The Press. — London, England, 1858-01-23 00:00:00

r9O at Barrackpc re, and they determined to do something. They arrested the King of Oude, and at one sitting in Council gagged the English press. This was, perhaps, the only effective mea sure that the Government at Calcutta took at this period of the insurrection. They gagged the press, did not raise volunteer corps, and ordered Allahabad, the then most important military post in our possession, to remain in the charge of a regiment of Native Infantry, which mutinied, as a matter of course, and, sternly checking the advance of reinforcements to the aid of Wheeler and of Lawrence, brought about those two great incidents of the insur rection, the massacre of Cawnpore and the defence of Lucknow : From that day to the present all Oude has been up in arms against ns. Not only the regular troops whom we poured into that province, but the sixty thousand men who formed the army of the ex-King, the zemindars with their retainers, the two hundred and fifty forts, most of them heavily armed with guns, hide been working against us. Here and there a petty rajah has been found ready to spare the lives of our fugitives, and even in his heart wishing us success ; but these exceptions have been very rare. The great body of the landowners, the mass of the people, have declared against us : they have balanced the rule of the Company and the sovereignty of their own kings, and have pronounced almost unanimously in fsvour of the latter. The very pensioners who had served in the ranks of our army, and who now derive their support solely from our bounty, have declared definitively against us; not only have they to a man joined in the insurrection, but it is a well authenticated fact that they have been foremost in the com mission of atrocities. Such is the political aspect of the question. In a military point of view, Oude has been the great stumbling•block in our course, the ulcer that has swallowed up and paralysed all our resources. Granting that we should have had the rebellion if Oule had not been annexed, there would still have been one European regiment available for Cawnpore. There would have been no occasion to keep all our rein• forcements between that place and Calcutta, or to pour them into Oude in long•fruitless attempts to succour our oountrymen. In all probability Oude would have remained to us what it was in the Mahratta, Sikh, and Burman wars, not only a harmless but a friendly country. Our troops would have been able to reinforce the army before Delhi and to reconquer Rohilcund. As it is, they have been re duced by exposure, by disease, and by the sword, in the endeavour to rescue from the clutches of the enemy those of our countrymen who had been sent, in defiance of the most solemn treaties, to usurp the place and dignity of the native sovereigns of the country. The assertion that the Government of Cal cutta f.rst refused and then accepted aid from Jung Bahadoor is confirmed by the author of this pamphlet. The assistance of the Minister of Nepaul was contemptuously rejected one week, and humbly asked for the next. The inactivity displayed at Meerut. in the ear lier stage of the mutiny appears to have gene rally characterised the proceedings of the gene ral there in command. In Rohilcund we had three military stations at the moment of the outbreak—Bareilly, Mooradabad, and Shahji banpore. At each the native troops revolted by the beginning of June, and, uniting their forces, having plundered all the local treasu ries, and accumulated au enormous quantity of spoil, set out for Delhi. The conduct of the general then in command at Meerut demands explanation : They were about 5,000 strong, had with them 400,0 KU. in silver, laden on country carts : they crossed the Ganges within thirty miles of Meerut. We had in that station 1,000 Europeans doing nothing beyond guarding an intrenchtnent; and yet the general commanding did not attempt in the slightest degree to interfere with their pas- sage. They even lay at Uurmuckteser for some days, whilst they sent over their baggage ; and, to keep our men off, sent the general taunting messages that they were about to attack him, a threat which sufficed to make him keep his Europeans within the intrenchment. How the spirits of the gallant young officers, panting to revenge their countrymen, chafed at this inaction, may be imagined. More than one implored the general to permit them to go with even 500 men to attack the rebels as they were cross ing; but he r ould not hear it. Meerut, he said, was too important a station to be left undefended. Most true ! But there are some cases in which a bold attack is the best defence, and this was one of them. The defeat of the Rohilcund rebels at Gurmuckteser Ghit would have struck terror into the surrounding district, and would have had even a material effect on the siege of Delhi. But it was not to be. This force, laden with the plunder of Rohilcund, marched within thirty miles of 1,000 Euro peans, crossed the broadest river in India in boats, tra versed the cmntry, exposing their left flank to our inactive forces, and finally reached Delhi on the Ist of July—a very critical period for the garrison of that city—without a shot having been fired at them in anger. In our necessarily hasty and imperfect notice of the present narrative we can only say that it includes the proceed ings generally throughout India, with the ex ception of those in the Punjaub, which are THE PRESS, JANUARY 23, 1858. postponed for a third part of the pamphlet, and very concisely states the events which occurred at Cawnpore and Lucknow, the marches and battles of Havelock, the spread of the insurrection in Central India, and the siege and capture of Delhi. All these are told, and well told, by our author. He appears to possess an intimate knowledge of military tactics ; he narrates with considerable fluency, clearness, and precision ; his facts, he assures us, are "based upon authority," and his re marks and observations exhibit a thorough acquaintance with Indian affairs. The work is dedicated to Lord Ellenborough, and to the memory of the late Sir Charles Napier, " pardy because those two great men, each in " his turn, suppressed mutinies which, in " their development, only became less dan " gerous than the present one, because, in " stead of wasting their time in discussing " milk-and-water theories, in writing minutes " on abstruse legal technicalities, or in de " bating the distinction between treachery " and treason, they acted not to excite. but to " crush them, and succeeded accordingly— " because, also, they not only detected the " sore spot in the Indian system, but likewise " applied to it the incision-knife and the " caustic ' —because they adopted justice " as the basis of their systems of govern " ment—and because, finally, their wise policy "in Scinde, on one side, and in Gwalior, on " the other, have assured the safety of India " in this as in preceding crises." We cannot conclude without giving two brief extracts, which do justice to the memory of two men, one of whom has been harshly condemned in certain quarters. Of General Anson our author writes : He had gone to the upper provinces early in the }ear, with the assent of the Government and the Court of Directors, and when the Meerut disaster occerred he was in the hills. The tidings reached him on the 12th of May, and he at once wade every preparation which man could make to meet the coming storm. His operations will be detailed in a future chapter. It is necessary to make a cursory allusion to him here, because a great outcry was made against him on account of the delay iu reducing Delhi; on his shoulders was laid all the blame, and men connected with the Government were anxious to singl.4him out as the scapegoat. The rash schemes proposed by the Government at this time have been com mented upon in a previous page; had they been adopted, ruin must have overtaken us. The plan proposed and followed by General Anson up to his death, and subse quently adopted by his successor, was the only practi cable one ; arid yet, because it involved a little delay, the gallant general became the bile•noir of viceregal circles and of the Secretary's-walk. The fact is, General Anson was no favourite in council. His abilities were far superior to those of his colleagues, and in clearheadedness not one of them came near him. His ways, too, were not their ways. If there was one thing more than another against which he had set his face, it was the Calcutta prevailing system of jobbing. He would have none of it; he would not touch the unclean thing. It was a common practice to sneer at General Anson as a mere Horse-Guards' general, as one who had gained his honours at Newmarket. But it is nevertheless a fact that this Horse-Guards' general, by dint of application and perseverance, mado himself so thoroughly master of his profession thit, when the mutiny broke out, he drew up a plan of operations which his successor, a Crimean war rior, carried out in all its details, rejecting as crude and ridiculous the suggestions sent up by the collective wis dom of Calcutta. It cannot be denied that this man, who " gained his honours at Newmarket," when brought in both the councils face to face with men who had made legislation for India the study of their lives, " distanced" them all ; that, whatever the subject, he always mastered it, and showed in reasoning a strong good sense, which was more than a match for the special pleadings by which he was frequently met, whilst in facility of expression and power of laying down an argument clearly and forcibly, not one of them came near him. It will be gratifying to the friends of General Anson, and to all who knew him, to read this tribute paid to his memory by one who at least has proved himself capable of forming and expressing a correct opinion upon men and matters in India. Of Sir Henry Havelock he remarks : Generel Havelock had seen perhaps more Indian service than any living man. He bad served throughout the first Burmese war, of which he wrote* clear and graphic history. In 1838.9 be went into Affghanistan, and only left it in 1842 in company with the avenging armies of Pollock and Nott: he had in fact remained one of the illustrious garrison of Jella!abed, throughout our terrible disasters in that country. In the campaign of Gwalior, in 1843, and in the Sutlej campaigns of 1845-6, he took a distinguished part, having in one action had two horses, in another a third horse, shot under him. It was after this that he became first Quartermaster-General, and subsequently Adjutant. General of H.M. forces in Indic. In his private life, and in manner, Havelock was the moat quiet and retiring of men. He ate and drank little---sufficient only for the purposes of life, end devoted his whole time to his pref es , sion and to his God. Religion was not with Lim a mere outward sign ; it was a part, and by far the most important part, of his daily exercises. He hri maimed over the idolatry-encouraging system of the Government of India, but he was powerless to prevent it. Nevertheless, he wa s one of those men who, in olden days, would have led the Crusaders to Ascalon, and whose deep enthusiasm would have inspired all around him with equal fervour in the cause. Who indeed that saw that spare figure, below the middle height, that pale, thoughtful face, seldom showing any interest in the general conversation, but often lighted up by the latent are within, would have thought him capable of mighty deeds? He would sit silent and meditative. He might be thinking of the yet possible destiny of India under a bold and God-fearing policy. The smile would gleam on his face, but as quickly die away, for what chance seemed there then of action for him ? He was approach. ing the term of life, the end of his days, and all India lay before him calm and still, not a breath agitating her bosom, not even a ripple indicating the quarter from which a storm might be approaching. The faith of our rulers in Hindooism was never stronger. Who that saw him then would have believed that that pale, thin, spare man, studiously avoiding all fare but the plainest, was the hero who would place his heel on the neck of this terrible rebellion?—was the man who, under a July, August, and September sun,—deadly to the strongest—would march without tents against twenty times hie number, would baffle all their attempts to over whelm him ? Who would ever make a retreat the prelude of a further step in advance; end finally, after three months' encounters with a persevering foe, would succeed in forcing his way, at the head of 2,500 British troops, through 50,000 fanatics, holding the largest and moat defensible city in Asia, and be the first to bring relief to our countrymen ? And yet Havelock did all this. This day (27th November) intelligence has reached Cal cutta that he is dead. Mourn not for him, my country. men, for a nobler and a purer spirit never winged its way to its God. Mourn rather for India, that at such a crisis as this, s God-fearing soldier, a Christian warrior, as yet unsurpassed—in the present crisis unequalled by any— should have been removed from the head of her armies ! THE QUARTERLIES. THE Quarterly Review contains several inte resting, and one or two striking, articles. Of the former kind are those on Smollett, on the county of Wilts, and on Woolwich Arsenal ; of the latter, "The Historic Peerage" and the Indian article. The paper on Smollet is remarkably well written, and, without break ing any new ground, is fresh and spirited. The article on the peerage is a careful roves• tigation of the roots of our existing nobility. It possesses considerable merit, both anti• quarian and histqrical, and is lighted up by flashes of fancy such as the following : A certain love of pleasure and pomp—a certain not nn graceful ostentation —seems to ruffle, like a plume in the cap, of the men of Edward M.'s days. Feudalism had flowered, so to speak, and was enjoying itself in the sun shine of its prosperity with all its heraldic banners flutter ing in the breeze. The earlier barons, not less noble, had been, perhaps, a shade more grim ; and, in coming from earlier writers to Froissart, we feel—is it the wine they axe drinking, or the love-songs they are singing? or a haunting thought of the eyes of the Countess of Salia• bury ?—that we are two or three generations nearer the cavaliers. This, too, is worth remembrance : Public opinion on these subjects would be much em lightened if the public would remember that aristocracies are prone to grow less respectable as they grow less historic; that the Roman nobles who flattered Caligula were not of the families which conquered Hannibal; and that the French aristocracy before the Revolution had become hateful, as much by the system which had made noblesse an affair of barter, as by any misconde.ct on the part of those who sprang from the warriors of Philip Augustus. India we shall notice presently. Much the most remarkable article in the Westminster Review is " The Religious Weak ness of Protestantism." It is offensively plainly spoken, and decidedly unfair. But neither its impertinence nor its sophistry will counteract its poisonous influence on minds already tainted by scepticism ; and as we do not deny it very great argumentative adroit ness, and a certain plausible simplicity, we fear it is calculated to work great mischief. A paper on Shelley, which is stale, two finan cial ones, hostile to the Bank Charter Act, and a reasonably good one on India, make lip number not quite up to the average standard of the Westminster. The National Review sustains its reputation by a series of capital articles. The paper on George Sand is remarkably interesting, and written with a flow of easy, vigorous English. The review of Colonel Muro is also very able, though we dissent from many of the opinions expressed in it. The sneers at Mr. Shilleto are vastly silly, and the objections to Colonel