HODSON OF HODSON"S HORSE--ACTION AT THE KaLEE NUDDEE--FUTTEHGHUR
As a further proof that the British star was now in the ascendant, before we had been many days in Bithoor each company had got its full complement of native establishment, such as cooks, water-carriers, washer-men, etc. We left Bithoor on the 27th of December _en route_ for Futtehghur, and on the 28th we made a forced march of twenty-five miles, joining the Commander-in-Chief on the 29th. Early on the 30th we reached a place named Meerun-ke-serai, and our tents had barely been pitched when word went through the camp like wildfire that Hodson, of Hodson"s Horse, and another officer[34] had arrived in camp with despatches from Brigadier Seaton to the Commander-in-Chief, having ridden from Mynpooree, about seventy miles from where we were.
We of the Ninety-Third were eager to see Hodson, having heard so much about him from the men of the Ninth Lancers. There was nothing, however daring or difficult, that Hodson was not believed capable of doing, and a ride of seventy miles more or less through a country swarming with enemies, where every European who ventured beyond the range of British guns literally carried his life in his hand, was not considered anything extraordinary for him. Personally, I was most anxious to see this famous fellow, but as yet there was no chance; Hodson was in the tent of the Commander-in-Chief, and no one knew when he might come out. However, the hours pa.s.sed, and during the afternoon a man of my company rushed into the tent, calling, "Come, boys, and see Hodson! He and Sir Colin are in front of the camp; Sir Colin is showing him round, and the smile on the old Chief"s face shows how he appreciates his companion." I hastened to the front of the camp, and was rewarded by having a good look at Hodson; and, as the man who had called us had said, I could see that he had made a favourable impression on Sir Colin. Little did I then think that in less than three short months I should see Hodson receive his death-wound, and that thirty-five years after I should be one of the few spared to give evidence to save his fair fame from undeserved slander.
My memory always turns back to that afternoon at Meerunke-serai when I read any attack on the good name of Hodson of Hodson"s Horse. And whatever prejudiced writers of the present day may say, the name of Hodson will be a name to conjure with among the Sikhs of the Punjab for generations yet unborn.
On the 1st of January, 1858, our force reached the Kalee Nuddee suspension bridge near Khoodagunj, about fifteen miles from Futtehghur, just in time to prevent the total destruction of the bridge by the enemy, who had removed a good part of the planking from the roadway, and had commenced to cut the iron-work when we arrived. We halted on the Cawnpore side of the Kalee Nuddee on New Year"s Day, while the engineers, under cover of strong piquets, were busy replacing the planking of the roadway on the suspension bridge. Early on the morning of the 2nd of January the enemy from Futtehghur, under cover of a thick fog along the valley of the Kalee Nuddee, came down in great force to dispute the pa.s.sage of the river. The first intimation of their approach was a sh.e.l.l fired on our advance piquet; but our camp was close to the bridge, and the whole force was under arms in an instant. As soon as the fog lifted the enemy were seen to have occupied the village of Khoodagunj in great force, and to have advanced one gun, a 24-pounder, planting it in the toll-house which commanded the pa.s.sage of the bridge, so as to fire it out of the front window just as if from the porthole of a ship.
As soon as the position of the enemy was seen, the cavalry brigade of our force was detached to the left, under cover of the dense jungle along the river, to cross by a ford which was discovered about five miles up stream to our left, the intention of the movement being to get in behind the enemy and cut off his retreat to Futtehghur.
The Fifty-Third were pushed across the bridge to reinforce the piquets, with orders not to advance, but to act on the defensive, so as to allow time for the cavalry to get behind the enemy. The right wing of the Ninety-Third was also detached with some horse-artillery guns to the right, to cross by another ford about three miles below the bridge, to attack the enemy on his left flank. The left wing was held in reserve with the remainder of the force behind the bridge, to be in readiness to reinforce the Fifty-Third in case of need.
By the time these dispositions were made, the enemy"s gun from the toll-house had begun to do considerable damage. Peel"s heavy guns were accordingly brought to bear on it, and, after a round or two to feel their distance, they were able to pitch an 8-inch sh.e.l.l right through the window, which burst under the gun, upsetting it, and killing or disabling most of the enemy in the house.
Immediately after this the Fifty-Third, being well in advance, noticed the enemy attempting to withdraw some of his heavy guns from the village, and disregarding the order of the Commander-in-Chief not to precipitate the attack, they charged these guns and captured two or three of them. This check caused the enemy"s line to retire, and Sir Colin himself rode up to the Fifty-Third to bring to book the officer commanding them for prematurely commencing the action. This officer threw the blame on the men, stating that they had made the charge against his orders, and that the officers had been unable to keep them back. Sir Colin then turned on the men, threatening to send them to the rear, and to make them do fatigue-duty and baggage-guard for the rest of the campaign. On this an old Irishman from the ranks called out: "Shure, Sir Colin, you don"t mean it! You"ll never send us on fatigue-duty because we captured those guns that the Pandies were carrying off?"; Hearing this, Sir Colin asked what guns he meant. "Shure, them"s the guns," was the answer, "that Sergeant Dobbin [now Joe Lee of Cawnpore]
and his section are dragging on to the road." Sir Colin seeing the guns, his stern countenance relaxed and broke into a smile, and he made some remark to the officer commanding that he did not know about the guns having been withdrawn before the regiment had made the rush on the enemy. On this the Irish spokesman from the ranks called out: "Three cheers for the Commander-in-Chief, boys! I told you he did not mean us to let the Pandies carry off those guns."
By this time our right wing and the horse-artillery had crossed the ford on our right and were well advanced on the enemy"s left flank. But we of the main line, composed of the Eighth (the old "King"s"--now called the Liverpool Regiment, I think), the Forty-Second, Fifty-Third, and left wing of the Ninety-Third under Adrian Hope, were allowed to advance slowly, just keeping them in sight. The enemy retired in an orderly manner for about three or four miles, when they formed up to make a stand, evidently thinking we were afraid to press them too closely. As soon as they faced round again, our line was halted only about seven hundred yards from them, and just then we could see our cavalry debouching on to the Grand Trunk road about a mile from where we were.
My company was in the centre of the road, and I could see the tips of the lances of the Ninth wheeling into line for a charge right in the enemy"s rear. He was completely out-generalled, and his retreat cut off.
The excitement was just then intense, as we dared not fire for fear of hitting our men in the rear. The Forty-First Native Infantry was the princ.i.p.al regiment of the enemy"s line on the Grand Trunk road. Directly they saw the Lancers in their rear they formed square while the enemy"s cavalry charged our men, but were met in fine style by Hodson"s Horse and sent flying across the fields in all directions. The Ninth came down on the square of the Native Infantry, who stood their ground and opened fire. The Lancers charged well up to within about thirty yards, when the horses turned off right and left from the solid square. We were just preparing to charge it with the bayonet, when at that moment the squadrons were brought round again, just as a hawk takes a circle for a swoop on its prey, and we saw Sergeant-Major May, who was mounted on a powerful untrained horse, dash on the square and leap right into it, followed by the squadron on that side. The square being thus broken, the other troops of the Ninth rode into the flying ma.s.s, and in less than five minutes the Forty-First regiment of Native Infantry was wiped out of the ranks of the mutineers. The enemy"s line of retreat became a total rout, and the plain for miles was strewn with corpses speared down by the Lancers or hewn down by the keen-edged sabres of Hodson"s Horse.
Our infantry line now advanced, but there was nothing for us to do but collect the ammunition-carts and baggage of the enemy. Just about sunset we halted and saw the Lancers and Sikhs returning with the captured standards and every gun which the enemy had brought into the field in the morning. The infantry formed up along the side of the Grand Trunk road to cheer the cavalry as they returned. It was a sight never to be forgotten,--the infantry and sailors cheering the Lancers and Sikhs, and the latter returning our cheers and waving the captured standards and their lances and sabres over their heads! Sir Colin Campbell rode up, and lifting his hat, thanked the Ninth Lancers and Sikhs for their day"s work. It was reported in the camp that Sir Hope Grant had recommended Sergeant-Major May for the Victoria Cross, but that May had modestly remonstrated against the honour, saying that every man in the Ninth was as much ent.i.tled to the Cross as he was, and that he was only able to break the square by the accident of being mounted on an untrained horse which charged into the square instead of turning off from it. This is of course hearsay, but I believe it is fact.
I may here remark that this charge of the Lancers forcibly impressed me with the absurdity of our cavalry-drill for the purpose of breaking an infantry square. On field-days in time of peace our cavalry were made to charge squares of infantry, and directly the horses came within thirty or forty yards the squadrons opened out right and left, galloping clear of the square under the blank fire of the infantry. The horses were thus drilled to turn off and gallop clear of the squares, instead of charging home right through the infantry. When it came to actual war the horses, not being reasoning animals, naturally acted just as on a field-day; instead of charging straight into the square, they galloped right past it, simply because they were drilled to do so. Of course, I do not propose that several battalions of infantry should be slaughtered every field-day for the purpose of training cavalry. But I would have the formation altered, and instead of having the infantry in solid squares, I would form them into quarter distance columns, with lanes between the companies wide enough for the cavalry to gallop through under the blank fire of the infantry. The horses would thus be trained to gallop straight on, and no square of infantry would be able to resist a charge of well-trained cavalry when it came to actual war. I am convinced, in my own mind, that this was the reason that the untrained remount ridden by Sergeant-Major May charged into the square of the Forty-First, and broke it, while the well-drilled horses galloped round the flanks in spite of their riders. But the square once being broken, the other horses followed as a matter of course. However, we are now in the age of breech-loaders and magazine rifles, and I fear the days of cavalry charging squares of infantry are over. But we are still a long way from the millennium, and the experience of the past may yet be turned to account for the wars of the future.
We reached Futtehghur on the morning of the 3rd of January to find it deserted, the enemy having got such a "drubbing" that it had struck terror into their reserves, which had bolted across the Ganges, leaving large quant.i.ties of Government property behind them, consisting of tents and all the ordnance stores of the Gun-carriage Agency. The enemy had also established a gun and shot and sh.e.l.l foundry here, and a powder-factory, all of which they had abandoned, leaving a number of bra.s.s guns in the lathes, half turned, with many more just cast, and large quant.i.ties of metal and material for the manufacture of both powder and shot.
During the afternoon of the day of our arrival the whole force was turned out, owing to a report that the Nawab of Furruckabad was still in the town; and it was said that the civil officer with the force had sent a proclamation through the city that it would be given over to plunder if the Nawab was not surrendered. Whether this was true or not, I cannot say. The district was no longer under martial law, as from the date of the defeat of the Gwalior Contingent the civil power had resumed authority on the right bank of the Ganges. But so far as the country was concerned, around Futtehghur at least, this merely meant that the hangmen"s noose was to be subst.i.tuted for rifle-bullet and bayonet.
However, our force had scarcely been turned out to threaten the town of Furruckabad when the Nawab was brought out, bound hand and foot, and carried by _coolies_ on a common country _charpoy_.[35] I don"t know what process of trial he underwent; but I fear he had neither jury nor counsel, and I know that he was first smeared over with pig"s fat, flogged by sweepers, and then hanged. This was by the orders of the civil commissioner. Both Sir Colin Campbell and Sir William Peel were said to have protested against the barbarity, but this I don"t know for certain.
We halted in Futtehghur till the 6th, on which date a brigade, composed of the Forty-Second, Ninety-Third, a regiment of Punjab infantry, a battery of artillery, a squadron of the Ninth Lancers, and Hodson"s Horse, marched to Palamhow in the Shumshabad district. This town had been a hot-bed of rebellion under the leadership of a former native collector of revenue, who had proclaimed himself Raja of the district, and all the bad characters in it had flocked to his standard. However, the place was occupied without opposition. We encamped outside the town, and the civil police, along with the commissioner, arrested great numbers, among them being the man who had proclaimed himself the Raja or Nawab for the Emperor of Delhi. My company, with some of Hodson"s Horse and two artillery guns, formed a guard for the civil commissioner in the _chowk_ or princ.i.p.al square of the town. The commissioner held his court in what had formerly been the _kotwaiee_ or police station. I cannot say what form of trial the prisoners underwent, or what evidence was recorded against them. I merely know that they were marched up in batches, and shortly after marched back again to a large tree of the banian species, which stood in the centre of the square, and hanged thereon. This went on from about three o"clock in the afternoon till daylight the following morning, when it was reported that there was no more room on the tree, and by that time there were one hundred and thirty men hanging from its branches. A grim spectacle indeed!
Many charges of cruelty and want of pity have been made against the character of Hodson. This makes me here mention a fact that certainly does not tend to prove these charges. During the afternoon of the day of which I write, Hodson visited the squadron of his regiment forming the cavalry of the civil commissioner"s guard. Just at the time of his visit the commissioner wanted a hangman, and asked if any man of the Ninety-Third would volunteer for the job, stating as an inducement that all valuables in the way of rings or money found on the persons of the condemned would become the property of the executioner. No one volunteering for the job, the commissioner asked Jack Brian, a big tall fellow who was the right-hand man of the company, if he would act as executioner. Jack Brian turned round with a look of disgust, saying: "Wha do ye tak" us for? We of the Ninety-Third enlisted to fight men with arms in their hands. I widna" become yer hangman for all the loot in India!" Captain Hodson was standing close by, and hearing the answer, said, "Well answered, my brave fellow. I wish to shake hands with you,"
which he did. Then turning to Captain Dawson, Hodson said: "I"m sick of work of this kind. I"m glad I"m not on duty;" and he mounted his horse, and rode off. However, some _domes_[36] or sweeper-police were found to act as hangmen, and the trials and executions proceeded.
We returned to Futtehghur on the 12th of January and remained in camp there till the 26th, when another expedition was sent out in the same direction. But this time only the right wing of the Ninety-Third and a wing of the Forty-Second formed the infantry, so my company remained in camp. This second force met with more opposition than the first one.
Lieutenant Macdowell, Hodson"s second in command, and several troopers were killed, and Hodson himself and some of his men were badly wounded, Hodson having two severe cuts on his sword arm; while the infantry had several men killed who were blown up with gunpowder. This force returned on the 28th of January, and either on the 2nd or 3rd of February we left Futtehghur _en route_ again for Lucknow _via_ Cawnpore.
We reached Cawnpore by ordinary marches, crossed into Oude, and encamped at Oonao till the whole of the siege-train was pa.s.sed on to Lucknow.
FOOTNOTES:
[34] Lieutenant Macdowell, second in command of Hodson"s Horse.
[35] Bedstead.
[36] The lowest Hindoo caste.
CHAPTER X
THE STRANGE STORY OF JAMIE GREEN
When we returned to Cawnpore, although we had been barely two months away, we found it much altered. Many of the burnt-down bungalows were being rebuilt, and the fort at the end of the bridge of boats had become quite a strong place. The well where the murdered women and children were buried was now completely filled up, and a wooden cross erected over it. I visited the slaughter-house again, and found the walls of the several rooms all scribbled over both in pencil and charcoal. This had been done since my first visit in October; I am positive on this point.
The unfortunate women who were murdered in the house left no writing on the walls whatever. There was writing on the walls of the barrack-rooms of Wheeler"s entrenchment, mostly notes that had been made during the siege, but none on the walls of the slaughter-house. As mentioned in my last chapter, we only halted one day in Cawnpore before crossing into Oude, and marching to Oonao about the 10th of February, we encamped there as a guard for the siege-train and ordnance-park which was being pushed on to Lucknow.
While at Oonao a strange thing happened, which I shall here set down.
Men live such busy lives in India that many who may have heard the story at the time have possibly forgotten all about it, while to most of my home-staying readers it will be quite fresh.
Towards the end of February, 1858, the army for the siege of Lucknow was gradually being ma.s.sed in front of the doomed city, and lay, like a huge boa-constrictor coiled and ready for its spring, all along the road from Cawnpore to the Alumbagh. A strong division, consisting of the Forty-Second and Ninety-Third Highlanders, the Fifty-Third, the Ninth Lancers, Peel"s Naval Brigade, the siege-train, and several batteries of field-artillery, with the Fourth Punjab Infantry and other Punjabee corps, lay at Oonao under the command of General Sir Edward Lugard and Brigadier Adrian Hope. We had been encamped in that place for about ten days,--the monotony of our lives being only occasionally broken by the sound of distant cannonading in front--when we heard that General Outram"s position at the Alumbagh had been vigorously attacked by a force from Lucknow, sometimes led by the Moulvie, and at others by the Begum in person. Now and then somewhat duller sounds came from the rear, which, we understood, arose from the operations of Sir Robert Napier and his engineers, who were engaged in blowing up the temples of Siva and Kalee overlooking the _ghats_ at Cawnpore; not, as some have a.s.serted, out of revenge, but for military considerations connected with the safety of the bridge of boats across the Ganges.
During one of these days of comparative inaction, I was lying in my tent reading some home papers which had just arrived by the mail, when I heard a man pa.s.sing through the camp, calling out, "Plum-cakes!
plum-cakes! Very good plum-cakes! Taste and try before you buy!" The advent of a plum-cake _wallah_ was an agreeable change from ration-beef and biscuit, and he was soon called into the tent, and his own maxim of "taste and try before you buy" freely put into practice. This plum-cake vendor was a very good-looking, light-coloured native in the prime of life, dressed in scrupulously clean white clothes, with dark, curly whiskers and mustachios, carefully trimmed after the fashion of the Mahommedan native officers of John Company"s army. He had a well-developed forehead, a slightly aquiline nose, and intelligent eyes.
Altogether his appearance was something quite different from that of the usual camp-follower. But his companion, or rather the man employed as _coolie_ to carry his basket, was one of the most villainous-looking specimens of humanity I ever set eyes on. As was the custom in those days, seeing that he did not belong to our own bazaar, and being the non-commissioned officer in charge of the tent, I asked the plum-cake man if he was provided with a pa.s.s for visiting the camp? "Oh yes, Sergeant _sahib_," he replied, "there"s my pa.s.s all in order, not from the Brigade-Major, but from the Brigadier himself, the Honourable Adrian Hope. I"m Jamie Green, mess-_khansama_[37] of the late (I forget the regiment he mentioned), and I have just come to Oonao with a letter of introduction to General Hope from Sherer _sahib_, the magistrate and collector of Cawnpore. You will doubtless know General Hope"s handwriting." And there it was, all in order, authorising the bearer, by name Jamie Green, etc. etc., to visit both the camp and outpost for the sale of his plum-cakes, in the handwriting of the brigadier, which was well known to all the non-commissioned officers of the Ninety-Third, Hope having been colonel of the regiment.
Next to his appearance what struck me as the most remarkable thing about Jamie Green was the purity and easy flow of his English, for he at once sat down beside me, and asked to see the newspapers, and seemed anxious to know what the English press said about the mutiny, and to talk of all subjects connected with the strength, etc., of the army, the preparations going forward for the siege of Lucknow, and how the newly-arrived regiments were likely to stand the hot weather. In course of conversation I made some remarks about the fluency of his English, and he accounted for it by stating that his father had been the mess-_khansama_ of a European regiment, and that he had been brought up to speak English from his childhood, that he had learned to read and write in the regimental school, and for many years had filled the post of mess-writer, keeping all the accounts of the mess in English. During this time the men in the tent had been freely trying the plum-cakes, and a squabble arose between one of them and Jamie Green"s servant about payment. When I made some remark about the villainous look of the latter Green replied: "Oh, never mind him; he is an Irishman, and his name is Micky. His mother belongs to the regimental bazaar of the Eighty-Seventh Royal Irish, and he lays claim to the whole regiment, including the sergeant-major"s cook, for his father. He has just come down from the Punjab with the Agra convoy, but the commanding officer dismissed him at Cawnpore, because he had a young wife of his own, and was jealous of the good looks of Micky. But," continued Jamie Green, "a joke is a joke, but to eat a man"s plum-cakes and then refuse to pay for them must be a Highland joke!" On this every man in the tent, appreciating the good humour of Jamie Green, turned on the man who had refused payment, and he was obliged to fork out the amount demanded.
Jamie Green and Micky pa.s.sed on to another tent, after the former had borrowed a few of the latest of my newspapers. Thus ended my first interview with the plum-cake vendor.
The second one was more interesting, and with a sadder termination. On the evening of the day after the events just described, I was on duty as sergeant in charge of our camp rear-guard, and at sunset when the orderly-corporal came round with the evening grog, he told us the strange news that Jamie Green, the plum-cake _wallah_, had been discovered to be a spy from Lucknow, had been arrested, and was then undergoing examination at the brigade-major"s tent; and that it being too late to hang him that night, he was to be made over to my guard for safe custody, and that men had been warned for extra sentry on the guard-tent. I need not say that I was very sorry to hear the information, for, although a spy is at all times detested in the army, and no mercy is ever shown to one, yet I had formed a strong regard for this man, and a high opinion of his abilities in the short conversation I had held with him the previous day; and during the interval I had been thinking over how a man of his appearance and undoubted education could hold so low a position as that of a common camp-follower. But now the news that he had been discovered to be a spy accounted for the anomaly.
It would be needless for me to describe the bitter feeling of all cla.s.ses against the mutineers, or rebels, and for any one to be denounced as a spy simply added fuel to the flames of hatred. Asiatic campaigns have always been conducted in a more remorseless spirit than those between European nations, but the war of the Mutiny, as I have before remarked in these reminiscences, was far worse than the usual type of even Asiatic fighting. It was something horrible and downright brutalising for an English army to be engaged in such a struggle, in which no quarter was ever given or asked. It was a war of downright butchery. Wherever the rebels met a Christian or a white man he was killed without pity or remorse, and every native who had a.s.sisted any such to escape, or was known to have concealed them, was as remorselessly put to death wherever the rebels had the ascendant. And wherever a European in power, either civil or military, met a rebel in arms, or any native whatever on whom suspicion rested, his shrift was as short and his fate as sure. The farce of putting an accused native on his trial before any of the civil officers attached to the different army-columns, after the civil power commenced to rea.s.sert its authority, was simply a parody on justice and a protraction of cruelty. Under martial law, punishment, whether deserved or not, was stern but sharp.
But the civilian officers attached to the different movable columns for the trial of rebels, as far as they came under my notice, were even more relentless. No doubt these men excused themselves by the consideration that they were engaged in suppressing rebellion and mutiny, and that the actors on the other side had perpetrated great crimes.[38] So far as the Commander-in-Chief was concerned, Sir Colin Campbell was utterly opposed to extreme measures, and deeply deplored the wholesale executions by the civil power. Although as a soldier he would have been the last man in the country to spare rebels caught with arms in their hands, or those whose guilt was well known (and I know for certain that he held the action of Major Hodson with regard to the Delhi princes to have been justifiable), I well remember how emphatically I once heard him express his disgust when, on the march back from Futtehghur to Cawnpore, he entered a mango-tope full of rotting corpses, where one of those special commissioners had pa.s.sed through with a movable column a few days before.
But I must return to my story. I had barely heard the news that Green had been arrested as a spy, when he was brought to my guard by some of the provost-marshal"s staff, and handed over to me with instructions to keep him safe till he should be called for next morning. He was accompanied by the man who had carried his basket, who had also been denounced as one of the butchers at Cawnpore in July, 1857. And here I may state that the appearance of this man certainly did tally with the description afterwards given of one of these butchers by Fitchett, an Eurasian drummer attached to the Sixth Native Infantry which mutinied at Cawnpore, who embraced the Mahommedan religion to save his life, and was enrolled in the rebel force, but afterwards made his escape and presented himself at Meerut for enlistment in the police levy raised in October, 1858. What I am relating took place in February, 1858, about eight months before the existence of Fitchett was known to the authorities. However, when it was discovered that Fitchett had been serving in one of the mutineers" regiments, he was called on to say what he knew about the Cawnpore ma.s.sacre, and I remember his statement was considered the most consistent of any of the numerous narratives published about it. Fitchett alleged that the sepoys of the Sixth Native Infantry and other regiments, including the Nana Sahib"s own guard, had refused to kill the European women and children in the _bibi-ghur_,[39] and that five men were then brought by a slave-girl or mistress of the Nana to do it. Of the five men employed, two were butchers and two were villagers, and the fifth man was "a stout _bilaitee_[40] with very hairy hands." Fitchett further described one of the butchers as a tall, ugly man, very dark, and very much disfigured by smallpox, all points that tallied exactly with the appearance of this _coolie_. I don"t suppose that Fitchett could have known that a man answering to his description had been hanged, as being one of the actors in the Cawnpore tragedy, some eight months before, for I don"t recollect ever having seen the matter which I am relating mentioned in any newspaper.
But to proceed with my own story. My prisoners had no sooner been made over to me, than several of the guard, as was usual in those days, proposed to bring some pork from the bazaar to break their castes, as a sort of preparation for their execution. This I at once denounced as a proceeding which I certainly would not tolerate so long as I held charge of the guard, and I warned the men that if any one attempted to molest the prisoners, I should at once strip them of their belts, and place them in arrest for disobedience of orders and conduct unworthy of a British soldier, and the better-disposed portion of the guard at once applauded my resolution. I shall never forget the look of grat.i.tude which came over the face of the unfortunate man who had called himself Jamie Green, when he heard me give these orders. He at once said it was an act of kindness which he had never expected, and for which he was truly grateful; and he unhesitatingly p.r.o.nounced his belief that Allah and his Prophet would requite my kindness by bringing me safely through the remainder of the war. I thanked my prisoner for his good wishes and his prayers, and made him the only return in my power, viz., to cause his hands to be unfastened to allow him to perform his evening"s devotions, and permitted him as much freedom as I possibly could, consistent with safe custody. His fellow-prisoner merely received my kindness with a scowl of sullen hatred, and when reproved by his master, I understood him to say that he wished for no favour from infidel dogs; but he admitted that the sergeant _sahib_, deserved a Mussulman"s grat.i.tude for saving him from an application of pig"s fat.
After allowing my prisoners to perform their evening devotions, and giving them such freedom as I could, I made up my mind to go without sleep that night, for it would have been a serious matter for me if either of these men had escaped. I also knew that by remaining on watch myself I could allow them more freedom, and I determined they should enjoy every privilege in my power for what would certainly be their last night on earth, since it was doubtful if they would be spared to see the sun rise. With this view, I sent for one of the Mahommedan shopkeepers from the regimental bazaar, and told him to prepare at my expense whatever food the prisoners would eat. To this the man replied that since I, a Christian, had shown so much kindness to a Mussulman in distress, the Mahommedan shopkeepers in the bazaar would certainly be untrue to their faith if they should allow me to spend a single _pie_, from my own pocket.
After being supplied with a savoury meal from the bazaar, followed by a fragrant hookah, to both of which he did ample justice, Jamie Green settled himself on a rug which had been lent to him, and said "_Shook"r Khooda!_, (Thanks be to G.o.d)," for having placed him under the charge of such a merciful _sahib_, for this the last night of his life! "Such," he continued, "has been my _kis.m.u.t_, and doubtless Allah will reward you, Sergeant _sahib_, in his own good time for your kindness to his oppressed and afflicted servant. You have asked me to give you some account of my life, and if it is really true that I am a spy. With regard to being a spy in the ordinary meaning of the term, I most emphatically deny the accusation. I am no spy; but I am an officer of the Begum"s army, come out from Lucknow to gain reliable information of the strength of the army and siege-train being brought against us. I am the chief engineer of the army of Lucknow, and came out on a reconnoitring expedition, but Allah has not blessed my enterprise. I intended to have left on my return to Lucknow this evening, and if fate had been propitious, I would have reached it before sunrise to-morrow, for I had got all the information which was wanted; but I was tempted to visit Oonao once more, being on the direct road to Lucknow, because I was anxious to see whether the siege-train and ammunition-park had commenced to move, and it was my misfortune to encounter that son of a defiled mother who denounced me as a spy. A contemptible wretch who, to save his own neck from the gallows (for he first sold the English), now wishes to divert attention from his former rascality by selling the lives of his own countrymen and co-religionists; but Allah is just, he will yet reap the reward of his treachery in the fires of Jehunnum.[41]
"You ask me," continued the man, "what my name is, and state that you intend to write an account of my misfortune to your friends in Scotland.
Well, I have no objection. The people of England,--and by England I mean Scotland as well--are just, and some of them may pity the fate of this servant of Allah. I have friends both in London and in Edinburgh, for I have twice visited both places. My name is Mahomed Ali Khan. I belong to one of the best families of Rohilcund, and was educated in the Bareilly College, and took the senior place in all English subjects. From Bareilly College I pa.s.sed to the Government Engineering College at Roorkee, and studied engineering for the Company"s service, and pa.s.sed out the senior student of my year, having gained many marks in excess of all the European pupils, both civil and military. But what was the result? I was nominated to the rank of _jemadar_, of the Company"s engineers, and sent to serve with a company on detached duty on the hill roads as a native commissioned officer, but actually subordinate to a European sergeant, a man who was my inferior in every way, except, perhaps, in mere brute strength, a man of little or no education, who would never have risen above the grade of a working-joiner in England.
Like most ignorant men in authority, he exhibited all the faults of the Europeans which most irritate and disgust us, arrogance, insolence, and selfishness. Unless you learn the language of my countrymen, and mix with the better-educated people of this country, you will never understand nor estimate at its full extent the mischief which one such man does to your national reputation. One such example is enough to confirm all that your worst enemies can say about your national selfishness and arrogance, and makes the people treat your pretensions to liberality and sympathy as mere hypocrisy. I had not joined the Company"s service from any desire for wealth, but from the hope of gaining honourable service; yet on the very threshold of that service I met with nothing but disgrace and dishonour, having to serve under a man whom I hated, yea, worse than hated, whom I despised. I wrote to my father, and requested his permission to resign, and he agreed with me that I the descendant of princes, could not serve the Company under conditions such as I have described. I resigned the service and returned home, intending to offer my services to his late Majesty Nussir-ood-Deen, King of Oude; but just when I reached Lucknow I was informed that his Highness Jung Bahadoor of Nepal, who is now at Goruckpore with an army of Goorkhas coming to a.s.sist in the loot of Lucknow, was about to visit England, and required a secretary well acquainted with the English language. I at once applied for the post, and being well backed by recommendations both from native princes and English officials, I secured the appointment, and in the suite of the Maharaja I landed in England for the first time, and, among other places, we visited Edinburgh, where your regiment, the Ninety-Third Highlanders, formed the guard of honour for the reception of his Highness. Little did I think when I saw a kilted regiment for the first time, that I should ever be a prisoner in their tents in the plains of Hindustan; but who can predict or avoid his fate?
"Well, I returned to India, and filled several posts at different native courts till 1854, when I was again asked to visit England in the suite of Azeemoolla Khan, whose name you must have often heard in connection with this mutiny and rebellion. On the death of the Peishwa, the Nana had appointed Azeemoolla Khan to be his agent. He, like myself, had received a good education in English, under Gunga Deen, head-master of the Government school at Cawnpore. Azeemoolla was confident that, if he could visit England, he would be able to have the decrees of Lord Dalhousie against his master reversed, and when I joined him he was about to start for England, well supplied with money to engage the best lawyers, and also to bribe high officials, if necessary. But I need not give you any account of our mission. You already know that, so far as London drawing-rooms went, it proved a social success, but as far as gaining our end a political failure; and we left England after spending over 50,000, to return to India _via_ Constantinople in 1855. From Constantinople we visited the Crimea, where we witnessed the a.s.sault and defeat of the English on the 18th of June, and were much struck by the wretched state of both armies in front of Sebastopol. Thence we returned to Constantinople, and there met certain real or pretended Russian agents, who made large promises of material support if Azeemoolla could stir up a rebellion in India. It was then that I and Azeemoolla formed the resolution of attempting to overthrow the Company"s Government, and, _Shook"r Khooda!_ we have succeeded in doing that; for from the newspapers which you lent me, I see that the Company"s _raj_ has gone, and that their charter for robbery and confiscation will not be renewed.
Although we have failed to wrest the country from the English, I hope we have done some good, and that our lives will not be sacrificed in vain; for I believe direct government under the English parliament will be more just than was that of the Company, and that there is yet a future before my oppressed and downtrodden countrymen, although I shall not live to see it.
"I do not speak, _sahib_, to flatter you or to gain your favour. I have already gained that, and I know that you cannot help me any farther than you are doing, and that if you could, your sense of duty would not let you. I know I must die; but the unexpected kindness which you have shown to me has caused me to speak my mind. I came to this tent with hatred in my heart, and curses on my lips; but your kindness to me, unfortunate, has made me, for the second time since I left Lucknow, ashamed of the atrocities committed during this rebellion. The first time was at Cawnpore a few days ago, when Colonel Napier of the Engineers was directing the blowing up of the Hindoo temples on the Cawnpore _ghat_, and a deputation of Hindoo priests came to him to beg that the temples might not be destroyed. "Now, listen to me," said Colonel Napier in reply to them; "you were all here when our women and children were murdered, and you also well know that we are not destroying these temples for vengeance, but for military considerations connected with the safety of the bridge of boats. But if any man among you can prove to me that he did a single act of kindness to any Christian man, woman, or child, nay, if he can even prove that he uttered one word of intercession for the life of any one of them, I pledge myself to spare the temple where he worships." I was standing in the crowd close to Colonel Napier at the time, and I thought it was bravely spoken. There was no reply, and the cowardly Brahmins slunk away. Napier gave the signal and the temples leaped into the air; and I was so impressed with the justness of Napier"s remarks that I too turned away, ashamed."
On this I asked him, "Were you in Cawnpore when the Mutiny broke out?"
To which he replied: "No, thank G.o.d! I was in my home in Rohilcund; and my hands are unstained by the blood of any one, excepting those who have fallen in the field of battle. I knew that the storm was about to burst, and had gone to place my wife and children in safety, and I was in my village when I heard the news of the mutinies at Meerut and Bareilly. I immediately hastened to join the Bareilly brigade, and marched with them for Delhi. There I was appointed engineer-in-chief, and set about strengthening the defences by the aid of a party of the Company"s engineers which had mutinied on the march from Roorkee to Meerut. I remained in Delhi till it was taken by the English in September. I then made my way to Lucknow with as many men as I could collect of the scattered forces. We first marched to Muttra, where we were obliged to halt till I threw a bridge of boats across the Jumna for the retreat of the army. We had still a force of over thirty thousand men under the command of Prince Feroz Shah and General Bukht Khan. As soon as I reached Lucknow I was honoured with the post of chief-engineer. I was in Lucknow in November when your regiment a.s.sisted to relieve the Residency. I saw the horrible slaughter in the Secundrabagh. I had directed the defences of that place the night before, and was looking on from the Shah Nujeef when you a.s.saulted it. I had posted over three thousand of the best troops in Lucknow in the Secundrabagh, as it was the key to the position, and not a man escaped. I nearly fainted; my liver turned to water when I saw the green flag pulled down, and a Highland bonnet set up on the flag-staff which I had erected the night before. I knew then that all was over, and directed the guns of the Shah Nujeef to open fire on the Secundrabagh. Since then I have planned and superintended the construction of all the defensive works in and around Lucknow. You will see them when you return, and if the sepoys and artillerymen stand firmly behind them, many of the English army will lose the number of their mess, as you call it, before you again become masters of Lucknow."
I then asked him if it was true that the man he had called Micky on our first acquaintance had been one of the men employed by the Nana to butcher the women and children at Cawnpore in July? To this he replied: "I believe it is true, but I did not know this when I employed him; he was merely recommended to me as a man on whom I could depend. If I had known then that he was a murderer of women and children, I should have had nothing to do with him, for it is he who has brought bad luck on me; it is my _kis.m.u.t_, and I must suffer. Your English proverb says, "You cannot touch pitch and escape defilement," and I must suffer; Allah is just. It is the conduct of wretches such as these that has brought the anger of Allah on our cause." On this I asked him if he knew whether there was any truth in the report of the European women having been dishonoured before being murdered. "_Sahib_," he replied, "you are a stranger to this country or you would not ask such a question. Any one who knows anything of the customs of this country and the strict rules of caste, knows that all such stories are lies, invented to stir up race-hatred, as if we had not enough of that on both sides already. That the women and children were cruelly murdered I admit, but not one of them was dishonoured; and all the sentences written on the walls of the houses in Cawnpore, such as, "We are at the mercy of savages, who have ravished young and old," and such like, which have appeared in the Indian papers and been copied from them into the English ones, are malicious forgeries, and were written on the walls after the re-occupation of Cawnpore by General Outram"s and Havelock"s forces.