The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-10-20

was dispatched under Lord Combermere
to rescue the captive. The besieging
force under this general was 25 coo men
but the chief difference between this
and the former siege was in the num-
Der and quality of the artillery Where
as Lord Lakes siege train consisted of
only fourteen guns, his successor had
liz, all of the finest pattern then in
vented, some Of which We're mortars and
howitzers, throwing eight-inch and thir-
teen-inch shells. experimenting these
were forty field guns and ten five and
one-half-inch field hoWitzers.
| The investment commenced on De-
| cember 10, 1926. The garrison, consist
! ing of 5000 regulars, gave no sign of
| life. When the besieging forces We're
! taking up the several vantage grounds
| in front a few of the fort guns had fired
on them at long range, but, doing little
damage and fearing to waste ammuni-
| ton, they had sunk into sullen silence.
So splendid a corps of engineers Lord
Combermere had brought with him that
the parallels were finished and the in
vestment completed by the 21st De-
string to save the women and children
he sent message offering them free
passage. No answer was given to this
offer.
By the Gath every exit was closed and
all the 112 siege guns placed in advance
ed positions, some of them within $50
yards of the wall. On that day the
bombardment commenced. So terrific
a sower of shells and round shot was
poured into the town and fort thatmany
Of the defenders guns-all of a compar-
atiyely feeble range-were overwhelm-
ed and destroyed.
On the night Of the 26th the garrison
made sortie, captured the most adj
vanced battery, We're driven back by
achievements charged and captured it
again, and once more We're repulsed.
The next day. as If in one last desper-
ate effort, all the surviving fort guns
opened fire with great precision, but did
little execution. Their range was too
small and the British batteries too well
masked. In reply the besiegers' guns
opened the final bombardment from
distance of scarcely 200 yards. The sal
vos were magnificent and the execution
terrible. Fires broke out throughout
the town and drove the garrison within
the shelter Of the fort.
At this stage the remarkable charac-
ter of the siege became manifest Not
withstanding the splendid artillery
practice of the besiegers, no actual inn
preston could be madt upon the mass
i've mud walls Whatever damage was
done by day was repaired by night.
The garrison worked like moles, and
now in absolute silence-saye only when
an assault was attempted. They began
to gather courage from the Intellectual
bombardment. Their leaders went
among them and exhorted them to fresh
efforts Their high priest came down /
and reminded them of an ancient proph
ecy.
There was an old legend that the |
walls of Bharatpur had been built by !
the gods themselves, who, admiring |
their handiwork had decreed that the |
fortress could not be captured unless I
IAN alligator came across the sea to |
besiege it, This was practically en-
downing the fortress with perpetual in
The alligator was fresh
water creature-they had many such
beasts kept in pampered state in their
sacred tanks-and they fed these beasts
with choice morsels that they denied to
their starving brethren, lest they anger
ed the favorite of the gods. Thus they /
lay secure in their prophecy. The be-
segers themselves, recognizing the fu-
tiity Of a bombardment alone, took to
mining, The garrison Laughter scornful-
ly and dug counter mines.
Then came the most astonishing
thing that has ever happened even in
India, the land of marvels. The garri
son of the town that had repulsed Lake,
that had so far withstood his successor
N spite of every disadvantage, were
now seized with sudden panic-a pam
C that freezes up human courage and
makes strong men impotent as babes
or the first time they learned the
lame of the besieglng generals. Had it
,een Napoleon, or Marlborough, or Wei
ington, they would have laughed with
corn in the consciousness of safety I'M
Ter divine promise. But at the name
# Combermere a third-rate mediocrity
Utterly unknown in the annals of war.
hey trembled in fear. "Combemar'
n the language mean IAN alligator" =
md he had come across the sea to be-
iege Them
The rest was inevitable. The mines
we're sprung on the night of January Is,
S26, and the grand assault delivered
n the following morning. The garri-
on, indeed, fought with the courage of
espair, but in the knowledge of certain
efeat. Behold! the ancient prophecy
{ many centuries was at last fulfilled;
he scepter had passed to alien hands.
The Jat Grenadiers, the flower of the
army, threw themselves
oddly into the breach and persisted to :,
man. Thus was Bharatpur TAKEN
london Express.
|
BEGGAT, IN ENGLAND.