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

JOHN CRACROFT WILSON, C.B.

A STORY OF THE INDIAN MUTINY.
(From the Anglo-American Times.)
Rohilcund is the fairest of the North-west Pro-
vinces of British India. On one side, the Himma-
layahs rise in a chain of snowy Sierras ; on the other,
the Ganges sweeping from the ranges at Hurdwan
in a curve, flows thence almost in a parallel line,
forming the south-west boundary. Oude is a con-
tinuation of the same level and fertile plain between
the Ganges and the mountains, about 100 miles in
breadth by 450 in length. The importance of these
provinces is shown by the fact that, although some
5,000 square miles less in area than England, the
population is greater, being twenty-two millions,
which gives the proportion of 490 persons to a square
mile against 332 in England. Torrents rushing
in cataracts down the hill-sides flow in numerous
streams, watering the Provinces on their way to the
sacred River.
Bareilly is the capital, and Moradabad, scarcely
inferior in importance, is the great city of the upper
territory. If a line were drawn from Delhi, the
Imperial City, to Meerut, the great military station,
and continued eastward, it would strike the moun-
tains almost at right angles, passing not far from
Moradabad. Delhi stands on the right bank of the
Jumna—Meerut, mid-way in the Doab or country
between the rivers Jumna and Ganges, and Mora-
dabad mid-way on the plain between the Ganges
and the Himmalayah. For many years before the
outbreak of the mutiny, John Cracroft Wilson was
magistrate and collector of that district of Rohilcund.
He had proceeded to India as a civil servant at a
very early age, where he at once distinguished him-
self by the success of his untiring efforts to suppress
Thuggism, earning the soubriquet of Thuggee
Wilson. It was in this department that Mr. Wilson
acquired so intimate a knowledge of the languages
and habits of the people, and formed a taste for the
fascinating pursuit and an acquaintance with the
working of the native mind, which he afterwards so
usefully employed. Being a man of great ability, and
of an energy that knew no rest, he not only mastered
the languages, the manners, customs, and habits of
the people, but he was able to identify himself so
thoroughly with the inhabitants, as to deceive even
the keenest observer amongst them when he assumed
the Mussulman or Hindoo disguise. It is seldom
that such a power has been acquired by one of our
race, and in India it is regarded as a wonderful
achievement when a man born and bred in England
can pass himself as a native among them. One so ma-
terial in his ideas, so restless in activity, and of such
quick observation, could notfail to become intimately
acquainted with the localities of a district over which
he had bean placed, and where he exercised so large
a measure of power. His rule in Moradabad was
marked by the introduction of beneficial reforms.
Agriculture was developed, new plants and herbs
introduced—stock improved—but he will be best re-
membered by his successors of the ruling race by
the formation of one of the most charming hill
stations in the Himmalayah. Nynee-Tal nestles
on a peak of the mountains around a lovely lake,
where the parched traveller from the white arid
plains suddenly finds himself in a delicious atmo-
srhere, with a green sward under foot, and the
placid waters of a deep blue lake before him,
reflecting the green trees that grow along
its borders. Before the Mutiny, John Cracroft
Wilson had been promoted to the highest post
at Moradabad—the judgeship, although one
scarcely so potential for good, or admitting of the
same play for qualities in which he excelled. A
period, however, was at hand which gave him full
scope, and enabled him to show to the world of what
material he was made. The mutiny broke out at
Meerut on the 10th May, 1857 ; kindling a fire for
which the materials had been prepared, to spread
with the greatest speed from Calcutta to Peshawur.
There was not a single European soldier in the rich
province of Rohilcund, and but the head-quarters
of one European regiment at Lucknow in the ad-
joining province of Oude, which had but a few
mouths before, been annexed. The civilians and
English officers of the native regiments at Morada-
bad, at Bareilly, at Shahjehanpore, and at the cities
on the other side of the Ganges, were suddenly
placed in circumstances of extreme desperation,
and one by one were compelled to succumb
to events beyond their control, a few escaping,
but the most, falling victims in the vain effort to
perform their duty. As week by week passed at
Meerutintelligence was anxiously looked for from
Moradabad, which John Cracroft Wilson held
in the midst of its native garrison, when all
besides had fallen. Daily the news was expected
of a massacre at that station, as it was impossible
to bear up against the overwhelming odds. Personal
influence and determination, combined with an ex-
traordinary amount of courage, could not continue
to make head against the tide that had surged over
the whole country, and John Cracroft Wilson, the
last in the fatal field, was compelled to retire. The
party was formed for the ride to Meerut over the
scorching plains at the hottest period of the year,
through a country literally alive with marauders,
where village was armed against village, where
Goojurs looted and murdered, where bands of
bad/mashes and soldiers spoiled, plundered, and
burnt, all they could with safety. It was at this
moment of desperate peril that the cavalcade, with
many ladies in its train (among them his own wife,
who had refused to leave him), started under Mr.
Wilson's guidance. He had done all that mortal
man could do to uphold British authority in his
district. At Lucknow the 32d maintained a portion
of the city to which they had been driven after being
defeated in their attempt under Sir Henry Law-
rence, to break up the gathering thousands of their
enemies, and this chief —the most distinguished
member of the Lawrence family—had been slain.
At Cawnpore the Nana ruled supreme, and
shocked the world by a massacre which will
be remembered in India when the Calcutta
Black Hole is forgotten. All had perished at
Shahjehanpore, all but a few fugitives at Bareilly,
and none knew what the fate was of those at
Futteygurgh. The fort of Agra was held in pre-
carious tenure by a British regiment, and, again,
the Mogul ruled in his palace at Delhi, issuing from
that ancient seat of empire those orders which were
once a law to the extremities of the Peninsula. It
was in this interregnum when British rule had
ceased, and no native Government had been esta-
blished, when both were gathering up their forces to
decide who were to be the future lords of Hindostan,
that the party left the last spot in Rohilcund which
maintained even the semblance of the late all-domi-
nant power of England. Till then the Sepoys and
the host of traitors in the city had been overawed
by the firm front and audacious bearing still assumed
by this indomitable civilian. But the question arose
to every mind —How would they act when the party
turned to fly ? They lay like tigers crouched for a
spring, fearing to move, while their prey stood facing
them with a dauntless front. The position was horrible,
for it was death to remain, and they had remained
so long that it was almost death to fly. As the
cavalcade moved on, Mr. Wilson's quick eye per-
ceived on the road in the dusky light that two pieces of
artillery barred the way, with the gunners in readi-
ness. He knew what these preparations por-
tended, and quietly moving his party off the high
way, he directed them across country, while ho rode
up to the artillerymen, who seeing in the dim light
of the night a single horseman, permitted his ap-
proach. The men stood by their guns with their
matches ready ; but the influence of his personal
chard ter and his fearless daring cowed the soldiers