutineers at Ferozpore and Phillour-Peshawur-The civil and military authorities -The movable column-The Sealkote Mutineers-Their defeat by Nicholson-The outbreak at Jullundhur-Mismanagement and inefficiency of Brigadier Johnstone-The Rajahs of the Protected States-General Havelock-His arrival at Allahabad—Advance of Renaud—Havelock's advance towards Cawnpore-The Battles of Futtehpore, Aong, and Cawnpore-The Massacre of the women and children - Havelock at Cawnpore-Flight of Nana SahibDestruction of his palace at Bithoor-Arrival of General Neill-His punishment of criminals-Havelock's return to Cawnpore. PATNA, the Mahometan capital of the country east of Benares, stands on the right bank of the Ganges, 380 miles northwest of Calcutta. It contained at this time a population of 300,000 inhabitants, a large proportion of whom were Mahometans, and was the headquarters of the Wahabeesthe extreme and fanatical party in India. It was also the capital of one of the richest provinces in the country, in which British capital was largely employed for the development of native industry. At the outstations of the Patna division-Chuprah, Arrah, Mozufferpore, Gya, and Motcharee -there were no detachments of Sepoys, and the guardianship of the treasuries, gaols, and opium godowns was intrusted to the police. But at Dinapore, ten miles east of Patna, there were three Sepoy regiments which were watched by Her Majesty's 10th Foot. Serious apprehensions were entertained that these native troops might suddenly break into mutiny, and escape as others had done before them. Reports were sent to Patna from all the outstations that the Mahometans were greatly disaffected, and the whole British community were in a state of great alarm. It was pointed out that if the Sepoys at Dinapore should rise and sweep down upon Patna, carrying off the Treasury, looting the rich opium godowns, and thence spreading desolation through the homes of the opium farmers of Tirhoot, the contagion might spread lower and lower, and the insurgents, gathering strength as they went, might pour themselves down upon the capital. Why, then, not prevent a calamity of so probable a kind by disarming the Dinapore regiments?' No attention, however, was paid by the Government to these representations, and so the Sepoys were left with arms in their hands, and a regiment of Europeans, when every British soldier was worth his weight in gold, was kept at Dinapore to watch them.' The Commissioner of Patna at this time was Mr. William Tayler, a gentleman of great natural ability and energy, as well as of varied accomplishments. Though courteous in manner and loyal to the Government, he was noted for his independence of thought and speech, and was in consequence regarded with somewhat unfriendly feelings by some of his superiors, especially by Mr. Halliday, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal. Nearly two years before the mutiny Mr. Tayler had reported to the Government that the minds of the people in his district were in a very restless and disaffected state, but no attention was paid to the warning; and even after the outbreak at Meerut, his reports regarding the unsatisfactory state of the country and the symptoms of a meditated rising were equally disregarded. On the 23rd of June a jemidar of police, Waris Ali by name, was arrested at his own. station in Tirhoot on suspicion that he was holding a treasonable correspondence with some disaffected Mahometans of Patna. He was found in the act of writing a treasonable letter to one Ali Kureem, an influential Mahometan who was notoriously disaffected. Thus caught in the act, and with treasonable letters in his possession, he made no attempt to deny his guilt, and was shortly afterwards hanged. At the foot of the gallows he cried out, If there is any friend of the King of Delhi let him come and help me!' An attempt to arrest Ali Kureem, the chief criminal, was unfortunately unsuccessful; he succeeded in making his escape through the treachery of a native official. His position, in consequence, became one | hours on pain of being proceeded against, of extreme peril and responsibility. Other which was to a considerable extent obeyed, positions in India were dangerous, but this though doubtless many weapons were kept was unique in the opportunities of danger back and concealed. Deprived of their which threatened it, in the number of the most trusted leaders and of their arms, the lives, in the amount of treasure, in the conspirators desisted from holding their extent of country devolving upon one man nightly meetings, and there was a sudden almost unaided to guard. Without a single diminution of the symptoms of disaffection European soldier, and with only a few Sikhs throughout the districts under Mr. Tayler's at his disposal, Mr. Tayler was responsible orders. for the lives of some hundreds of Europeans scattered over the province, for a Treasury in his own city containing more than £300,000, and in the districts of still more, for opium of the value of millions, for his own good name, and for the credit and honour of his country. And now all around was surging. Any moment might bring revolt and mutiny to his door.' Mr. Tayler, however, showed himself quite competent to grapple with these difficulties, formidable as they appeared, and acted with promptitude and decision. When, on the 7th of June, a rumour reached Patna that the Sepoys at Dinapore were expected to rise that very night, he turned his house into a fortress for the whole station, and all the residents in Patna at once took refuge in it. A body of Sikhs newly raised by Captain Rattray, who were then within forty The crisis, however, was not over; indeed miles of Patna, were summoned with all the danger was now at its height. On the speed. Their arrival made the city safe in 25th, the 12th Irregular Cavalry at Siganoli, the meantime, and the residents returned the frontier station of the division, mutinied to their homes. Intercepted correspondence and murdered their commanding officer, and other evidence convinced Mr. Tayler Major Holmes, and his wife, a daughter of that the Sepoys at Dinapore were only the heroic Sir Robert Sale. The other watching their opportunity to revolt, and Europeans in the station shared the same he urged Major-General Lloyd to take fate. On the same day the long-foreseen immediate steps to disarm them; but his revolt of the Sepoys at Dinapore took advice was unheeded, and he was obliged place, and there seemed every probability to content himself with taking all possible that either they or the cavalry would precautions to prevent a rising at Patua. pour down upon Patna. Mr. Tayler at once On the 19th of June he succeeded by a summoned the residents to take refuge in dexterous stratagem in arresting three Moul- his house, and after the defeat of Dunbar's vies, the leaders of the Wahabee fanatics, force he directed the officials at Gya and and kept them under surveillance until Mozufferpore to retire upon the central peace was restored. Next day he issued position of Patna. The frequent arrests a proclamation calling upon all the citizens of leading conspirators, and the punishto deliver up their arms within twenty-four ment promptly inflicted on those who were found guilty, raised a great panic among the disaffected Mahometan population of Patna, and on the 3rd of July some two hundred Wahabees, led by Peer Ali, a Mahometan bookseller, rose in arms, and bearing aloft the green flag, summoned by beat of drum their associates to join them. The Sikhs were at once ordered out by Mr. Tayler, who at the same time sent notice to the residents who had remained in the city that they should instantly repair to his house. Meanwhile Dr. Lyall, the assistant to the opium agent, mounted his horse and rode down to the scene of tumult, thinking that he might pacify the crowd. But he was at once shot dead and shockingly mutilated. Stimulated by this sanguinary deed the rioters were pushing on through the streets, their numbers increasing at every step, when they were suddenly confronted by the Sikhs under Captain Rattray. A conflict ensued, which was as brief as it was decisive. The insurgents fled in every direction, and the long threatened and dreaded rising at Patna was suppressed. Thirty-one of the ringleaders of the riot were arrested in the course of the next few days, and fourteen of them were tried and executed without delay. Peer Ali and Shekh Ghasíta, the confidential servant of Lootf Ali Khan, a wealthy banker in the city, were subsequently tried and found guilty. It was clearly proved that the former, who had long been plotting with disaffected persons, had been the chief agent for promoting the revolt, and a good deal of treasonable correspondence was found in his house. He and Shekh Ghasíta had for months kept in pay a body of men 'under a conditional compact to come forward when called for to fight for their religion and the Emperor of Delhi;' and it was alleged that he had shot down Dr. Lyall with his own hand. He behaved with great dignity and composure, and when asked whether he had any information to give that might induce the Government to spare his life he replied, 'There are some cases in which it is good to save life-others in which it is better to lose it;' and he went out to execution 'unmoved and unconcerned.' Lootf Ali Khan was generally believed to have furnished the money distributed by Peer Ali and others for the promotion of the revolt. He was brought to trial some time afterwards, but the evidence adduced was considered insufficent to convict him and he was acquitted, to the great indignation of the British residents, who were firmly persuaded that he was guilty. Strange to say, the policy which had been so successful at Patna did not meet with the approval of the Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Halliday; but if the Commissioner and his superior had changed places there can be little doubt that the result would have been very different. The Patna rising, 30 easily suppressed by Mr. Tayler, would indeed have been a red day in the calendar of Mr. Halliday.' Availing himself of the disapproval by the Governor-General of the order issued by Mr. Tayler to the agents at the out-stations to withdraw to Patna, Mr. Halliday removed Mr. Tayler from his office of Commissioner of Patnaa step which was ungenerous and harsh, as well as most unjust.* Order having thus been maintained in Patna by the judicious and vigorous measures of Mr. Tayler, no apprehension was felt for the safety of that important station. The case was very different with respect to Dinapore. There three regiments of Native Infantry, the 7th, 8th, and 40th, continued *Mr. Doren, one of the members of the Council, wrote to Mr. Tayler in 1868, 'Time has shown that Mr. Halliday was wrong and you were right;' and General Sir John Low wrote in 1867, I well remember my having, as a member of Lord Canning's Council, concurred with his Lordship in the censure which he passed upon your conduct; but it has since been proved-incontestably proved--that the data on which that decision was based were quite incorrect. I sincerely believe that your skilful and vigorous management of the disaffected population of Patna was of immense value to the Government of India.' Three ex-Governors and two ex-Lieutenant-Governors of the presidencies and provinces of India have recorded similar opinions, but much to the discredit of the Government Mr. Tayler obtained no redress. -See Colonel Malleson's History of the Indian Mutiny,' i. 117–124. to be maintained in full force, and appar- in years, infirm, and afflicted with gout. ently trusted both by the commanding He had no horse, he said, in the cantonofficer at that station and by the Govern- ment; his stable was five miles distant, ment at Calcutta. The Governor-General and being unable to walk far or much, he declined to comply with the request made thought he would be most useful on board to him by a deputation of merchants that the steamer with guns and riflemen. Feelthese regiments should be disarmed, on ing his mental and physical inability to the ground that he had full confidence in cope with the crisis, he was greatly to the fidelity of the men. General Lloyd, blame for not making over the command who commanded at Dinapore, expressed to the officer next in seniority. But the his opinion that they would remain quiet authorities were far more blameworthy for unless some great temptation or excitement their persistent refusal to order the Sepoys should assail them. Several unpleasant to be disarmed, and for keeping an officer so symptoms of disaffection, however, having incompetent in such an important position showed themselves, the commercial com- at this perilous juncture. munity renewed their demand that the Dinapore regiments should be disbanded. The Government, strangely blind to the danger they were incurring, still refused to comply with the earnest request of the merchants. On the 15th of July, however, the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Patrick Grant, wrote to General Lloyd that Her Majesty's 5th Fusiliers were about to pass through Dinapore on their way to join General Havelock, and if he saw reason to disband the native troops, he should avail himself of the presence of the Fusiliers to disarm them. The general was uneasy at the responsibility thus thrown upon him by the Government, and after hesitating and delaying to take any steps, he, like all feeble men, resolved to adopt a half measure to leave the troops their muskets and their pouches, and merely to deprive them of their percussion caps. Even this step was so mismanaged as to bring about the mutiny which it was intended to prevent, and on the 25th of July the three regiments broke out in insurrection. It might have been expected that the European force at Dinapore, consisting of the 10th Foot, part of the 37th Regiment, and a battery of Foot Artillery, would have been strong enough to suppress the insurrection at once, but there was nobody to direct them, General Lloyd, after the mutiny broke out, having gone on board a steamboat in the river. He was advanced The result of General Lloyd's grievous incapacity was that the three mutinous regiments were allowed to escape without molestation, carrying with them their arms and accoutrements, and the whole district rose against the Government. The Dinapore insurgents might easily have been arrested at the river Soane, which flows into the Ganges on the south bank, if the available boats had been removed to the other side; but this, like many other proper precautions, had been neglected; and crossing over at their leisure, the rebels pursued their flight to Arrah, 25 miles west of Dinapore. Here they were joined by a body of Sepoys from other regiments, and by the retainers of a neighbouring Rajah, which swelled their numbers to 3000 men. They released all the prisoners in the gaol, seized the Treasury, containing 85,000 rupees, and then made a furious assault on a bungalow, in which sixteen Europeans, all civilians, and fifty Sikh soldiers had intrenched themselves. When intelligence reached Dinapore of these proceedings, a steamer was despatched on the 27th with a detachment of the 37th Regiment towards the Soane, with instructions to land the men at a point about 9 miles from Arrah, and. 'to bring away the civilians there besieged;' but the vessel stuck fast upon a sandbank. Another steamer was sent on the 29th, with a reinforcement of 150 men of the 10th Regi ploits were performed to cover the retreat.* At last the remnant of the detachment reached the steamer and returned to Dinapore, having lost 135 killed and 60 wounded. The disaster was in some degree retrieved by the heroic defence of the little party of British civilians at Arrah. When they heard that the native troops at Dinapore had mutinied and were marching upon that place, they resolved that they would not desert their post, hopeless as it might have seemed to attempt to hold it against 2000 Sepoys, and a much larger number of armed insurgents. They selected as their place of defence a small bungalow which had been occupied by Mr. Vicars Boyle, the head of the staff at this time employed in constructing the East Indian Railway. That gentleman was not only a skilful engineer, but he possessed some knowledge of fortification, and he set about fortifying and provisioning his house for a siege, bringing in stores of flour, grain, biscuits, beer, and water, and as much ammunition as he could find. There were with him in the bungalow Mr. Herwald Wake, the magistrate, who took command of the Sikhs; Mr. Littledale, the judge; Mr. Combe, the collector, and other gentlemen of the same class. They had for ment, commanded by Captain Dunbar, and | tinual fire, from copses and coverts of all seventy Sikhs, under Lieutenant Ingleby. kinds, upon the column. Some gallant exThey were directed to pick up the stranded vessel, and along with the detachment of the 37th to march to Arrah. These instructions were carried out so far, but unfortunately Captain Dunbar was as incompetent a commander as General Lloyd himself. The men disembarked about seven o'clock in the evening at the nearest point to Arrah; but they had gone on board fasting, and though there was abundance of provisions in the vessel, neither food nor drink was served out to them. They set out on their long march hungry and feeble. At the distance of two or three miles from their destination, where there was a convenient halting-place, the commander was recommended to serve out some rum and biscuit, and to bivouac for the night, but he determined to push on to Arrah. He omitted to send forward any skirmishers or a party to reconnoitre, and marched on in the darkness with as little precaution as if he had been in a friendly instead of a hostile country. But when the troops reached the vicinity of a dense mango grove, a tremendous fire was suddenly opened upon them, and they discovered that they had fallen into an ambuscade. Captain Dunbar himself and other officers and men fell at the first fire, and in the darkness it was difficult to discover their concealed assail-tunately sent off their wives and children to ants. The survivors were with difficulty rallied by their officers, and found shelter in a tank in an inclosed field at some little distance from the wood, where, however, they were exposed all night to the fire of the Sepoys. At daylight they commenced their retreat to the steamer, which was 12 miles distant, and were pursued by the rebels the whole way, who kept up a con Special mention should be made of the behaviour of Mr. Ross Mangles and Mr. M'Donell of the Civil Service. The former carried a wounded soldier on his back for a space of six miles, compelled now and then to lay his burden down and take a shot at the rebels. On reaching the Nullah he swam out, holding up the helpless man in the water, and placed him in the boat. Mr. M'Donell, who was wounded at the a place of safety, and could therefore give their undivided attention to their own defence against the assaults of the bloodthirsty rebels. An old Rajah named Kower Singh, who had been very shabbily treated by the British Government, and had been for some time suspected of disaffection, now appeared on the scene, and joined the mutineers with his retainers. It was he who dug up a outset, did excellent service in the retreat. On entering the last of the boats which conveyed the men to the steamer he found that the rebels had lashed the rudder, so that the boat could not be steered. Climbing out on the roof of the boat he perched himself on the rudder and cut the lashings, amid a storm of bullets from the contiguous bank. |