CLYDE (1792-1863) AND STRATHNAIRN (1801-1885).
THE names of Lord Clyde and Lord Strathnairn will always be identified
with the operations that ended with the complete suppression of the Indian
Mutiny. Great military leaders may often be allowed to rank as rulers
equally with great administrators, for without the work done by them there
would often be no work for administrators to do. More especially then may
Lord Clyde and Lord Strathnairn be allowed to take rank as Rulers of
India, for without the work done by them in the suppression of the great
revolt, British rule in India might have disappeared for ever during that
time of storm and stress.
A separate account of each of these great military commanders is given in
this sketch, for, though one was Commander-in-Chief and the other his
lieutenant, the work of the lieutenant was, if anything, of greater
importance in its ultimate effects than the work of the commander. The
time covered by the operations of each was much the same.
The task they had to perform was no light one. The numbers of disciplined
and trained Sepoys that took part in the revolt may be estimated from the
fact that, out of seventy-four regular regiments of the Bengal Native
Infantry, forty-five actually mutinied, twenty were disarmed, three were
disbanded, and only six remained true to their salt.
The operations, moreover, extended over vast areas. The neutral attitude
of the people generally alone prevented the task from being an impossible
one. The Mutiny was primarily a military rising aided and abetted by a
proportion of the hereditary criminal classes, and by all those who had
little or nothing to lose; but, as Lord Lawrence has recorded, the
industrial classes throughout India were on the English
side, though for a long time they feared to act. On the one side they saw
the few English in the country shot down or flying for their lives, or, at
the best, standing on the defensive, hard pressed; on the other side they
saw summary punishment in the shape of the destruction and plunder of
their houses dealt out to those who aided the English. But when the
English showed signs of vigour and began to assume the offensive, and
vindicate their authority, many of these people came forward and
identified themselves with the English cause. If the attitude of the great
bulk of the people was neutral, the great Princes of India proved
conspicuously and actively loyal ; this fact was one of the most
instructive lessons of the crisis. 'The shock was a terrible one,' writes
the historian, 'but it left British power more firmly established than
ever. Foes and friends rose up where their appearance was least expected.
And one lesson will Over be indelibly engraved on the pages of its
history, namely, that while the Indian Princes whom we mistrusted brought
their armies and their influence to our aid, the Sepoys whom we trusted
turned against us. From the day when this experience was taken to heart
dates the consolidation of our Indian Empire.'
The Mutiny had already been in progress some weeks
before the news reached England, and a still longer period elapsed before
Sir Cohn Campbell reached the scene of operations. It will be necessary,
therefore, to give some account of its progress previous to the military
operations carried out by him and by Sir Hugh Rose, which ended in its
final suppression.
The first outbreak took place at Mirat early in May,
1857, and owing to some weakness and hesitation of the commanding officer
at that important cantonment the mutineers got control of affairs: they
released the prisoners from the jail, and set fire to the cantonments.
They then hurried off to Delhi unmolested. They soon obtained possession
of that city, and proceeded to set up the titular King of Delhi as
Sovereign Lord of Hindustan, though they treated both him and his family
with contempt and insolence. From this moment the revolt took on a more
serious complexion; Delhi became the rallying-point, and 'Onwards to
Delhi' the cry of the great body of the rebels and those who had attached
themselves to their ranks.
The other points round which the Mutiny had centred in
its early days were Cawnpur and Lucknow. The chief instigator of the
revolt at Cawnpur was a man who had all along been professing himself a
friend of the English: all the time, however, he had been awaiting his
opportunity, and had been secretly spreading discontent throughout India.
His opportunity had now come: the Sepoys in the cantonments had risen in
revolt, and the officer commanding, Sir Hugh Wheeler, believing in the
professions of friendship which the Nana Sahib, as this man was
designated, had so profusely offered, invited him to lend him some troops
to guard the Treasury. The Nana at once threw off the mask and put himself
at the head of the rebels, and laid siege to the small British garrison.
By an act of gross treachery he obtained the surrender of the force, and
by an act of still grosser treachery had them massacred nearly to a man
when they were proceeding to leave Cawnpur by boat, under a safe-conduct
signed by his own hand; and finally, the blackest crime of all, which has
won him for all time the unenviable designation of 'the infamous Nana
Sahib', had the few survivors, the women and the children, hacked to
pieces by the butchers of the place, and their bodies thrown into a well.
He had then celebrated what he was pleased to call his ' glorious victory'
by proclaiming himself Peshwa, or Mahratta Sovereign Lord of Hindustan,
disregarding the fact that another Sovereign Lord of Hindustan had only
recently been proclaimed at Delhi, in the person of the Muhammadan
representative of the Moguls.
At Lucknow the British had been fortunate in having as
their adviser Sir Henry Lawrence, who, with wise prescience and foresight,
had taken precautions beforehand to prepare the Residency to stand a
siege, with the result that when the crisis came the small but heroic
garrison of some seventeen hundred troops all told were able to withstand
for months the overwhelming numbers of the rebels, which have been
estimated to have amounted at one period of the siege to not far short of
one hundred thousand men.
Sir Henry Lawrence had died from a wound early in the siege; his dying
words had been 'No surrender'. The general order issued to the troops by
Lord Canning, when that gallant defence had come to an end with the final
relief, was as follows: 'There cannot be found in the annals of war an
achievement more heroic than this defence, which has exhibited in the
highest degree a noble and sustained courage, which, against enormous odds
and fearful disadvantages, against hope deferred, and through unceasing
toil, and wear of body and of mind, still held on, day after day, and
finally triumphed.'
As regards the rest of India, communication throughout the country had
become more or less interrupted. Agra, had been invested, and the great
arsenal at Allahabad had been in serious danger. Though there had been
only a few local risings in the North-West Provinces, a state of general
disorder prevailed.
In Bengal, the Province of Behar was practically the only one that was
disturbed; this was due to the depredations of the rebel Zamindar, Koer
Singh, who was the only landholder in all Bengal to take an active share
in the revolt.
The most glorious incident in this part of the disturbed provinces was the
gallant stand made at Arrah by two civilians assisted by a small force of
Sikhs and English— eighty in all. For a whole week they successfully
withstood the attack of some three thousand of the enemy on the small
bungalow they had to defend, which was commanded by a house on which guns
had been posted; they were eventually relieved by a small British force.
The principal hero of this defence, Mr. Richard Vicars Boyle, has recently
died at the advanced age of eighty-six.
Though there was anxiety about other parts of India, a state of quietude
generally prevailed, largely the result of the judicious tact displayed by
responsible officers on the spot, both Indian and English; thus in the
South of India the services rendered by Sir Salar Jung, the great
Muhammadan Minister of the Nizam, in keeping under control the great
Muhammadan peoples, who were naturally excited on hearing of the
proclamation of a Muhammadan Empire in the North, were inestimable.
Similarly, on the West of India, the judgement and resolution of the
Governor of Bombay, Lord Elphinstone, very largely contributed to the
state of quietude that prevailed there: the fact that the peace of
Kathiawar was maintained by the Princes of that part of the country
without the presence of a single British soldier, speaks volumes for his
influence with them.
That the Punjab remained quiet, and not only so, but contributed
materially to the defence of the Empire, was due to the decisive action of
Sir John Lawrence and his famous lieutenants.
The Sikh Chieftains of Patiala, Thind, Nabha, Kapurthala, and others,
behaved with conspicuous loyalty; they not only came forward with oilers
of military assistance, but provided guards for English ladies in
out-stations, and assisted very materially in the operations against
Delhi, as well as in the reoccupation of the disturbed territory round
Delhi.
It is curious to note that at the very time that the disquieting news of
the disturbed state of affairs in India reached England, the leading
English journals in London, were commenting, as the anniversary of Plassey
approached, on the perfect serenity of the Indian sky. When England woke
to the real facts of the situation, the nation made one of those
characteristic efforts which she has so often been called upon to make at
a sudden crisis: within a few weeks thirty thousand men were on the high
road to India. The Commander-in-Chief in India when the Mutiny broke
out had been General Anson: he had died suddenly from cholera, when
commencing his march against Delhi. It had therefore become necessary to
select a new Commander-in-Chief, and the choice of the Government fell
upon Sir Colin Campbell.
Sir Colin Campbell was a Scotchman, born at
Glasgow in 1702. Having entered the Army at the age of sixteen, he had
early distinguished himself by his gallantry and courage during the
Peninsular Campaign. He had been severely wounded on one occasion in
leading a forlorn hope, and had been obliged to go to hospital: another
attack was made, and he left hospital before his wounds were healed to
take part in it: this was of course a breach of military
discipline, but it was passed over on account of the personal gallantry
that he had again displayed. He had also taken part in the war between
America and England of 1812, in the China War, and in the second Sikh War:
'for steady coolness and military precision' in which he received the
distinction of a K.C.B., and, said Sir Charles Napier to him, on
presenting the insignia to him, 'No man has won it better.'
After the Sikh War he had hoped to have been able to
retire from active service, but he could not be spared.
On the outbreak of the Crimean war he was again called
on to serve in command of 'The Highland Brigade'. It is recorded that when
Lord Raglan sent for him after the great battle of the Alma to
congratulate him on the share his troops had taken in helping to win the
battle, he preferred the simple request that he might be allowed to wear,
for the rest of the campaign, the highland bonnet, instead of the cocked
hat to which he was entitled as a General: he wished to pay a compliment
to his men, and it is almost needless to say that they highly appreciated
it.
When the Crimean War came to an end he had fully
anticipated that his fighting days were over: he had reached the age when
the great majority of men consider themselves entitled to rest : but,
fortunately for her own interests, England has never allowed age to stand
in the way when she wants the services of men whom she has learnt to
trust. Is not Field-Marshal Earl Roberts a conspicuous illustration of
this fact? A thoughtful writer has said in this connexion, 'Place a bar as
regards age in the military, civil, or legal service, and you will have
done something to cut yourself off from the use of the greatest men.' Sir
Colin Campbell was sixty-five years of age when he was again called on by
his country to assist them in a great emergency. The Government made him
the offer of the supreme command in India on July 11, 1857. He was asked,
'When will you be ready to start?' 'To-morrow' was his reply, and on the
very next day, July 12, he set out for India. The spirit in which he had
accepted the charge may be seen from his utterances on the occasion of his
appointment: 'Never did a man proceed on a mission of duty with a lighter
heart and a feeling of greater humility, nor yet with a juster sense of
the compliments that have been paid to a mere soldier of fortune like
myself, in being named to the highest command in the gift of the Crown.'
Sir Colin Campbell took up his command in India in
August, 1857; he was destined not to lay it down again till June, 1860. As
Commander-in-Chief, he had control of all the military operations, but he
personally conducted only the Northern ones, leaving to his lieutenant,
Sir Hugh Rose, the conduct of the operations in the South and in Central
India. He was fortunate in finding a man like Lord Canning at the head of
affairs in India, for his ever ready co-operation and advice in the
subsequent movements of the Army were of inestimable value to him.
Possessed as he was of a deep sense of responsibility,
and determined to leave nothing to chance, Sir Colin Campbell prepared all
his plans most carefully beforehand: his conduct of the campaign was
characterized by an extraordinary care for details, and by a close
supervision of distant operations; his extreme caution, indeed, earned for
him the sobriquet of 'Old Khabardar' from his men. It is recorded of
Admiral Lord Nelson that, when he was asked by another famous naval
commander, Lord Dundonald, what tactics he should pursue when he came up
to the enemy's fleet, his characteristic reply was : 'Tactics be hanged!
Go straight at him.' Similarly, many of Sir Cohn Campbell's officers would
have preferred greater independence of action than lie allowed them, and a
more vigorous policy. In the end, as history has recorded, his operations
were eminently successful, but success was not to be won without a
stupendous effort. The measures taken by him comprised three separate
movements: two columns were to advance from the West and the South, and
the great central movement to the North was to be led personally by
himself. Until the plans for his own advance northwards were matured, he
remained in Calcutta hurrying up reinforcements, among which was a naval
contingent. After a prolonged siege of more than three months, Delhi was
finally captured from the rebels late in September, 1857. The final
assault cost the life of the gallant John Nicholson, who, since his
arrival from the Punjab, had been the life and soul of the siege.
'Nicholson ,is dead' was the hushed whisper that struck all hearts with
grief. It is said that to this day the superstitious frontier tribes,
where his rule is still remembered, hear the hoofs of his war-horse
ringing all night over the Peshawar Valley, and they are said to hold a
belief that until that sound dies away the rule of the Feringhi in the
valley will endure. A memorial to his memory was erected during the
Viceroyalty of Lord Curzon, at Delhi.
The fall of Delhi was celebrated by a banquet in the
halls of the historic Diwan-i-Khas, the audience chamber of the Mogul
emperors : the soldiers pledged the health of the Queen, and loud and
prolonged cheering proclaimed the re-establishment of British supremacy.
With the transportation of the old Mogul Emperor to
Burmah, and the death of his Sons, the end of the Mogul dynasty had
arrived.
With the fall of Delhi, the first real step in the
suppression of the Mutiny had been made; till that event, all had felt
that the prestige of British supremacy was still trembling in the balance.
The news reached the Commander-in-Chief when he was
still in Calcutta: he at once wrote to the General Officer commanding at
Delhi, to congratulate him on his brilliant success.
All eyes were now turned to Lucknow. Already, as early
as July, Sir Henry Havelock had made several most gallant attempts to
relieve the Residency, but he had been unable to achieve his purpose.
Cholera, dysentery, and floods had all co-operated in hampering the
movements of his force: fatigue and exposure did the rest, and he had been
compelled to halt while waiting for necessary reinforcements. These came
to him about the middle of September: they were under the command of Sir
James Outram, who, being the senior officer, would now naturally have
taken the command of Havelock's force as well; but with that generosity
and nobility of character that have earned for him the title of 'The
Bayard of India', he had relinquished the command in favour of Havelock.
He said to him: 'To you shall be left the glory of relieving Lucknow, for
which you have already struggled so much. I shall accompany you only in my
civil capacity as Commissioner, placing my military services at your
disposal should you please, and serving under you as a volunteer.' The
Commanderin-Chief's comment upon this generous conduct was brief but to
the point: 'Outram has behaved very handsomely. Lucknow was finally
entered by the combined forces of Havelock and Outram late in September,
1857, five days only after the fall of Delhi.
Among the numerous heroes of the final attack was an
officer named Olpherts: the tribute that Outram, himself the bravest of
the brave, paid to his gallantry must have made him thrill with pride
'Believe me, my dear heroic Olpherts,' Outram remarked, 'bravery is a poor
and insufficient term to apply to a valour such as yours.'
The final relief, however, was not yet: still the hard-
pressed garrison felt the temporary relief thus accorded them most
welcome: it brought the siege, with all its horrors, practically to an
end, but the garrison could not be withdrawn as yet to a place of safety:
the position to be held was extended a considerable distance as far as the
Alambagh, but beyond that the investment was complete, and it remained so
till the final relief by the Commander-in-Chief in person, late in
November.
Sir Colin Campbell had only left Calcutta late in
October: marching with his usual caution, he reached Oudh early in
November. A guide to the Residency reached his camp soon after his arrival
in the person of a Mr. Kavanagh, a member of the Tineovenanted Civil
Service of India. He had a perfect command of Hindustani, and a faculty
for disguise; these combined enabled him to leave the Residency and to
reach the camp safely. The Victoria Cross was his reward for his brave
act. Only after some severe fighting was Sir Colin Campbell able to
relieve the force invested at Lucknow; he succeeded in safely withdrawing
all the garrison to the Dilkusha. Sir Henry Havelock only lived long
enough to know of this final relief: he died two days after, and his loss
was mourned by all. Sir Colin Campbell finally got all the women and
children and the wounded safely to Allahabad, but he had to encounter a
large force of rebels under the redoubtable Tantia Topi on the way: his
victory was a decisive one; thus another great step in the final
suppression of the revolt had been taken. The city of Lucknow still,
however, remained in the hands of the rebels, and was only finally
recaptured in the spring of 1858.
Jung Bahadur, the Nepalese ally of the British, gave
Sir Colin Campbell material assistance in the operations for its
recapture. A graphic picture of the extraordinary scene presented on the
occasion has been left on record from the pen of one of the foremost war
correspondents of the world, the late Sir William Russell : 'It was late
in the evening when we returned to the camp through roads thronged with at
least twenty thousand camp followers, all staggering under loads of
plunder—coolies, syces, khidmatghars, dooli-bearers, grass-cutters, a
flood of men covered with clothing not their own, carrying on head and
shoulders looking-glasses, mirrors, pictures, brass pots, swords,
firelocks, rich shawls, scarves, embroidered dresses, all the loot of
ransacked palaces. Luck- now was borne away piecemeal to camp, and the
wild Ghurkas and Sikhs, with open mouths and glaring eyes, burning with
haste to get rich, were contending fiercely againstthe current, as they
sought to get to the sources of such unexpected wealth.'
Outram had been anxious to carry out a movement for a
crushing rear-attack on the rebels when they fled from Luck- now, but Sir
Colin Campbell, actuated doubtless by a desire not to weaken his forces in
view of the fresh efforts expected of them, had forbidden him to do so,
if, by so doing, he would lose a single man. As it was, large numbers of
the rebels got clear away, and Oudh and Rohilcund were only reconquered
after several more stubborn fights. The last body of rebels finally
surrendered to Brigadier Holdich towards the close of 1859; amongst the
men taken was one Jwala Pershad, who had been one of the Nana's principal
advisers on the occasion of the terrible Cawnpur massacres.
The operations in Behar resulted in the death of the
rebel Zamindar, Koer Singh, and in the gradual pacification of the
Province; the most notable incident in the final operatioiis was the
relief of Azamgarh by Colonel Lord Mark Kerr, who forced his way through
an ambuscade of several thousand Sepoys, which had been cleverly devised
by Koer Singh.
Sir Colin Campbell remained in India long enough to see
the Mutiny finally suppressed, and the pacification of the country
commenced. He finally left India in 1860, with the title of Lord Clyde
conferred on him for his services. He was afterwards created
Field-Marshal; he died, generally beloved and regretted, in 1863.
On the stone that marks the spot where he lies buried
in the great Valhalla of England's worthies, Westminster Abbey, these
words are inscribed :-
'He died lamented by the Queen, the Army, and the
People.'
The operations in Central India had been entrusted to
Sir Hugh Rose, but before they can be dealt with some account of his
antecedent career is necessary.
He learnt the rudiments of military science in Berlin,
where he was born, and at the age of nineteen be entered the British Army.
The tact he displayed as an intelligence officer in dealing with
disturbances in Ireland brought him early promotion. He won fresh laurels
at Malta, not only on account of his military qualifications, but in
consequence also of the courage and humanity he displayed during an
outbreak of cholera among the troops: he visited every man of his regiment
who fell ill, and encouraged all around him by his activity and
cheerfulness.
In Syria he had shown conspicuous gallantry when on
special duty with Omar Pasha during certain Turkish operations against the
Egyptians: putting himself at the head of a body of Arab cavalry and
charging down upon the enemy's advanced guard, he had saved Omar Pasha
from a surprise. He was awarded a sword of honour and a decoration by the
Sultan of Turkey in recognition of his courage on this occasion, and
Frederick William, the King of Prussia, also decorated him with the Cross
of St. John of Jerusalem; he had not forgotten his former young friend, as
he called him.
He soon afterwards received the appointment of British
Consul-General for Syria. An incident that occurred during this period of
his career will serve to illustrate his cool presence of mind, a
characteristic that never seems to have deserted him throughout his
military career. Civil war was going on between two hostile sections of
the population: he found the opposing forces firing at one another one
day, and without hesitation, and at the imminent risk of his life, he rode
between them, and, by the sheer force of a stronger will, stopped the
fight. At another time he was instrumental in saving the lives of some
hundreds of Syrian Christians: he gave them his personal escort as far as
Beyrout; on the march, he gave his horse up to many a weary woman, and
proceeded himself on foot. When a great epidemic of cholera, moreover,
raged at Beyrout, he was the only European, with the exception of a
medical officer and some Sisters of Mercy, who remained behind to visit
the sick and dying.
He was Secretary of the Embassy at Constantinople in
1851, and acted for a time as Chargé d'Affaires for Lord Stratford de
Reddiffe. As it happened, the Sultan was at the time being pressed by the
Russian Minister to sign a secret Treaty, which he was unwilling to do.
The Grand Vizier requested Sir Hugh Rose to write to the British Admiral
suggesting the expediency of a visit of the British fleet to Turkish
waters, the mere hint of which, he thought, would help to stiffen the back
of the Sultan in his refusal to sign the obnoxious Treaty. Sir Hugh Rose
acceded to his request, and though the British Admiral did not act on the
suggestion, the desired effect was accomplished, and the intrigues of the
Russian Minister were baffled.
During the Crimean War he was Queen's Commissioner with
the French Army, holding rank as Brigadier-General. The French commanders
repeatedly thanked him, and the French Marshal recommended him for the
Victoria Cross, for the conspicuous gallantry he had displayed on three
occasions at least during the operations before Sebastopol.
One incident that occurred in connexion with Sir Hugh
Rose during the progress of one great battle particularly impressed the
imagination of a Russian officer, who tells the story: 'He had seen
through the mist,' he said, 'a tall gaunt figure riding leisurely down the
road under a withering fire from the whole line of pickets: the horseman
turned neither to the right hand nor to the left, nor could the Russians
hit him. Suddenly they saw him fall headlong with his horse. After a few
minutes, paying no attention to the firing, the mysterious horseman got
up, patted his horse, and led the animal leisurely back up the road. The
Russians were so awestruck that an order was sent along the line to cease
firing on the man.'
He received the honour of knighthood from the British
Government for his services during the Crimean War. An opportunity was
soon after this given him of winning, in the East, a still more
distinguished reputation than he had already won in the West. He was to
show that, in addition to being a gallant soldier, he was also a born
commander.
The chief interest of the campaign in Central India,
with which his name will always be identified, centres round the names of
the fortresses of Jhansi, Kalpi, and Gwa]ior. The capture of Jhansi was
regarded as of the greatest importance for the success of the other
operations that the Commander-in-Chief was conducting further north: he
had humorously remarked in a dispatch he sent to Sir Hugh Rose, 'Until
this takes place, Sir Colin will be constantly obliged to be looking to
his rear, and this constant looking over his shoulder will give him a
stiff neck.' It was the great stronghold of the rebels in Central India,
and was strongly fortified.
,Jhansi had gained almost as unenviable a notoriety
amongst the English as Cawnpur had. Nowhere in India did the people
display a more intense hostility to the English. In June, 1857, some
seventy English men and women were murdered in a most deliberate way. The
principal inhabitants and leading tradesmen of the town, headed by
Muhammadan priests and fanatics, marched with their victims to the place
of execution, singing verses from the Koran, and in particular one
merciless text therein contained, 'Death to the Infidel.' The prisoners
were then all marshalled in regular order near an old mosque, and they
were hacked to pieces by the butchers of the city, just as the victims of
the Nana's vindictive hate had been at Cawnpur.
This was all due to the influence of that bitter enemy
of the English, the Rani of Jhansi, who had never forgiven Lord Dalhousie
for refusing his sanction to the adoption she had proposed, and for
bringing into force the doctrine of lapse, whereby the sovereignty of
Jhansi had passed from her family to the British. The Nana, or, as he
had styled himself, the Peshwa, sent an army of some 20,000 men under the
command of Tantia Topi to assist her in repelling the attack on Jhansi.
Until this force was disposed of there was no chance of
Jhansi being taken. Tantia Topi was the first to attack: he was totally
routed by the British, losing 1,500 men, all his heavy guns, and his camp
equipage. Having thus disposed of the rebel commander, Sir Hugh Rose was
at liberty to turn his attention again to the capture of Jhansi. Every
preparation had been made there to resist his attack: even native women
were to be seen working on the walls, and carrying ammunition, and the
Rani of Jhansi herself and her attendant ladies, all richly dressed, used
daily to visit a high tower called 'The Black Tower', in the cool of the
evening, to watch the progress of the fight. After the British had
succeeded in scaling the walls, the fighting inside was very fierce the
enemy defended themselves with the fury of despair: after the gates had
been forced, they set fire to trains of gunpowder on the floor of the
palace, and even to the powder in their pouches.
In one of the severest fights Sir Hugh Rose had one of
his spurs shot off and his charger wounded. There was one great fight in
the palace stables, and amongst the trophies captured there was an English
Union Jack: it had been given many years before by Lord William Bentinck
to a former ruler of Jhansi, with permission to have it carried in front
of him as a reward for his fidelity.
The Rani had herself let down from a turret window of
the palace : a horse was in waiting for her below ; it had been brought
there with the connivence of a native contingent serving with Sir Hugh
Rose: she mounted, placed her little stepson on the saddle in front of
her, and rode off.
It is pleasant to record, after the barbarous treatment
the English ladies and children had been subjected to by the people of
Jhansi, that the British soldiers treated the enemy's women and children
with conspicuous humanity. Sir Hugh Rose himself has left it on record
that 'the recollection of the atrocious murders could not make the English
soldiers forget that in an English soldier's eye the women and children
are always spared: so far from hurting them, the troops were seen sharing
their rations with them'.
The final capture of Jhansi took place in April, 1858.
The next objective was Kalpi, whither the Rani of Jhansi and her ally,
Tantia Topi, had retired. Before Kalpi could be taken, there had to be
some severe fighting between that place and Jhansi. Tantia Topi was again
encountered, and was again decisively defeated, this time with the loss of
600 men and 15 guns. The battle was one of the most trying of the whole
campaign: the British soldiers dropped down in numbers from sunstroke, and
even their General himself fell three times from the same cause: he
rallied himself, however, by sheer strength of will, until victory was
won; the doctor had to pour cold water over him, and give him
restoratives, to keep him going at all. Tantia Topi and the Rani had
meanwhile been reinforced by the Nawab of Banda, another rebel nobleman,
who apparently had been nursing some grievance against the British
Government. Sir Hugh Rose was compelled to make forced marches to Kalpi,
to prevent their cutting his communications with Sir Colin Campbell. One
incident that occurred on the way will help to illustrate the spirit that
animated all ranks, notwithstanding the hardships incidental from these
forced marches during the Indian hot weather. At one of the
halting-places, the General found a party of sick and wounded lying on the
ground in their great coats, with their knapsacks under their heads for a
pillow. He asked if they had any complaints. 'Complaints, sir ! ' said the
doctor in charge, 'they haven't a single thing which they would have in an
English hospital in camp, or at home, or in the field; but,' he added,
'they have no complaints but one, and that is that they cannot march with
you to-morrow against the enemy.' The men, raising their heads from their
knapsacks, smiled in assent. And so it was with all the soldiers under Sir
Hugh Rose's command. 'These noble soldiers,' he testified, 'never
proffered one complaint. They fell in their ranks, struck down by the sun,
and exhausted by fatigue, but they would not increase the anxieties of
their General or belie their devotion by complaint. No matter how great
their exhaustion, or how deep their short sleep, they always sprang to my
call to arms with the heartiest goodwill.' It is no wonder that, with
soldiers animated by such a spirit, Sir Hugh Rose was able to pass from
one victory to another, without suffering a single reverse or check. In
the battle that took place almost under the walls of Kalpi, and which
preceded its capture, the enemy were again defeated, and the Rani and
Tantia Topi were driven into the fortress, only, however, to leave it
precipitately again as the British advanced to the attack. The severity of
the fighting may be estimated from the fact that, before commencing their
attack, the rebel Sepoys had taken an oath by the sacred waters of the
Jumna river, and had primed themselves with opium. After the capture of
Kalpi, Sir Hugh Rose issued a general order to his troops in these terms:
'You have fought against the strong, and you have protected the rights of
the weak and defenceless of foes as well as of friends. I have seen you in
the heart of the combat preserve and place children out of harm's way.
This is the discipline of Christian soldiers, and this it is that has
brought you triumphant from the shores of Western India to the waters of
the Jumna.' The capture of this important place completed the plan of the
campaign as originally devised, and Lord Canning telegraphed to Sir Hugh
Rose: 'Your capture of Kalpi has crowned a series of brilliant and
uninterrupted successes. I thank you and your brave soldiers with all my
heart.'
Sir Hugh Rose, thinking the campaign over, now applied
for the sick leave he so urgently needed, but the end was not yet. Another
capture yet had to be effected, that of the strong fortress of Gwalior,
which had fallen into the hands of the rebels with all its guns. The
Maharaja Scindia had been on his march to co-operate with Sir Colin
Campbell in Rohileund: he had been attacked by Tantia Topi and the Rani of
Jhansi, and the whole of his army, with the exception of a few of his
immediate bodyguard, had gone over to the enemy. The Maharaja himself,
after a brave attempt to get them to return to their allegiance, was fired
on by his own gunners, and just managed to get away in safety to Agra. As
a preliminary step to the capture of the great fortress, Sir Hugh Rose
took the cantonments of Morar. The Rani of Jhansi received her death-wound
in one of the engagements that preceded the final capture of Gwalior. She
was fighting at the head of her troops, dressed in a red jacket and
trousers, and with a white turban on her head, and she was wearing at the
time the famous pearl necklace which had formed part of the plunder of
Scindia's palace when the rebels seized it : tradition had it that this
necklace had originally formed part of the Portuguese regalia which had
been taken by the Mahrattas hundreds of years before. As the Rani lay
mortally wounded in her tent, she distributed her ornaments to her troops
the whole rebel army mourned her loss; she was only twenty when she died,
but yet she had earned the reputation of being the bravest and best
military leader of the, rebels. Her body was burnt with great ceremony by
her troops on the field of battle.
The Maharaja returned to his capital the day after its
capture from the rebels by the British : he was overcome with joy at the
turn events had taken, and insisted on giving a dinner to Sir Hugh Rose,
served by his old servants. He was also very anxious to present a medal,
with his device, a serpent, engraved on it, to all the officers and men of
the Central India Field Force; Lord Canning, who was referred to in the
matter, approved, but the Home Government refused its permission.
The rebels had now all been dispersed, but it was not
till the spring of 1859 that an old associate betrayed the hiding-place of
Tantia Topi; he was captured and hanged in April of the same year.
The military operations in Central India came
practically to an end with the capture of Gwalior. What those operations
had meant to the force engaged may be realized from the description given
by an authority: 'In five months the Central India Field Force traversed
1,085 miles, crossed numerous large rivers, took upwards of 150 pieces of
artillery, one entrenched camp, two fortified cities, and two fortresses,
all strongly defended, fought sixteen actions, captured twenty forts, and
never sustained a check against the most warlike and determined enemy led
by the most capable commanders then to be found in any part of India.'
The victorious General received the thanks of both
Houses of Parliament, and was created a Grand Commander of the Bath.
The secret of Sir Hugh Rose's success will be found in
the qualities that distinguished him throughout his military career, which
have been thus summed up: 'Ever at the post of danger, he never spared
himself or others. What he did was always done courageously and
thoroughly: his whole career was an example of earnestness and
thoroughness, and of unflinching devotion to duty. In India, we are told,
the rebel Sepoys could make nothing of the General who routed and
destroyed them. His rapid marches and indomitable energy struck terror
into their hearts; he had grasped the great principle of Indian warfare:
"When your enemy is in the open, go straight at him, and keep him moving;
and when behind ramparts, still go at him, and cut off all his chances of
retreat when possible : pursue him, escaping or escaped." He realized to
the full in his own person Napoleon's ideal of a military commander: he
was indeed the head and soul of his army.'
In 1859, Sir Hugh Rose was appointed Commander-in-Chief
of the Bombay Army, and on the departure of Sir Cohn Campbell, now Lord
Clyde, from India in 1860, he received the appointment of
Commander-in-Chief in India. His words on receiving his appointment were
characteristic of the man: 'I will endeavour to bear with humility my
elevation, which I am convinced I owe more to the signal mercy of God than
to my own merits. I feel that with His blessing I can do an immense amount
of good, but I shall fail in doing what I ought to do, if I give way to
anything like feelings of pride.'
When, after holding this appointment for five years, he
finally gave up office, he did so to the universal regret of both officers
and men of the Indian Army. At a farewell entertainment given to him at
Simla, Sir Robert Napier, afterwards Lord Napier of Magdala, voiced the
general opinion about him in the speech he made on the occasion: 'Never
has the Army of India had a Chief more earnestly solicitous to secure its
efficiency than Sir Hugh Rose. Never, I believe, has the Army of India
been in a more efficient condition than it is at the present moment ;
never has the Army of India had a Chief whom it would have followed to the
field against a foe worthy of it, with fuller confidence of success than
the Army would feel under its present Commander-in-Chief.'
On his return to England, Sir Hugh Rose was raised to
the Peerage as Lord Strathnairn of Strathnairn and Jhansi. He was thus
greeted by The Times, on behalf of the English nation: 'We welcome the
veteran General home after a career which would have entitled a Roman
General to 'Triumph.'
He was eventually promoted to the rank of
Field-Marshal. He died suddenly at Paris in 1885. Life of
Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde
By Lieut-General Shadwell in 2 volumes
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Volume 2 |