BOURCHIER'S EIGHT MONTHS' CAMPAIGN- EDWARDS'S PERSONAL ADVENTURES DURING THE INDIAN

REBELLION.* Tun interest attached to the Indian mutiny still continues to pro- duce works upon the subject, and promises more. The two books at the head of this notice have novelty as well in the charac- ter of their writers as their subjects. 'the present Colonel Bour- chier was in the Punjaub at the beginning of the outbreak ; he followed the army of Nicholson to Delhi; after the capture of the city, he accompanied Greathed's column to the relief of Agra ; fought his way, with the same force under Grant, to Cawnpore, and subsequently served under Sir Colin Campbell at the relief of Lucknow, and assisted to rescue Windham and defeat the enemy on their return. The Bight Months' Campaign against the Bengal Sepoy Army is, we think, the first continuous narrative of the subject that has appeared ; other books treating of single actions. It is certainly the first book that has appeared by a military man, who combines with actual experience of war and the professional science that is compulsory upon the Artillery, a vigorous style, a literary coup d'oeil, and we fancy a quiet, martial contempt for the panic terrors of civilians of all sorts, whose ignorance leads them to expect danger from every quarter but the right one. A fortnight ago, we quoted an account from Mr. Judge-of-the-Sadder-Court Raikes, of the sufferings of the people shut up in Agra, from anticipated plunder and massacre—" the pain of death is most in apprehension." The artillery soldier, who, without escort, had carried his wife and two little children from Lahore to Simla, had joined the Army en route by means of mail carts, and served at the siege of Delhi, felt small sympathy with the urgency of Agra. The surprise which the men of the Delhi column, "all tattered and torn," created in the minds of the ladies of Agra, was reciprocated in another style as the force gazed on the smartness of the garrison, the fashionable appear-

ance of the ladies, and the martial display of the volunteers.

"At this distance even from Agra, loud croaking,s were heard ; epistles imploring aid, in every language both dead and living, and in cipher, for- warded by Government special messengers, and received by Colonel Great- hed, came pouring into camp. Many, like the dreams of Pharaoh, were be- yond the interpretation of the soothsayers, and no Joseph was at hand. Ali, however, that could be made out of the business was, that the people at Agra were in a cruel stew about some enemy supposed to be hovering round the neighbourhood with a siege-train. The cavalry and horse artillery, it was insisted, must go on at once ; and as Colonel Greathed felt that he had come within the clutches of the hydra-headed powers of the north-western Government, they were despatched on the 8th, at midnight, with instruc- tions to push on rapidly to Agra, a distance of forty-eight miles. The in- fantry and the field-battery followed four hours afterwards. * * *

"Little did the appearance of Agra give token of the terrible emergency which required that an army, whose infantry, from prior exposure and ser- vice, were far from being in good health, should march forty-four miles, -with but a few hours' rest, to its succour. "The 3d Bengal European Regiment, neatly dressed, sleek and well- favoured compared with the battered state of our regiments, was mounted on the bastion, and cheered us heartily as the force passed wider the walls of the citadel.

"Ladies were riding and driving about in all directions ; yeomanry ca- valry were careering in full equestrian pride, while from every hole and corner loomed the ugly muzzle of an iron monster, ready to annihilate any amount of Pandies.

"The fort itself, large and well built, was in perfect repair, and with its high double walls and deep ditch would have been reduced with difficulty,

* Right Months' Campaign against the Bengal Sepoy Army, during the Mutiny of 1837. By Colonel George Bourchier, C.B., Bengal Horse Artillery, late Com- manding No. 17, Light Field Battery. Published by Smith and Elder.

Personal Adventures during the Indian Rebellion in Bohitound. Futteghur, and Oude. By William Edwards. Esq., B.C.S. lodge of Benares and late Magis- trate and Collector of Budaon in Rohileund. Published by Smith and Elder. even by a European force. The appearance outside, however, was deco five the holiday-makers were the exceptions, not the rule of the place „- and the ladies represented certainly the most cheerful portion of the cons' munity. We were kept grilling on the public roads ter two hours, while the local executives argued with Colonel Greathed as to whether it would not be more advisable to encamp the column in a series of gardens over- grown with brushwood, where the guns would not have bad a range of fifty yards, and where the cavalry could not possibly act, in preference to a mai nificent grassy plain, with not an obstacle within three or four hundrea yards of our front, and those only a few high crops. " Fortunate, indeed, was it that Colonel Greathed's better judgment pre- vailed, as the sequel will show."

Though the people of Agra might like Falstafract upon instinct, the enemy were really in the neighbourhood, and had been for some time ; but, with the blindness and incapacity which has dis- tinguished them throughout, they made no attempt upon the till the arrival of Greathed's column. Before the men were all en- camped they suddenly made their attack. How thoroughly they were beaten kll know ; but we are now looking at civilians from the military point of view. "In a very short time we were all roused to the Conviction that some- thing was wrong. This was confirmed by a round-shot coming through the mess-tent ; and I rushed out at one door of my tent a servant was bowled down at the other by a second round-shot. All were instantly on the alert: the conduct of our troops was beyond praise; - that stern discipline which war alone teaches stood us in good stead. Ashower of round-shot from a battery of twelve guns on our right and front came dashing into camp, spreading terror among the camp-followers, and still greater alarm to the sightseers. "Such was the terrible panic among the latter, that those officers who had gone into the fort and were eager to get back to their posts could not stem the torrent of affrighted beings; an officer of the dragoons in attempt- ing it was fairly carried off his legs and borne back with the crowd, hot satisfied with legitimate means of escape, the gun-horses in many cases were seized as they were being led to the guns, and were found next morning in the fort."

"Truly we had reason to be thankful to providence for the successiul is- sue of our day's work ; which at first looked far from promising, as it turned out, nothing could have been more successful, or better managed' but the culpable ignorance of the Agra authorities—who summoned a force to their rescue from a distance, and on its arrival allowed it to be led into an ambuscade, by repeated assurances, up to within half an hour of the attack, that the enemy had retired beyond the Karee Nuddee, seems hardly credible. It could have been no sudden thought of the enemy, or the work of a mo- ment, to have brought their guns such a distance, and crossed them over a river with a stream scarcely fordable flowing over a bed of deep sand : it must have been the work of many days and of unremitting labour. The presence of the enemy's camp within four miles of the fort, and their pos- session of the actual ground on which the Agra authorities wished us to en- camp, shows how painfully little the latter were aware of what was passing so close to them.

"That the surprise was mutual there can be no doubt. The enemy be- lieved that the reported arrival of a column from Delhi was only an impo- sition, and hung the spy by whom our arrival was chronicled."

The doings in the Punjaub, the exploits of Greathed's (after-- wards Grant's) column, and Sir Colin Campbell's action at Cavil- pore, which relieved Windham and cut up his assailants consti- tute the most varied and life-like portions of the book. We have had Delhi twice lately, and the relief of Lucknow has been pretty fully told by official or newspaper correspondence. Perhaps Colonel Bourchier himself draws too amply for so small a book on official papers ; for he quotes largely from the despatches, and some of his Delhi matter is second hand though skilfully pre- sented. The most singular characteristic of the book is the sol- dierly mind ; whether shown in bearing and overcoming persona difficulties, in criticism on the civil service and volunteers, or the frequent pictures of the individual spirit in war. This is an example from the action at Cawnpore.

"I can give no better idea of the orders I received than in the words of the adjutant of the horse artillery, Lieutenant Bunny ; whose unbounded spirits under the most depressing circumstances were so enviable. "After about half an hour's heavy firing and crossing the canal, I met him coming back for me at full gallop. All he said was, 'Come along, they are bolting like the Devil.' Away we went along the trunk road at a gd- lop ; Peter Sconse as was his wont when shot were flying about, yelling with delight. The infantry made way for us, and a mile and a half ahead we came upon the enemy's camp, and at 400 yards poured round shot into the flying masses before us. Go to grape distance' ' was Major Turner's order ; we limbered up, and from a distance of not more than 200 yards poured a shower of grape into their position. The men were yelling with delight ; they actually stood upon the gun-carriages as we advanced ; the drivers cheered, and such a scene of excitement was never known. "At the enemy's camp, Sir Colin himself came into the battery and gave orders for the pursuit. Hurrah, hurrah ! we are on their track ; gun after gun is passed and spiked, cartloads of ammunition lay strewed along the road ; Pandies are bolting in all directions. For two miles without a check, the pursuit was carried on by the battery alone, accompanied by Sir Hope Grant and his Staff." This excitement might not be due alone to "the rapture of the strife." Not very long before Colonel Bourchier had witnessed other feelings at Cawnpore. "Wandering about the intrenchment, British soldiers of every rank might be seen searching for little mementoes of their fallen countrymen so foully murdered. Revenge deep and bitter was vowed against the perpe- trators of such atrocities. I confess to have been no stranger to the influ- ence exercised on the mind by the these scenes ; the very worst feelings rose to the surface. Here might be seen a dragoon with a child's frock on the end of his lance, on which he had vowed never to spare a Sepoy; there a soldier with a fair tress attached to his bayonet, determined on future re,- venge. "Could it be wondered at ? Twice I passed the ruins, and the same feelings on both occasions seemed to rise involuntarily. I resolved never again to enter its precincts, and although on a subsequent occasion my tent abutted for six days on a corner of the intrenchment, I religiously kept my word. "The fatal well, the grave of so many of that band of heroes, was care- fully covered in. Who could pass it unmoved? If the intrenchment Ws* horrible, the massacre-house was infinitely more so : in the inner wart- yard was a tree on which were traces of the murder of the poor little bine-

aee cents, whose sticking to the bark, told of the dreadful death they had hair, met."

The following is from the earlier doings in the Punjaub.

"On the 9th of June' at Anarkullee, two Sepoys of the 35th were tried by a drum-head court-martial for mutinous language, and sentenced to be blovrn away from the guns. The execution was a terrible one. Having been directed to carry it out in my battery, I was close to the wretches, and could watch every feature ; they showed the most perfect apathy : one man merely saying that he had some money in the hands of the non-commis- sioned officer of his company ; the other never uttered a word. * * o since thin execution I have seen many men hung and executed in various ways. They all evinced the same indifference as to life or death ; one man bowed his head to me as he was being tied to the gun and said ' Salaam, Captain Salub, Salaam, gora log,' 'Good-bye, Captain, good-bye Europeans."

The volume is accompanied with capital plans of the different actions and sieges. There is also an account of the mutiny at Cawnpore and subsequent beleaguering of the place, by a writer un- known to Colonel Bourchier. If the account be correct it would seem that over confidence, and a routine spirit if not actual in- capacity in the commander chiefly conduced to the catastrophe.

The Personal _Adventures of Mr. Edwards are as distinct from any book that has yet appeared on the Indian mutiny as is pos- sible to be. Previous works have told of suffering, hardship, danger, death, but they have been encountered in company, with the means of meeting or the hopes of overcoming them. Colonel Bourchier more especially brings home to the mind the great ad- vantage which a warrior possesses in war time. He may indeed be killed or wounded, or undergo fatigue, exposure, privation ; he may be overpowered by numbers or beaten by default; but all these things are of the essence of the contract ; they are expected and prepared for. One great advantage is that the soldier belongs to a corporation whose members not only aid and abet but comfort one another. "The storm without may rair and rustle " ; but subject to "the fortune of war," they "do not mind the storm a whistle." Like the philosopher of old, soldiers carry with them. all they call their own, and besides the blunted sense of danger, which habit induces they know for the most part whether danger is really present, and also what is possible to be done. Civilians are devoid of all these advantages ; but hitherto we have heard of civilians in a large company, nay as warriors after a fashion. 3Ir. Edwards, though not absolutely alone, had very few com- panions; and those he had better have been without, for by him- self he could easily have escaped, through native friends in Rohil- eund.

The interest of contrast, however, is a very subordinate feature in Personal Adventures during the Indian Rebellion. Without deviating in the least degree from the simplest narrative of facts, it has the attraction of a romance in its adventures, and of a drama in its persons, besides being set off with continual variety in manners and scenery, not introduced artistically, but forming a necessary part of the story. The traits of native character, whe- ther of friends or foes' —the glimpses of domestic habits and eco- nomy, from the feudal chieftain down to the poorest vassal on his territories,—the sketches of the country through which the pre- scribed fugitives had to make their way, or the flooded jungle in which they were so long hidden, are all as much a part of the

book as the, personal adventures themselves. Strongly individual too as the whole is, it is evidently a type. Hundreds must have undergone the same hardships and hairbreadth escapes, whether they eventually perished or escaped. At the time of the outbreak, Mr. Edwards was residing with Ids family at Budaon in Rohikund, as magistrate and collector.

The district was without European or reliable force of any kind ; and soon after the mutiny at Meerut and the revolt at Delhi, the "spirit of disorder began to show itself." . . . . " Bands of ma- rauders sprang up, as it were, by magic, and commenced plun- dering on the roads, and sacking and burning villages." Com- munications were cut off; in a neighbouring district, some re- volted Sepoys broke open the gaol, and the fact, personally in- teresting to our author, was transmitted to him. "I was informed of this fact [the gaol delivery] by a short note from Campbell, the joint magistrate, telling me to look out for myself, as among the liberated convicts, was a notorious villain, Nujjo Khan, who was under sentence of transportation for life for an attempt to murder Court, joint magistrate of Budaon' and in which he very nearly succeeded, having maimed him for life. I had succeeded in apprehending this miscreant, who had eluded our police force for more than two years, and in bringing him to justice ; he was consequently highly exasperated with me, and, as Campbell informed me, had started at once towards my station with the intention of murdering me."

Without any help except a servant—for the few Europeans in the district who congregated round him were useless, and not one of the native employes could be trusted—Mr. Edwards struggled on as long as he could, having luckily sent off his wife and child to the hills in the beginning of the troubles. At last, when the whole place was up in arms, the gaol broken open, the treasury surrounded, and a riotous mob of released prisoners yelling about his house, he resolved to depart. "I felt my work was then over ; that the ship had sunk under me, and that it was now time to try and provide for my own safety. My horse, a small grey Cabul galloway belonging to my wife and constantly ridden by her, on whose speed and endurance I knew I could depend, had been stand- ing all day saddled ; I at once mounted him, and rode slowly away from the

house, followed by the Messrs. Donald and Gibson. * * •

" When I had gone some hundred yards from the house I was met by the chief of Shikooporah, a Mohammedan gentleman of family and influence, Who used frequently to visit me. Re dissuaded me from attempting to get round the town, as the roads were crowded with sepoys and released con- luta. He begged me to coma and take refuge in his house, about three miles off, and in a different direction from that I had intended taking..

This I readily consented to do, as I hoped that I could remain conceakd with him until the mutineers had abandoned the station ; when I would have returned, and endeavoured to resume my duties and restore some de- gree of order. The sheikh at the same time said he would grant an asylum to me alone, but not to the others of my party. I, however, thought 1 nii„oht be able to induce bins to abandon ibis resolution, and retain us all, and I therefore took no notice at the time. • • " Scarcely had we dismounted from our horses and entered the walled court, than one of the sheikh's brothers came up to me, and respectfully stated that it would be impossible for us to remain with safety there, as ens- numbers would certainly attract attention, and bring down upon us the mu- tineers ; we must therefore at once leave, and go on to a village of his, about eighteen miles distant on the left bank of the Ganges. I was deeply morti- fied at this, and the consequent frustration of my hope of being able to lie close until the mutineers should decamp, and then return to the station. I therefore remonstrated strongly with the chief on his want of hospitality ; but he remained quite firm, assuring me that while he was quite ready to shelter me alone, he would not grant an asylum to my companions. As they would not leave me, and I would not desert them, there was nothing for it but to comply with the sheikh's wishes and start for the village further on."

And here it may be remarked, albeit parenthetically, that this refusal to receive the companions of Mr. -Edwards, was not churl- ishness or personal dislike, but originated in a feeling to which our author ascribes the success of the revolt in his region, so &l- as the people were concerned. Our civil courts and revenue sys- tem had reduced or ruined numbers of families, and one or more of his companions had bought some of the estates sold under de- cree. The remarks that follow are not mere evils of the past, but pregnant with future mischief unless a reform should take place.

To the large numbers of these sales [by decrees of our Civil Courts] during the past twelve or fifteen years, and the operation of our revenue system, which has had the result of destroying the gentry of the country and breaking up the village communities, I attribute solely the disorganiza- tion of this and the neighbouring districts in these provinces.

"By fraud or chicanery, a vast number of the estates of families of rank and influence have been alienated, either wholly or in part, and have been purchased by new men—chiefly traders or Government officials—without character or influence over their tenantry. These men, in a vast majority of instances, were also absentees, fearing or disliking to reside on their pur- chases, where they were looked upon as interlopers and unwelcome intruders. The ancient proprietary of these alienated estates were again living as tenantry on the lands once theirs ; by no means reconciled to their change of position, but maintaining their hereditary hold as strong as ever over the sympathies and affections of the agricultural body, who were ready and willing to join their feudal superiors in any attempt to recover their lost position and regain possession of their estates.

"For more than a year previous to the outbreak, I had been publicly re- presenting to superior authority the great abuse of the power of the civil courts, and the reckless manner in which they decreed the sale of rights and interests connected with the soil, in satisfaction of petty debts, and the dangerous dislocation of society which was in consequence being prod aced. I then pointed out that although the old families were being displaced fast, we could not destroy the memory of the past, or dissolve the ancient con- nexion between them and their people ; and I said distinctly, that in event of any insurrection occurring, we should find this great and influential body, through whom we can alone hope to control and keep under the mil- lions forming the rural classes, ranged against us on the side of the enemy, with their hereditary retainers and followers rallying around them, in spite of our attempts to separate their interests. My warnings were unheeded, and I was treated as an alarmist, who, having hitherto only served in the political department of the state, and being totally inexperienced in revenue matters, could give no sound opinion on the subject."

Nor was this feeling against his three companions confined to the chief of Shikooporah. After leaving the chief's estate through the alleged danger of remaining, and going through various ad- ventures, the party found themselves in a village where the teh- seeldar said the Nawab "Ahmed Zur Khan" would receive and protect them.

"We accordingly removed to this place, distant about a mile from the tehseeldaree, and were at once led into the garden, and told to remain there until the Nawab himself could receive us. We sat down under the shade of the trees ; for the heat was by this time intense. Presently the Nawab's brother, attended by three followers, all armed with double-barrelled guns, came to look at us. He was quite intoxicated with opium, and very inso- lent and excited in his manner. He questioned us as to who we were, and on my telling him that I was the collector of Budaon, and that the others were indigo planters and a Customs patrol, he turned to me and said, You I know, and will protect you, as you are a Government officer as for these fellows I know nothing of them, and will have nothing to do with them.' I thought it highly probable, that, infuriated as he was with drugs, he might shoot down my companions at once, and they themselves quite expected he would fire on them. Fortunately, however, at this juncture the Nawab himself appeared, and the brother was at once taken away. "The Nawab was kind and polite in his demeanour, but seemed most re- luctant to allow us to enter his house."

To what extent this chief, or indeed any other of the natives, were thoroughly loyal may be hard to say. Their own position was often one of great difficulty from the sympathies of their- people with the mutineers. Any very open or active support of Europeans would involve destruction should the revolt succeed ; possibly upon the instant, if a chief ran openly counter to the majority ; and his death would certainly have involved that of the men he wished to protect. The Nawab of the extract, for instance, sent on the party to a certain Nawab, " Doolah," where they were treacherously attacked, Mr. Gibson cut to pieces, and the lives of the others barely saved. But Ahmed Zur Khan received them kindly on their return, sent them on with a guide in another direction, and, in short, saved their lives. After more adventures and escapes Mr. Edwards joined an official, Mr. Probyn and his family, and threw themselves on the protection of a Rajpoot chieftain named Hurdeo Buksh. He sent them into the jungle, where they were very uncomfortable, and two of Probyn's children died from their privations and hardships. The chief was not so attentive in his communications as he might have been ; and such as they were they varied with the reports of our successes or mis- fortunes. But he probably did all he safely could ; as like Ahmed Zur -he certainly saved their lives and, enabled them to reach Cawnpore.

The interest of the work greatly depends upon continuous perusal, the pictures, scenes, conversation, gossip, and even ad- ventures, losing somewhat when separated from the context Here is a race when they had left the Nawab Ahmed Zur Khan the second time.

"After riding about two hours, we approached two villages close to each other, and between which we had to pass. The one on the right was in flames, and surrounded by a band of marauders, who were busily engaged in plundering it. As we came on at full speed, the fellows caught sight of us, when within about a mile of the village. They raised a tremendous shout, and commenced rushing to a point where they hoped to be able to cut us off. Then we did ride for our lives ; our guide leading us with ad- mirable decision and sagacity. It was a most exciting race for about fifteen minutes. The shouts and yells of these miscreants, and the noise of the flaming villages, excited our horses to such a degree that they needed no urging to do their best ? Both mine behaved nobly ; Jan Bay, carrying his fourteen stone rider as if he was a feather, and my own little Cabulee tearing along and clearing every obstacle as if he enjoyed the fun. " The excitement was so great, that I quite forgot the danger, for the moment ; although for some time it was doubtful whether we could clear the mob or not : we just succeeded in doing so, with about two hundred yards to spare ; and I shall never forget the yell of rage the fellows raised when they saw they had missed their prey. Happily they had no firearms, and we were therefore quite safe from them, after we had once got beyond them."