The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-21 00:00:00

OPERATIONS IN OUDE.

(From the Times' Special Correspondent.)
THE CAMP, PURSAIDEPORE, Nov. 14.
Since the despatch of my last letter the steps for
the re-establishment of British rule in Oude have
been affording daily proofs of the sagacity with
which they were taken. Amethie menaced by
three columns, at once surrendered without a blow.
The neighbouring talookdars have hastened to make
submission, and to-day Beni Madho, whose strong-
holds we are rapidly approaching, has sent in to
know what terms he may expect in case he yields
to the Queen's authority. These results may not
be appreciated at home by those who have not con-
sidered the subject, and who do not understand the
country or.the people with whom we have to deal,
but the Government will no doubt acccept them
with profound satisfaction, for they will lead to the
speedy pacification of the whole of this great pro-
vince. We must not be disappointed if desperate
rebels still continue to escape our columns and to
create sporadic troubles here and there, but these
will soon become mere matters of police. The sove-
reignty of • India belongs to him who can establish
hifthanniahs, or police stations, over the country,
and we are rapidly re-creating those substantial
tokens of our victories. But Oude is a country
nearly as large as Ireland. It contains a popula-
tion of nearly s,ooo,ooo,—warlike, turbulent, and
trained to arms. It is the mother of the Sepoys of
Bengal. Its surface consists of a great plain, inter-
sected by rivers, full of swamps, and covered with
dense jungles wherever the labour of man has not
redeemed the soil from trees and thorns and pre-
pared it for fertile crops. In those jungles hun-
dreds of thousands of armed men could easily lie
concealed, not, indeed, in great bodies, but in
numbers sufficiently great to permit the coalition of
two -or three parties to take place at any moment
for the purposes of guerilla warfare. The crops of
one kind or another, in their rich succession, could
yield them food. The commissariat of the
Sepoy is at hand in every field and in every
pool of water. But it is only with the per-
mission of the chiefs who keep the jungle paths,
and whose forts lie hid in their recesses, that men
could find harbour and refuge in those natural
asylums. The great Duke has given us a receipt
for getting rid of jungles, and attacking forts and
fortresses thereon, characterised by his own peculiar
simplicity and grandeur. Ho proposed it appears by
a passage in the last volume of his correspondence
and despatches to cut the jungle away inch by inch.
Well, if we adopted that plan and worked night and
day for the next five-and-twenty years, we might
expect Oude to be tolerably well cleared up to the
Tcrai, except in places where the shoots had sprung
up again from the stubborn roots. In the Jugdes-
pore jungle a square mile was considered enormous
progress in the four-and-twenty hours, with thou-
sands of coolies at work. As to the Terai itself, no
amount of labour that England could pay for would
clear away the giant forests which clothe the lower
slopes of the Himalayas and melt away into
dismal swamps, and wastes of poisonous vegeta-
tion. If those Oude populations were fairly
driven to hopeless resistance their efforts, though
powerless against our rule, would be mighty in
their influence on our finance, and. Oude would
not
be worth keeping on such terms. It is, therefore, a
very great achievement for our Generals to have
effected not only the reduction of the forts of some
of the principal chiefs, hut to have gained the as-
sistance of those chiefs, in dismantling their own
forts, disarming their own adherents and tenantry,
and pacifying. their own 'districts.
As great misconception has existed, or has been
affected, in India with respect to our operations
during the last summer, it may be as well to state
-what the nature of these operations really was, and
with what view they were undertaken. Oude had al-
ready been traversed by the columns under Franks,
Lugard, and Grant, but they had made no perma-
nent impression. Their course had been compared
- to that of cannon-balls, irresistible as they pass and
leaving no trace behind, but cannon-balls do leave
impressions, and the better image is that of the ship
clearing the waters which, closing around it, soon
efface all traces of the laboured wake. It became
evident that the system of military promenades
would produce no permanent effect, but up to
the fall of Lucknow the Commander-in-Chief had
no troops available for the establishment of mili-
tary posts, which were obviously necessary to
utilise our toilsome marches, and to maintain our
grip of the country. The capture of Lucknow and
the re-establishment of our authority in its neigh-
bourhood, permitted the authorities to strengthen
the hands of our generals by the enrolment of regi-
ments of military police, which would allow the
Commander-in• Chief to place at the disposal of his
lieutenants European soldiers, who would other-
wise have been employed on duties of police.
While Major Bruce was organising this force of
police our soldiers were not inactive, though it was
absolutely essential to give them as little to do as
possible during the fervid heats of summer. Bat
Mann Sing, besieged by his countrymen at Fyza-
bad, became importunate for help. This great
chief, whose family by force, fraud, and purchase
had in two generations become proprietors of Vast
extents of territory and thousands of villages, ren-
dered good service in the early part of the outbreak
by sheltering all British fugitives whom he could
get at, but for a long time subsequently he endea-
voured to pursue a doubtful neutrality, and obsti-
nately refused to come in to our camp. He actually
fought against our garrison at Lucknow, and per-
haps what he saw there satisfiedhim that the " gora
logue" could not be beaten. In June he declared
openly for the " white people," and the rebels at
once attacked him, shut him up, and by the middle
of July had reduced him to straits in his fortress
of Shahgunj. It became a point of honour and of
policy on our part to extricate our ally. On the
22d of July Sir Hope. Grant was ordered to ad-
vance from Nuwabguni, a post 20 miles north-east
of Lucknow, established early in May, and to move
on Shahgunj. It was in the middle of the rains.
At the same time Brigadier Berkeley crossed the.
Ganges and established a post at Soraon. A
general movement of troops followed. The 88th
Regiment were sent from Cawnpore to Lucknow,
the 79th Regiment from Futtehguhr, took the
place, the Bth Regiment from Agra occupied
Futtehguhr, and the sth Fusiliers marched from
Calpee •to Allahabad. The Oude police took the
place of the British troops who had marched to
Shah gunj, but the disturbances in Behar and Azim-
ghur detained in those districts troops originally
intended to operate in Oude, so that for some time
Brigadier Berkeley was unable to make a forward
movement from Soraon, and was obliged to content
himself with taking Ticoul and Dehyn . At last
the Ist Sikhs reached Allahabad, and Berkeley
moved up to Pcrtabghur, near which, owing to the
beginning of the illness which has unfortunately
proved fatal to a very able officer, he handed over
the command of the column to Brigadier Pinckney.
In Behar the operations which were carried on were
so 'far successful that by tho third week in October
the province might be considered perfectly clear of
he enemy. In Bundelcund the enrolment of a mili-
tary police similar to that of Oude has as yet been
unsuccessful, and portions of the province are dis-
turbed, although great progress has been made in
restoring it to order. The navigation of the Jumna
has been opened, Calpee is garrisoned, Jaloun is
held, and Liddell's column has been clearing the
country between the Dessein and the Betwa. Gen.
Whitlock operated to the west from Banda, and
Brigadier-General Napier took the fort of Pouree,
whither he moved to assist Brigadier Smith, de-
tached from the Rajpootana field force. In Oude
the left bank af the Gogra was cleared, and, with
the exception of the Byswarra country, there was
no body of rebels in Oude beyond the force at
Mithowlee and the westward. It was intended
that Brigadier Troll') should drive Khan Ali Khan
across the Gogra, establish him at Seetapore, and
reduce the country around him, but for the pre-
sent that part of the combination is defeated or
deferred. • Brigadier Troup has been held in check,
near Seetapore, by a great concentration of all
the rebels in the west of ()tide, who have availed
themselves of his deficiency in cavalry to harass
his flanks and rear and to attack his baggage.
Two regiments of cavalry have been ordered to his
assistance, and the moment they reach him the gal-
lant officer will, no doubt, make a signal example
of Prince Peroze Shah and Khan Bahadore Khan,
with their ally of Mithowlee. But the successes
gained by this column in action with the enemy
have not been fruitless and its position prevents
their getting into Rohilcund,wanich dtliy:a trying
tongn m
raiseuch
disturbances in that province, which
denuded of troops. In the west of Oude Barker
and Hale have swept the enemy from the open,
and have taken ltooeah, Sundee, Biswah, and
other places, gradually clearing, the banks of the
Ganges, and restoring the civil power in the dis-
trictbetween Lucknow and the frontieioolur the
disturbed Our posts were tolerably close
around
disturbed districts when the Commander-in-Chief
took the field. Simultaneously almost the whole of
our troops made a forward movement. Brigadier-
General Douglas drove the rebels. out of the Jug-
despore jungle,hunted them into the Kyniore hills,
slew upwards of 1,200 of them, and occupied their
fastnesses ; thus restoring the important country
about. Arrah, Dinapore, and Patna, to peace
security. Brigadier Kelly watched the right bank
of the Gomra, and swept the country between Azim-
ghur aneTanda. Brigadier Wetherell, advancing
on the left flank of the chief, stormed RaMpOre
Kusseah, while Major Bulwer pushed out to Poorwa,
where, with 2,000 men, of whom only 400 or 500
were British troops, he repulsed Beni Madho, at the
head of 15,000 -men. - ,Brigadier Evelegh,has, now
joined, that force, and is on the west of the junglee

of Shunkerpore, waiting to co-operate from that
side should it be necessary to force Beni Madho
to submission. The Commander-in-Chief pushed
on towards Amcthie from the south, while
Sir Hope Grant swept down upon that for-
tress from Shunkerpore, and Brigadier Wetherall
moved from the south-east. So admirably was
the combination timed that the three columns

pitched their tents before the place at three differ-
ent sides almost to a minute of each other. The
details of the subsequent events will be learned by
those who may take the trouble of reading the nar-
rative of our operations which follows this brief
resume. Already our enemies are reduced to three
manageable bodies—one in the Setapore district,
one in the Salone district, and the third at the other
side of the Goomtee, and notably in the Buracch
division. Of Central India I do not speak, as I
know nothing of the movements of that military
ignis fatuus, Tantia Topee, except that he has suc-
ceeded in crossing the Nerbudda, but there appears
to be no reason to apprehend much mischief ; his
fangs have been drawn or filed down pretty closely.
Of course we cannot expect in every part of such
a multiplicity of operations an equal measure of

uniform success.
The story of Lord Mark Kerr's march against
Mahomed Hoosein and Rain Bux at Judgespore,
on the river Manova, in the Goruckpore district, is
as follows :—On the 26th of last month his lord-
ship, in compliance with orders he had received,
left his quarters at Hurriah, with 250 of her Ma-
jesty's 13th Light Infantry, one troop Yeomanry
Cavalry, one troop 6th Madras Cavalry, 50 sailors,
50 Madras Infantry, two guns, and a rocket car-
riage, and arrived before the enemy's position at
daybreak. To his astonishment he discovered, on
driving in the enemy's pickets, that he was in
front of a fortification with faces 200 yards long
by 150 broad, with regular curtains and bastions.
Our guns opened on the place and shelled it as
well as they could, but they were only 12-pounder
howitzers and could not make much impression on
the walls. Ram Bux with a large party, how-
ever, made a bolt from the fort and was chased
across the river by the cavalry, but just as Lord
Mark, finding it useless to continue his fire, began
to prepare for his march back (as it would have
been contrary to orders to attack a fort with a
column unassisted by heavy guns), Mahomed Hoo-
sein, with two 9-pounders, emerged from the
jungle in his rear, and threw himself across the
road to Hurriah, opening at the same time a smart
fire on the party. The column threw out a line
of skirmishers of the 13th Light Infantry, under
cover of which they retired by echellons of
companies, and crossed the river with the guns,
although menaced by Ram Bux's people in
doing so. The road to Hurriah, on the other bank
of the Manova, was gained, and our force re-
turned to their camp with 18 casualties, having
driven off their assailants by the fire of the skir-
mishers of the rear guard, and by the front shown
by the cavalry. Reinforcements will soon be
poured into the district to dispose of Ram Bux and
his followers, and Brigadier Kelly will also be put
into a condition which will enable him to clear the
banks of the Gogra very effectually. The effect of
the affairs at Poorwah, Biswah, Rampore Kusseah,
and Simree has been most beneficial, and, as there
will be but little or no fighting now, I may as well
give the details of one of those fights which hap-
pened nearest to oar column, being anticipated by
the last mail and telegrams in all that I had to say
respecting the others. I do so the more readily
because Brigadier Wetherall's affair at Rampore
Kusseah has been made the subject of some anim-
adversions. It seems that the gallant officer who
took the place so bravely should, in the opinion of
some, have waited for the advance of Sir Hope
Grant, with whose aid he could undoubtedly have
made the victory over the enemy much more com-
plete. Allowances, however, must be made for the
natural desire of officers in command of columns to
do whatever they can single-handed, and mono-
polise the glory. Brigadier Wetherell wrote, in.
deed, to Sir Hope Grant to ask for his assistance,
but, finding he could do the work himself, and that
the General would not be up till next morning, he
pushed on to the attack, in which, indeed, his lead-
ing files were already implicated. By the reports
received Rampore Kusseah must have been a very
formidable place to attack. It consisted of ayery
strong entrenchment, constructed across the neck
of a bend of the river Sam, with a line of six bas-
tions, connected by curtains, of a total length of
700 yards, within which was a sort of citadel in
the midst of the densest jungle. Part of the works
was swept by the fire of our outworks on the other
side of the river. The approach to the place was
most difficult, the jungle thick'and swampy, and in
one place it was neeessary to construct a causeway
before the troops could advance. The column ar-
rived before the place at 10 a.m. on the 3d of Nov.
It consisted of her Majesty's 79th Regiment, under
Col. Taylor, C.B. ; the Belooch Battalion, Col. Far-
quhar; the 9th Punjab Infantry, Capt. Thelwall ;
two native cavalry regiments, Middleton's troop, and
Le Mesurier's battery of Royal Artillery, two 8-inch
howitzers, and two 8-inch mortars. Inside the
works were 4,000 of the enemy, most of them sepoys
of the 17th, 28th, and 52d Native Infantry, many
of them dressed in red and wearing our uniform
and carrying our arms. The heavy guns were put
in position and played on the place soon after 10
o'clock, and under the fire the wing of the 9th
Punjaub Infantry, under Captain Thelwall, ad-
vanced towards the works near the river. Here
they were received by a heavy fire of grape, and
Captain Thelwall, thinking he saw an opportunity
of gaining great success by a rapid rush, instead of
falling back on his supports, gave the word to his
Sikhs to charge, and in a minute those hardy sol-
diers dashed into the intrenchment through the
embrasures, capturing two guns, which they at
once turned against the flying enemy. The sepoys
rallied, and seeing that the Punjaubecs were few
in number, made an attempt to drive them out, but
two companies of the 79th and four companies of
the Belooch battalion came up to the assistance of
their comrades, and the attack was repulsed. Just
as the reinforcements entered the place a large
mine, containing B,ooolb. of powder, said to be the
principal magazine, blew up and hurled some of our
men into the air. As the body of a native was
observed flying up in the blast, it is supposed that
the mine was fired by a fusee. Colonel Farquhar
was at the same time so severely wounded that his
leg had to be amputated. But the enemy, who made
one more attempt to recover their work, were now
beaten, with the loss of 300 men, and fled through
the jungles. The cavalry pursued them as well as
they could, but no guns could be sent after them.
In the pursuit Dr. Clement Smith received a very
severe wound in the arm from a sepoy armed With
a tulwar, and several of our cavalry were killed
and wounded. Inside the work the captors found
17 guns and 5 mortars, both mostly of small
calibre, though there were some good pieces of
brass and iron ; all of them were burst or rendered
unserviceable. In addition they discovered a foun-
dry for casting cannon, an establishment for making
gun-carriages, English circular saws included, and
a laboratory for gunpowder. The colours of the 52d
N.I. were taken by Duffadar Wallee Mahomed
Khan, who slew the bearer in single combat. Bri-
gadier Wetherell speaks in the highest terms of
Capt. Thelwall, Col. Taylor, Col. Farquhar, Major
Le Mesurier, Capt. Briggs, and other officers, and
of the conduct of the men (about 3,000) under his
command. Our loss was—H.M.'s 79th, 2 killed 7
wounded; Belooch Battalion, 1 officer wounded, 1
killed, 14 wounded ; 9th Punjab N. 1., 4 killed, 30
wounded ; Ist Punjab Cavalry, 7 killed, 5 wounded,
and one officer wounded. It will be seen from this
that the heat of the fighting was borne by the
Punjabees, and that the pursuit of the enemy by
cavalry is a very dangerous service. Indeed, in
every action of the campaign this has proved to be
the case. When brought to bay the enemy fight
individually like tigers, and some of our very best
officers have fallen in conflict with isolated Sepoys
or matchlockmen. As to the other matter alluded
to, I must express a doubt whether it is good po-
licy always to send the Punjabees to the front,
however agreeable it may. be to save our men from
needless exposure. The Sikhs and Punjabees aro
quite vain enough at present, and it is not politic
to give ground for the reflections which may arise
in their minds if they see that they, in most cases,
are selected for forlorn hopes, assaulting columns,
and long marches.
I must now take up my story at the point where
my last letter was brought to a close—the camp at
Beylah, which the Commander-in-Chief reached by
a forced ride on the morning of the 2d Nov. Here
it was necessary to halt for some days, in order to
allow the columns under Sir H. Grant and Wether-
ell to close up, as well as to give time for testing
the effect of the proclamation on the neighbouring
districts. The principal enemy of the Government
in this quarter was ltajah Lall Madho Singh of
Amethie, a Rajpoot of ancient family and large pos
sesSions. His case was rather peculiar as regards his
claims to consideration. At the annexation, or rather
after it, when that most fatal and pernicious resettle-
ment of Oude took place, in which our officers played
with estates and titles as if they were footballs, we
took from the Rajah a very large portion of terri-
tory and gave it to rival claimants. The Rajah, no
doubt,
was incensed against us, but still, when the
mutiny and revolt broke out, he received the Eng-
lish refugees from Salon, and sheltered and for-
warded them, men, women, and children, in safety
to Allahabad. While he was doing this the Go-
vernment was busy confiscating his property. If
I am rightly informed, the authorities, without any
proof, took it for granted that the Rajah was a
rebel, and seized upon several lacs of rupees which
he had at Benares, and to his applications for re-
dress he received in reply a summons to come in
and surrender himself. Taking the
;circumstances

into consideration, the Governor-General authorized
Major Barrow, the Political Agent and Special
Commissioner at the head-quarters Camp, to make
the Amethie chief a liberal offer. He was informed
that if he presented himself and made his submis-
sion either to the Chief Commissioner or to the
Commander-in-Chief, the Government would gua-
rantee him his estates " the same as they were at
the period of annexation ;" but that his fort must
be surrendered, his guns given up, and his followers
disarmed. Copies of the proclamation and amnesty
were annexed that the Rajah might make their
contents known to his followers. A stated period,
giving ample time for the receipt of those docu-
ments, for consideration, and for his reply, was
given to the Rajah.
Whatever may be the reasons—and there are
none which can be suggested without offence to the
Administration—for the scanty supply of copies of
the proclamation, it is sure that our officers have
felt the want of those documents very greatly. It
can scarcely be imagined that the servants of the
Crown have deliberately set themselves in opposition
to the expressed intentions of the Crown, and have
sought to render the gracious intentions of the Queen
of no avail. And yet it is certain that from all
quarters complaints have been made of the want, or
rather of the absence, of copies of the proclama-
tion. The Commander-in-Chief was not fur-
nished with any when he crossed into Oude,
nor for some days afterwards were any sent to
him ; indeed, I am not satisfied that he has any
now. Very few were sent to Major Barrow, the
Special Commissioner of Revenue with the head-
quarters. Captain Chamberlain, at Bungurmow,
has had none at all ; and Ibelieve other officers have

been in similar case. It is true that the necessity
imposed on the Governor-General of keeping the
nature of the proclamation secret till it was suffi-
ciently promulgated was a bar to the preparation
of copies which would have been in the hands of
natives. That necessity principally arose from his
Excellency's desire that the Oude rebels should not
know beforehand of the long term of grace accorded
to them, but the moment the Ist of November was
at hand the proclamation should have been fur-
nished to all the officers, civil and military, at out-
posts or in command over the 'country, and distri-
buted broadcast in thousands. It has, indeed, been
asserted that the temper of some of the officers of
the Government, old, valued, and distinguished
servants of the defunct Company, is opposed to the
largeness of the amnesty, and that they, have by
their words and expressions evinced their repug-
nance to its provisions. But those words and ex-
pressions could not be accompanied, by overt acts
without bringing on the perpetrators the heavy
official punishment which their conduct in standing
between the Throne and its subjects, and prevent-
ing the exercise of the highest prerogative of the
Crown, merited—the severest official punishment
and censure. It-will be credited with difficulty that
a very distinguished officer of the Government,
whose rank in the councils of the Indian empire.is
of the very highest, actually suggested to one of
the officers charged with the pacification of Oude
that he should not send the proclamation till he
had battered down the forts of the chiefs ; and yet
he did so. Had a military officer so far contra-
vened the orders of his superior, nothing could
save him from disgrace and the loss of his commis-
sion. The Queen's orders were that every rebel
chief should on submission receive the benefits of
the amnesty, which were to be made known to
him by the proper officer. The suggestion of the
Queen's servant was that the officer, before he
obeyed the Queen's orders, was to disobey them,
and when he had done what he was not to do he
was to do that which made the amnesty an insult,
a mockery, a delusion, and a snare. A more dis-
graceful suggestion could scarcely have been made
to a man of honour ; one more ruinous to our reputa-
tion, more hurtful to our faith, certainly could not
be imagined. Perhaps the Governor-General never
heard of it, but the facts I have stated are not the
less true.
As it is, there are difficulties enough in our way.
The copies which have been furnished are written
in a fashionable Court Ordoo, which the common
people in Oude will scarcely understand, full of
Persian words and fine phraseology. It is as if
Sir Bulwer Lytton were to euphrasise to the deni-
zens of St. Giles. We have heard that when the
document was read in the fort of Amethie the
people ridiculed it, and that they laughed at our
promises. In fact, they have heard such breath-
ings of fire and slaughter for the last 12 months
that they cannot give credence to this sudden
spirit of forgiveness. They fear to drink the waters
of this new found well of mercy. Besides, they well
know that we never forgive murder or condone the
shedding of blood. Under native rule it was com-
mon to pay fines to escape from punishment for
murder, as in olden times at home. In Runjeet
Singh's territories there was a scale according to
which life might be taken at certain rates, and a
man might enjoy the luxury of killing—just as one
may now beat his policeman—if he could pay for
it. Our rule has changed all that, and our law is
blood for blood. The Sepoys who are conscious of
crime, around whose hearts there is the brazen wall
which forbids the words of mercy to enter, and
who grow pale at the very thoughts of submission,
leavening the whole mass, inspire them with dis-
trust and dread, and exercise a powerful influence
over their comrades, and not only them, but the
chiefs into whose service they have entered.
While we were waiting at Beylah a bridge was
prepared across the Sane for the passage of artil
lcry dose to our camp, and spies were sent out to
report on the state of the Fort of Amethie. It was
reported that there were 30 guns mounted in the
place, and that the garrison consisted of 5,000
sepoys and matchlockmen, who were all ready to
fight. The ammunition was served out to the bat-
teries, and there were loud promises to stand by
their guns to the last on the part of the artillery.
men. We heard many stories of solemn ceremonies,
oaths, and military sacraments to bind the garrison
to a desperate resistance, and all the politicals but
Major Barrow seemed confident that there would
be a fight before the place fell.
The force of which Lord Clyde took the more im-
mediate command by his presence at Beyla consisted
only of 3,000 of all arms composed as follows :
Head-quarters of No. 3 Field Battery, Royal Artil-
lery, 2 guns, 63 officers and men ; 23d Company
Royal Engineers • head=quarters Carabineers, 217
officers and men; 54th, 501 rank and file ;
a wing of the sth Fusiliers, 247 rank and file ; na-
tive artillery, 65; Engineers, 78 ; cavalry, 724 ; and
infantry, 1,130. At Deolie there is an outpost with
two guns, 28 Pathan Horse, 68 of H.M.'s 54th, and
245 Oudo Police Infantry. At Leowlie there are
two guns, 50 Pathan Horse, 51 of H.M.'s 54th, and
208 of the Ist Sikh Infantry. There were also two
heavy guns and some 10 and 8-inch. mortars and
cohorns. The column under Wetherall, at Rampore
Russea, was of about the same strength. That ad-
vancing under Sir Hope Grant by Pursaidepore
from Sultanpore was stronger. So that the whole
of the three corps, when united, would rather ex-
ceed 12,000 men (horse, foot, and artillery), provided
in all points with pontoon trains, heavy guns, mor-
tars, field batteries, and horse artillery, each column
a perfect little army in itself. In order to give the
Rajah every fair play, no attempt was made to ap-
proach his fortress till the time came for his reply,
and no move was made in his direction except by a
party of the Carabineers, who went within 10 miles
of the place to escort Captain Thompson in his mis-
sion to distribute the proclamation and to disarm
the people. The latter seemed for the most part
well disposed towards us.
The general unfriendliness of the natives in the
districts wherein our military operations have been
conducted is unquestionable. Information has never
been willingly or promptly afforded to our officers.
When given it was extracted by bribes-, and then
it is not always trustworthy, as the Military Train
found to their cost the other day -near Jugdespore.
On all sides, in every part of India; our generals
complain of want of information, of want of sym-
pathy, of unfriendliness. Supplies are to be had
because there is money to pay for them, but it is
always incumbent on our officers to march with
enormous quantities of provisions, the carriage of
which absorbs all the transport of the country, and
paralyzes traffic. In fact, transport is here, as in
the Crimea, one great difficulty. Only the trained,
intelligent, and able officers who are at the head of
this Commissariat, and who carry on its duties in
the field, could meet and overcome the obstacles
which beset them at every path. As an instance
of the derangement produced by this unhappy con-
test, just take this one fact. Allahabad is 120 miles
from Cawnpore. There is a railway between the
two cities ; the great stream of the Ganges flows
past the walls of each, and they are further con-
nected by the Grand Trunk Road ; but wheat is sold
at Cawnpore for 22 seers or 441 b the rupee, while
at Allahabailit is sold for 201 b. to 221 b. the rupee—
j ust double the price that it is 120 miles off. By the
recent operations the navigation of the Ganges from
Futtehghur has been set free, and it may be now
considered open from Cawnpore down to Allahabad
also, but most of the country boats have been col-
lected to serve as bridges or have been destroyed
to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy.
All the evils produced by this state of things is
attributed to us by the people in their usual undis-
criminating way. They lay all the blame of high
prices and troubled markets on the shoulders of
the Government instead of on those of their
rebellious countrymen. In Oude there is for
some cause or other a settled passive antipathy
to us. One of Sir Hope Grant's officers, Major
Hume, -in his recent operations at Derriabad,
reports in his despatch—" Great difficulty was ex-
perienced in obtaining any intelligence from the
neighbouring villages, the entire population being
I apparently friendly to the rebels. Around Per-

tabgbur, however, provisions were brought in
abundantly: revenue is being collected with ease,
and the natives declared that they would give us
every assistance in their power. From the 2d of
November till the Bth the force under Lord Clyde
remained at Bcylah, not quite inactive, for an in-
trenchment has been constructed on the plain, and

an old walled enclosure over the river turned into a
fort. Negotiations were going on all the time, and
in spite of the dust and other disagremens of the
camp this long halt did not hang very heavily on
our hands. The army is now in the full enjoyment
of the Indian winter. Like all else in this East of
ours, its delights have been exaggerated, and its
charms, viewed through the heats of summer, dis-
ordered livers, and the Oriental siroe, have been
unduly and egregiously overcoloured. In the
morning, soon after sunrise, there is a cool and
pleasant air, at times keen and nipping enough.
This lasts, perhaps, till 9 o'clock, after which it is
even now a little too warm for pleasant exercise on
foot or on horseback in the sun. I tried a crusty,
slow tempered old thermometer, with a good dealof
lead in his mercury, the other day at Allahabad,
and at 2 p.m. it declared that the sun was 125 deg.
on a bank in front of the Jumna. But it is not the
heat which is so unpleasant ; indeed, the tempera-
ture in tents is quite bearable, and often agreeable.
Soon after 10 o'clock the wind rises, which flutters
the walls of the tent with a heavy flapping and a
noise like the distant reverberations of great guns.
With this breeze arises the all-permeating, inqui-
sitive, comfort-destroying dust. In feeble Oordoo
the tent klassie is ordered to close the purdah or
fly-which admitted light and air to your canvass
house, and that individual slowly by an internal
process eliminates his person, as though a mummy
were unrolling itself by slow convulsions from
the folds of cotton in which, covered head,
body, and foot, he has been lying under the
tent eaves, and executes the behest. But vain the
effort to conceal yourself from the dust—in India at
least non sine paver° fanzat It comes in at every
chink, and in a few moments papers, clothes, and
all within the tent look as if they had been at
Epsom races. A fine, light coating of powdered
eaith and subtle sand, and Lord knows what else,

sweeps over your property, and renders contact
with its gritty, harsh surface most disagreeable.
Even when the breeze falls away in intervals, the
dust, excited by the restless activity of men, horses,
camels, bullocks, elephants, goats, and sheep, rises
ever, and drifts over the camp. Towards evening
the breeze dies away, and then there is another
short, but pleisant period of the day, and the sun,
like a disc of burnished copper, sets in the wall of
haze and smoky vapour which bounds the horizon,
and the short twilight dies away in abrupt dark-
ness ; but to enjoy those' scanty hours one must
ride miles away from camp. It seems as though
you never can reach the limits of the wide circle in
which camp followers are swarming morning and
evening, shovelling up the dust with their spiky-
toed, turned-up slippers, as though they liked it.
They are, before and behind, and on each side of
you, driving bullocks to or from water, cutting
Frass, drawing water, cooking, lighting fires, guard-
ing elephants and camels on the feed, or washing
themselves in the dirty ponds of stagnant water,
their tents of all shapes and sizes and colours, from
the regulation "pall" to a piece of cloth or cotton
stretched over a stick, placed across two posts,
which enclose the camp like the suburbs of some
great city, and the tumult of voices is like that
which rises from the huge fair when the fun is at its
highest. Towards evening, when each man of those
thousands lights his individual fire to cook his meal,
the smoke ascending from the ground till it is beyond
the influence of the fires hangs in a well-defined
mass, with a smooth horizontal line bounding its
upper surface for miles over the ground, like a
dense low lying rain cloud. As to the ground itself
no plain or desert in Arabia'could look more bar-
ren than the soil which is trodden under so many
feet, but all around us the dense masses of rich
green foliage, the trees in every field, and the dim
fretted outline of groves which hem the horizon
show the fertility of the soil, which is evinced 11
the tall crops of coarse grain with which Oude is
at present densely covered. Those crops or fields
of corn (cates, as they are called in Anglo-Indian
epeech) are excessively rich, varying in height
from five to seven or eight feet, very close and
thick, impassable to cavalry, difficult for infantry,
and admirably adapted to afford cover to a fugitive
enemy. Look out on the plain outside the camp,
and you see fields of those cereals, interspersed
with square patches of sandy soil of a pale yellow-
ish dun colour. In each field of growing crops
there is a rude platform, on which sits patiently
some man or boy all day to frighten away the
birds by loud cries, or the animals by hurling stones
against them. No fence or boundary hedge is
visible ; a line of hard-baked earth, a few inches
high, is the mark which divides one man's land
from that of another. Clumps of trees dot the
landscape, dark, dense, thick-stemmed, underneath
which repose wearied animals andmen. The crops
are gloriously
.green, but it is strange to see all this
greenness springing out of a bare, barren-looking
sand. Grass there is none—no rich sward re-
freshes the eye, and up to the very edge of the
cates there is still the sand. Of the fields which
are not bearing crops now, many shine in the sun
almost like glass, and on ?ooking at the surface
you see that it is plastered smooth and slab.
The process by which this is effected may be
seen going on all over the country. It is simple ;
a log of wood with a fine surface planed smooth is
fastened to one or two oxen, a man holding on by
the tail of one of the animals, or balancing himself,
stands upright on this - log and dr:ves the cattle
over the moistened surface of the field beneath
which the young seed is lying. If long after the
rains the soil is dry, water is sprinkled by hand,
and the same process effected. The ploughing is
more primitive—a mere scratching with a big pin
fastened to two small oxen. Although there is no
great reason to dread attack, all military precau-
tions are observed, and our pickets may be seen in
distant topes around. The British subaltern on his
pony is pretty sure to fill up a proportion of the
part of the landscape devoted to animated nature,
but far and wide, through field, and lea, and
swamp, in jeel or forest, are spread the inevitable
camp followers,—those locusts which nothing
blights save peace with its blessed canker.
Early on the morning of the sth the vakeel of
the Rajah of Amethie came into camp with a letter
to Major Barrow in reply to his summons to sur-
render, and to the Proclamation and amnesty. The
Rajah expressed his delight at the Proclamation,
and his readiness to submit, provided only that
his estates were guaranteed to him and his religion
and his honour respected. To the demand for
the destruction of his fort and the disarmament
of his followers and surrender of their arms,
he rejoined that his fort had been used to
protect Christian men, women, and children when
in danger, and that his arms, which were very
few, had been used for the same purpose. He
expressed his gratification at the advent of the
Queen's rule, and his readiness to obey her ; but
the tenor of his message implied that he would not
yield unless he were allowed to keep his fort and his
arms ; and he indugled in some plaints respecting
the seizure of his property. at Benares, and the re•
fusal of all redress or explanation of the matter.
Along with this missive there was a letter in the,
form of a petition to the Governor-General of India.
The Rajah had heard that the Lord Sahib hadt
arrived in camp, and imagined that Lord Canning.'
had crossed into Oude in person. He declared that
he had heard of his Excellency's arrival with plea-
sure, and that his mind was at more ease in conse-
quence, and then he went on to pray that the Gover-
nor-General would direct that his forts, his army, his
religion, and honour should be protected. Un-
fortunately, honour with these Rajpoots is the
possession of arms and forts. They consider them-
selves dishonoured if these be surrendered with-
out a shot, and one shot would often be re-
garded as sufficient. But, if that shot be fired,
tie; victis. It is this they cannot or will not under-
stand. Our course under the circumstances is marked
out by the dictates of State policy. It never can
be permitted that any one of these feudal barons
shall be suffered to dictate his terms to the Sove-
reign ; but when Rajah Lall Madho reminds us
that his fort and his arms have sheltered and de-
fended our poor fugitives, and have saved European
lives, he puts forth a plea to which we could not be
deaf did not motives of State policy of imperious
exigency deaden our ears. He has been informed
that no further terms can be offered or concession
made. And, indeed, his treatment is most liberal,
though to a native it may seem narrow and impe-
rious. A certain time is again accorded to him, at
the end of which his fort will be taken by force,
and the terms of the proposition we have made to
him be narrowed to death itself. Major Barrow,
at the same time explained to the Vakeel most fully
what were the intentions of the Governmeat, and
the full extent of the generous conduct of the
Crown, and sent him again to the Rajah.
On the evening of the 7th the Rajah sent a
letter to our camp, which was but a repetition of
that addressed to Major Barrow in terms, but it
was written on fine gilt paper and addressed to
the Commander-in-Chief. Before the messenger
arrived, however, our heavy guns were on their
way towards Leolee, escorted by infantry and
cavalry. The old soubadar sent by Major Bruce to
Amethie reported that there were not more than
3,000 men in the place, but that the Rajah was
evidently determined to make a fight if his guns
and fort, or " his honour," as he calls those regal
or baronial insignia, were not
.guaranteed him.
Lord Clyde's ultimatum had gone in, and he decided
on taking no notice of this letter. Orders were issued
for the march of the columns, which were ex-
pected under any circumstances, unless the"Rajarh