The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-05-11 00:00:00

THE FALL OF LIICKNOW.

HILADQUARTSRB 111.70112 LOCKNOW, March 20.

On the 14th of March, says the Thrlea correspondent,
we had attacked the Imaumbarrah or Inaintarra with
such vigour that the enemy, dismayed by the stern
onslaught, by the fire of our artillery, and by the lesson
they had received at the storm of the Begum'e
abandoned their position, and flying in disorder into the
Kaiserbegh, so entirely disheartened the garrison,
already decimated by the bombardment, that they gave
up the key of their position almost without • struggle.
The news took every one by surprise. Every one was
on the spot as speedily as possible. The air was still
heavy with gunpowder; bullets were whistling around
from the desperate men shut up in the works, and from
the enemy in the inner line of defense,. Our men were
just crashing through the rooms of the palaces, which
were as yet filled with the evidence of barbaric
magnificence and splendour, and the cries of the dying
were not yet stilled when we entered. The Kaiserbagh
cannot be described. The place is a series of palaces,
kiosks, mosques, all of fanciful Oriental architecture—
some light and graceful, others merely fantastic and
curious, connected generally by long corridors arched and
open in the front, or by extensive wings, which enclose
the court" and gardens contained within the outer walls.
In every room throughout the endless series there was
a mfusion of mirrors in ponderous gilt frames. A
universal gilding of cornice., furniture, and everything
that would bear the process seemed the prevailing tuts
in the Royal Court. From every ceiling hung glue
chandeliers of every age, form, ooloar, and design. As to
the furniture, in many instances it looked like collections
from the lumber-rooms of all the old palaces in Europe,
Down came chandeliers in a tinkling, clattering rain of
glau—crash 1 crash 1 crash I door and window, and
mirror and pendule ! Sikh and soldier were revelling in
destruction and delirious with plunder and mischief.
Those who could not get in at once to carry on the
work searched the oorridors, battered off the noses, legs
and arms of the datum in the gardens, or, diving into
milers, either iside their fortunes by the discovery of
unsuspected treasure, or lost their lives at the hands of
concealed fanatics. There was no time to guard against
indiscriminate plunder, inasmuch as it never was ex-
pected that the Kaiserbagh and all its treasure. would
hove fallen that day into our hands. It was stormed
at once, but it amid scarcely be said that any great
resistance was offered by the enemy. As they fled from
the linaumbarrali, with Bruler's Sikh' and the 90th
Regiment in fast pursuit, they rushed in such confusion
through the detached houses and courts between it and
the Kaiserbagh that • universal penis was created, and
the Sikhs entered by the ramps and gateways along
with the enemy. They were supported by men of the
corps engaged in the assault of the linaumberrah. At
the very aspect of thews men inside the defences Sepoys
and Nujeehe lost heart, and fled out of the courts and
buildings. Some were shut up, or secreted themselves
In recesses, and in the many mysterious apartments of an
Eastern palace. All who remained in arms were shot
down or bayoneted on the spot, The Kaiserbagh was
ours before 12 o'clock, Brigadier Napier sent up word
at once to head-quarters, where the fell of the linaum-
barrel' was just made known. "Mount and away" WU
the word. Hoe the soldiers cheered when Sir Colin
made his appearance in the Imaumbarrah and pro-
oeeded through them to the stairs which led up on to
the roof of the Palace, from which a good view could
be obtained of portions of the Kisiserbagh
Nothing but a photograph can give • notion of Luoknow
as it is seen from the minaret or roof of this building—
such a sea of roofs, amid green groves and gardens, '
surmounted by gilt domes and slender minaret', and all
the etrange combinations of lines and ornaments in which
Oriental architeota delight. The large room of the
Imauinbarrah, which seemed to have been used as • sort
of museum, and contained many curious models of
mosques and many fine glasses and ohandaliere, was a
hasp of ruins, and every building bore marks of our shot
and shell. Working our way through Sikhs busy in
melting down gold and silver lace in huge fires under
earthen pots which served as crucibles, through
wounded Ghoorkas 'triggering back to the rear, we ap-
proached the Kaiserbagh by the street along which
Havelock's rear guard marched towards the Residency.
A party of the 38th Regiment at one gateway of the
court and of the 90th at another were replying to the
fire which was dill maintained from the adjacent build-
ings and the line of the enemy's inner and last defences ;
but a stray bullet whistling sharply through the court
now and then showed that some of the enemy were
concealed in the rooms around. Our men were in high
delight with the gay dresses of the eunuchs which they
found in some of the rooms, and it was with difficulty
they were induced to take off the crowns of lace and
peacock's plumes, and birds of paradise feathers, and the
sword belts they stuck over their heads and shoulders.
Here, as in every other building, there were quantities
of kites, the flying of which seemed a favourite amuse-
ment of these childish but ferocious races. Goats,
horses, the stately Cryus cranes, tame monkeys, apes,
antelopes, numbers of paroquets in cages were also ap-
propriated by the men. In this siege there is no such
pleasant vantage ground as Cathcart 's-hill or • well
protected parallel, from which one can get a view of
what is going on without any risk except that
from a long range shot or stray shell, and more
officers have been killed and wounded here after
our actions are over by the enemy hidden in unknown
holes and corners than in the actual service of the field.
In the next court, which was sheltered from fire
by the walls around it, our men had made a great
seizure of rich plunder. They had burst into some of the
state apartments, and they were engaged in dividing the
spoil of shawls and lace embroidery of gold and silver and
pearls. In one box they found diamond bracelets, eme-
ralds, rubies, pearls, and opals, all so large and bright and
badly Het, that we believed at the time they were glass.
In another was a pair of gold mounted and jewelled
duelling pietols, of English make, and the bill, stating
that His Majesty the King of Code owed the maker
£280; then out they came with bundles of swords,
gold-mounted, and jewelled, which they at once knocked
to pieces for the sake of the mountings, leaving the
blades behind them. Next came out a huge chymioal
laboratory, then • gold saddlecloth, studded with pearls
then gold-handled riding canes; then cup' of agate and
jade, gold-mounted and jewelled. The happy posses-
sors of these riches were quite inert with excitement.
"Is this gold Sir, "Is that • diamond?' "I. your
honour share that's raid goold f'' "Is this string of
little white stones (pearls) worth anything, gintlemen ?"
It WU • great drawback to have a consience under such
circumstances. Close to us were large boxes of japan-
ned work containing literally thousands of cups and
vessels of jade, of oryital, and of china, which the
soldiers were listlessly throwing on the ground, and
breaking into atoms. Such were the scene. through
every court of the many mansions of the Kaiserbagh.
Meantime intelligence reached the Chief of the Staff that
the women of the Zenana were secreted in one of the
strongest parts of the Kaiserbagh. Some engineer offi-
cers, with two companies of the 38th, immediately pro-
ceeded to the spot, into which some of our soldiers had
already forced an entrance. In doing so the son of one
of the Begums, a deaf and dumb youth of about 20 years
of age, and two or three of the ladle" of the Zeman* were
unfortunately killed by • discharge of musketry when
the doors were burst in, before the soldiers saw that
they were women. It may be imagined what a state of
terror the Begum and their attendants were in when
they saw our men enter. They expected death every
Instant, and their agonies of fear were increased by the
knowledge of the flat that some armed Sepoys were dint
tip in a room close at hand, and one shot might seal
their fats. Huddled together amid the smoke, they
could scarcely be calmed by the assurances of the officers,
who at once took measures to remove them to a place of
safety. As they were going out one of the ladies pointed
out to Captain Hope Johnstone a box which -he had
just taken from the floor and laid upon the table. ithe
told him it contained jewels to the value of 10 law of
rupees, or £lOO,OOO. He at ono placed centtias at the
doors, and rive orders that no one should enter. Ha,.
fag, with the aid of his brother oaten, taken the ladles
out of danger, he returned to the &mina. It was biasing
from end to end. The sentries only escaped by clamber-
ing up to the roof, from which they were with difficulty
saved. The Jewell were gone. Had Captain Johnstone
fain Unit they would have been his, for she Knificabliffh
on this day was given up to plunder, and what each man
could get became his property. Those stately buildings,
which had never before hen entered by European foot

except by a Commissioner of Gude on a State day, were
now open to the common soldier and to the poorest camp
follower of our army. How their splendours vanished
like snow in sunshine 1 The destruction around
one, the shoutiug, the smashimg noises, the
yells of the Sikhs and natives, were oppressive.
It was late in the evening when we returned to camp,
through roads thronged with at least 20,000 camp
followers, all staggering under loads of plunder—Coolies,
syces, kitmutgars, dhoolpbearers, Sikhs, grasecutters,
• flood of men covered with clothing not their own,
carrying on heads and ohoulders looking-glasses, mirrors,
pictures, brass pots, sworda, frelocks, rich shawls, scarfs,
embroidered dreams, all the " loot " of ransacked
palaces. The noise, the dust, the shouting, the excite-
ineiA were almost beyond endurance. Lucknow wan
borne away piecemeal to camp, and the wild Ghoorkas
and Sikhs, with oren mouths and glaring eyes, burning
with haste to get rich, were contending fiercely against
the current an they sought to get to the sources of such
unexpected wealth. The Commander-in-chief and the
Chief of the Staff were already in amp, and the expres-
sions of Sir Colin's face told how much the result of the
day's operations had pleased him. He is understood to
ascribe this great success to the impression produced by
the charge of the 93rd and the Sikhs on the Beguiles
Palace, to the influence of our bombardment, and to the
flank movement by which the lines of defences were en-
filaded and taken in reverse. He at once sent off a
telegram to Lord Canning to announce that we were in
solid occupation of the Kaiserbagh. The townspeople,
the levies, and the Sepoyo are flying out of the town in
thousands, and they can be seen crossing the stone
bridge in multitudes. There is • cessation of the
grosser sort of plunder, but it is by no means '
gratifying to see the amount of destruction
still going on on the 18th in the Palace Courts.
The water in the canal, or bum, in the garden is full of
composition, enough to make every boy in London
happy for many centuries of Guy Fawkes, day. As I
was going through one of the court, a soldier asked me
if I should like to buy an emerald, and with much
mystery he produced a green drop of an old fashioned
lustre. However, on the arm of an officer I saw a dia-
mond bracelet, which he had bought for • few rupees,
the worth of which must have been several thousand
pounds sterling. There are still some desperate men in
the city, who seem determined to persist in a hopeless
struggle. Allalong the streets nextday pickets were posted,
who compelled the camp follower, to deposit the plunder
they had collected, and searched them for concealed
money or jewels. The heaps of articles thus collected
at every station were of the most varied description,
Some privileged Sikhs were still engaged in their old
work of alchemy, extracting gold and silver from heaps
of rags, true, and old lace. The last post held by the
enemy has fume into our hands, and Luoknow fell—
never to rise again It is now stated on excellent
authority that when Sir Colin Campbell was marching
sway after his famous relief of the garrison of Lucknow,
his enemies, so far from thinking of an attack upon us.
were almost reedy to surrender at discretion. It must
be remembered that the works which now astonish us
did not then exist, and that the advance of a force
which had inflicted on the Sepoys the tremendous
punishment of the Secunderbagh, and had mauled to
the Residenc7, occupying most oommanding positions,
could not fail to alarm the enemy. The Begum in
terror proposed to send in to the Commander-in-Chief
for terms, and to hoist • white flag on the Kaiserbagh •,
but the chief and Sepoy soubandars met in council, and
determined to wait for 24 hours before they resolved on
any course of the kind, and during those 24 hours our
Commander-in-Chief, little thinking by what feelings
the enemy were agitated, was making his diepuitions
for the masterly retreat which brought him just in time
to Cawnpore. The enemy could scarcely credit their
sense, when they found the Residency and its defences all
empty, and for some time they were in dread that we
had prepared some trap for them to fall into.