The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 23, 1867

even in this extremity. He spoke with the ease
and fluency of a native, and with an intimate
knowledge of every feeling that moved the muti-
neers before him. His parley lasted for some time,
and while it lasted the fugitives rode for their
lives. When amongst the Sepoys, armed to the
teeth as he was, he would have been a dan-
gerous customer to deal with, and when he left
them they discovered that the birds had flown. He
brought his party safely into Meerut, with the
exception, as far as we can remember, of one who
died of coup. de-soleil. But though Mr. Wilson
was compelled to withdraw from Moradabad, he
left an influence behind that was potent for good in
the campaigns which followed. His intimate
acquaintance with the principal native families, the
numerous servants, both Government and personal,
with whom he had been connected, enabled him to
carry on those intrigues in which the Eastern mind so
delights, and for which he was so peculiarly adapted
that no movement took place throughout the coun-
try--no speech was made—no counsel held, no act
performed, that his spies did not communicate. He
kept up in the district a wide surface of agitation,
strengthening the opposition of the weak, circu-
lating rumours of the arrival at the ports of count-
less regiments of British soldiers, of defeats of
native troops, and of the quick advent of the
avenging army. But his services to the Govern-
ment did not rest in maintaining his hold on Rohil-
cund ; he gate a great spur to the operations carried
on around Meerut, which kept in awe the district
from the Jumna to the Ganges. Parties were con-
stantly in the field who hung the plundering
Goojurs to the nearest trees, who levied the taxes
due to the Government, who intercepted the com-
munications with Delhi, and made the natives far
and wide feel that England still ruled, and intended
to keep her dominions in Hindoostan. He was for
ever in the saddle, and the force of his influence
exerted its effects far beyond the most distant points
he was able to reach during the gloomiest period
of the great trial. Brighter days at last began
to dawn. Dreary months had passed away,
and the North West Provinces, which had
been converted into a charnel house to the English
from Allahabad to Umballa, began to yield up in
retribution the Indian promoters of the massacres.
Sir Henry Havelock had penetrated to Lucknow ;
Lord Clyde had assumed the command of an army
growing each day in strength ; all India was alive
with moving columns, but the stronghold of the
mutiny from Delhi to Cawnpore still remained im-
passable, being wholly in the hands of the rebels. It
was then that Mr. Wilson achieved his great exploit.
Burton penetrated to the Moslem sanctum of Mecca ;
Outram maintained his disguise, passing through
Beloochistan as a native merchant; Cavanagh
carried from the beleagued garrison at Lucknow the
message to the force advancing to the " relief," but
it remained for John Cracroft Wilson to surpass
these deeds. The first was the exploit of an enter-
prising traveller, dictated half by bravado, half by
an enlightened spirit of inquiry. The second was
the political achievement of the Bayard of the Indian
army necessitated by diplomatic reasons. The third
was the act of a brave man volunteering from
among his comrades when placed in a despe-
rate position:; while John Cracroft Wilson's en-
terprise was dictated with the noble object
of saving the lives of others at the peril
of his own. His numerous spies had informed him
that there were Christian fugitives concealed in
the enemy's district of Futteygurgh, and he de-
termined to penetrate to the spot to effect
their release. Disguised as a Persian, alone and
unaided, he made this memorable journey. The
road he travelled was crossed at every stage by
bands of sepoys passing from the cities of
Rohilcund to Agra, Gwalior, and other points.
Its dangers were shown by the murders of
English officers who had attempted to travel
on it. The cool assurance of the distinguished
Indian civilian was exemplified by his proceedings
at Futteygargli, where he got himself introduced to
the ruler, who had inaugurated his government by
blowing from his guns every Christian on whom he
could lay hands. He actually assisted at his coun-
sels, and was feasted in the household as a distin-
guished traveller who hated the Kaffir rule, and
was on his way to congratulate the native poten-
tates on the extermination of the Christian dogs.
How he succeeded in his mission is best shown by
the despatch of the Governor-General, who an-
nounced to the world that " John Cracroft
Wilson had by his own obstinate courage and
perseverance, saved more Christian lives than
Long before the road was
made his way to Alla-
hanabefya,d man
m, where, in ie Wilson
India."in an interview with Lord Can-
sahliisonhad
Can-
ning, he proposed a scheme for recovering the pro-
vince of Rohilcund. In compliance with arrange-
ments then made, General Penny marched with a
force to Kassgunje, accompanied by Mr. Wilson, but
on the eve of crossing the Ganges he was arrested
by order of Lord Clyde, who had no idea of his own
arrangements being interfered with by those of this
obtrusive civilian. It is probable that the dislike
conceived by the Commander-in-Chief for Mr.
Wilson prevented the due recognition of the civilian's
services. His manner was not calculated to con-
ciliate persons in authority, as there was a self-
assertion in him which was simply unbear-
able to a military chief, whose command was
law. When Lord Clyde, therefore, came on the
stage Mr. Wilson was set aside, as far as a man of
his indomitable energy and " pluck" could be set
aside. But he had the pleasure of re-entering, as
a conqueror, the city he had so many years ruled,
re-establishing his sway at Moradabad. He had
ridden more miles, he had exposed himself more
freely, he had had as many hair-breadth escapes,
he had collected more money, he had saved more
Christian lives, and he had punished more evil-doers
than had perhaps any one of the most energetic
during this period of terrible peril to the Christian
rule.

After spending the best years of his life in India,
and crowning a long service by acts which reflect
honour not only on himself but on his country, he
withdrew from the East to the province of Canter-
bury, then a struggling settlement of New Zealand.
Although his name has been forgotten in England,
it is well known at the Antipodes, where, as a mem-
ber both of the Colonial and Provincial Legislatures,
he is always to be found at his post, and his voice
heard with the same self-assertion that marked
his career in the Civil Service of Bengal. lie offered
with a few Gcorkhas and Seikhs" to finish off the
New Zealand war, then employing 10,000 British
soldiers, and sinking countless treasure. But Mr.
Wilson's life can best be judged by the acts he has
accomplished, and if these be duly weighed, the
colonists will see he has no small grounds on which
to base " tall talk." lie threw in his lot in the
Province of Canterbury, when it was an unformed
settlement, and surprised the people by selecting his
estate in a swamp, but those who now pass over
the broad clover fields of " Cashmere," and see the
meadows covered with fat beasts, the enclosures
waving with heavy crops, will pass a high encomium
not only on his judgment, but on the persevering
industry, which rescued from a waste, some of the
finest lands that Canterbury now boasts.

Though John Cracroft Wilson has succeeded
through the same qualities as a colonist (now count-
ing his flocks by thousands) as those that gave him
success in India—in one respect he has been un-
fortunate in selecting the Antipodes as his home.
Among the first honours distributed for service in
the Indian mutiny he was named for Companion of
the Bath ; but a second distribution has lately been
made for these services, in which he has been wholly
overlooked. Indeed, those who made the selection
must have laboured under the impression that John
Cracroft Wilson had ceased to exist. There are
many people who dislike him, but we never yet met
the man who did not frankly acknowledge the value
of his services. had Lord Canning lived, the sub-
ject of our notice could not thus have been for-
gotten, and it has occurred to us that the matter is
a pure oversight, which simply requires to be
brought to the notice of the Government to be cor-
rected. It would be easy for us to turn back to the
correspondence of the period, both published and
unpublished, to bring overwhelming proof of
John Cracroft Wilson's claims, but the extract from
Lord Canning's despatch is more than sufficient for
our purpose, It would indeed be hard if while this