A British Historical Narrative of the
Great Indian (Sepoy) Mutiny (1857-1858)
[Excerpted from W. Lee Wheeler, "India and Afghanistan
(1815-1869)," The Cambridge Modern History. Vol. 11. A. W.
Prothero et al, eds. Cambridge, 1909]
The events narrated were now rapidly leading up to a catastrophe expected
neither by the statesmen responsible for them nor by the impartial onlooker.
The constant wars in which the Company had engaged required a large mercenary
army; and in 1857 the native troops, 311,038, outnumbered the British,
59,500, by nearly eight to one. Of the former, 137,580 belonged to the
Bengal army, and were mainly recruited in Oudh, where, as servants of the
Company, they enjoyed the privilege, denied by the King to his own servants,
of prompt and fair trial in the native Courts, a privilege that since the
annexation no longer differentiated them from their fellow countrymen.
The Sepoys had moreover learnt their own importance, observing that special
allowances had been given for services beyond the Indus, and that their
agitation had wrung from Sir Charles Napier a more liberal compensation
for dearness of provisions. They were keenly awake to the numerical weakness
of the Company's forces, especially after the heavy losses sustained in
Gough's campaigns; and they did not forget that British prestige had suffered
grievously from the Afghan disaster. Nor were they blind to the fact that
between the Company's European regiments and those of the Queen's army
there were jealousies and disagreements, that the two served different
masters under different conditions, and that the latter were liable at
any moment to be recalled from India, thus weakening the proportion of
European soldiers, already too small.
To the exaggerated idea of their own value were added offences against
their religious sensibilities. Wars with Burma, China, and Persia, involved
crossing the " black sea,- and thus losing caste, and now came Canning's
General Order, July, 1856, constraining every future recruit to "
serve beyond sea whether within the territories of the Company or beyond
them." Evil counsellors outside their ranks warned them that a systematic
attack was being made upon their faith, that the Government was turning
the world upside down, opening the schools to children of all castes, abolishing
Sate and slavery, making Brahman and Sudra amenable to the same laws, and,
with its telegraphs, railways and hospitals, practicing magic arts and
sorcery. The East, which had hitherto bowed low before the West "in
patient deep disdain,- now resented the inexorable march of civilisation;
and a spirit of unrest was abroad. At this moment the Enfield rifle was
being substituted for the Brown Bess; and it was reported that the cartridges,
smeared with the fat of sacred cows and the lard of polluted pigs, were
to be bitten by Hindu and Mohammedan alike. The ferment caused by this
rumour spread from Dum Dum to Barrackpur, and so on to Mirat, where the
spark burst into a flame.
In May,1857, India was startled by the news that, on Sunday the 10th,
the 20th Native Infantry and the 3rd Light Cavalry, having mutinied at
Mirat, had gone off to Delhi, captured its magazine, and been joined by
the regiments there. At many military stations British men and women were
being murdered, and fugitives endured terrible sufferings in the attempt
to reach a place of safety. Before the month was out, all eyes were turned
to Delhi, Cawnpore, and Lucknow, to which places nearly the whole of the
mutinous Bengal army had betaken itself
George Anson, the Commander-in-chief, at once ordered such forces as
he could collect at Amballa, to join the British troops at Mirat in an
advance upon Delhi. Dying of cholera on the road he was succeeded by Henry
Barnard, who, defeating the rebels at Badli Sarai, June 8, gained his footing
on the famous ridge at Delhi. But Barnard also died of cholera, July 5;
and Thomas Reed, who took his place, was compelled by illness to give place
to Archdale Wilson on the 17th. Despite these adverse circumstances, the
British force of 4500 effective menÑfor such reliefs and additions as it
received served only to repair the waste of war and diseaseÑstubbornly
maintained its position in the presence of 30,000 to 50,000 mutineers,
until August 14, when the gallant John Nicholson brought an additional
1600 infantry, a battery of artillery, and 200 cavalry, which, with the
siege-guns received a month later, rendered an assault possible.
While the small force of Europeans and loyal Gurkhas, exposed to the
burning sun, was improving its defences on the ridge, repelling assaults
by day and night, at all times under a deluge of shot and shell from the
fortified walls of Delhi, that city received fresh streams of rebels, as
the tide of revolt overflowed Bareilly, Jalandar, Nasirabad, Jhansi, and
other stations. The arrival of new bodies of mutineers was frequently the
signal for a general attack. III two of these, fought on July 9 and 14,
the British lost 408 killed and wounded out of a force then numbering 5367
men. Disease, especially cholera and sunstroke, daily carried off their
victims. When the rains came, things were no better. On September 6, there
were 2800 in hospital; and, even with the arrival of all their reinforcements,
the "Delhi army" could only parade 4720 infantryÑ of whom 1960
were EuropeansÑfor the four columns finally told of for the assault and
their reserves. These figures did not include the Jind and Kashmir contingents.
With the coming of the siege-guns the batteries were at once advanced.
Over the crumbling ruins of the Kashmir gate, blown in by Duncan Home and
Philip Salkeld on September 14, Colonel Campbell led his men, and Nicholson
formed up his troops within the walls. Near the Lahore gate the heroic
Nicholson was mortally wounded; other columns were checked; and by nightfall
the British had secured but a foothold within the city, with a loss of
66 officers and 1104 men killed and wounded. In the following days, for
all the stubborn resistance of the sepoys, ground was gained step by step;
the magazine was taken on the 16th; and on the 21st General Wilson occupied
the imperial palace. The King was taken prisoner, and the three princes
were captured and shot by William Raikes Hodson the next afternoon. Then
not a moment was lost in detaching a force of 1000 British and 2000 native
troops to proceed to Cawnpore. On the way they relieved Agra, fought several
engagements, destroyed forts, and arrived at their destination before the
end of October.
Human imagination has never conceived a scene more heartrending in
its details than that witnessed at Cawnpore, when news arrived of the mutinies
at Mirat and Delhi. Sir Hugh Wheeler, with but 50 European artillerymen
at his back, though aware of disaffection in the four native regiments
under his command, dared not attempt disarmament. Nothing remained but
to prepare for the defence of 330 women and children, although by so doing
he betrayed his suspicions. The Nana Sahib, concealing his bitter resentment
at Dalhousie's denial to him of the life pension paid to his adoptive father,
Baji Rao, the last Peshwa of Poona, offered his Maratha troops to guard
the treasury. On May 21 the women and children took refuge in the rough
entrenchment which Wheeler had improvised. A fortnight later the native
regiments mutinied; Nana Sahib treacherously seized the magazine; and the
investment began. Wheeler had now 240 European soldiers, with six guns,
to protect 870 non-combatants. For twenty-two days the defenders, with
a row of loaded muskets by their sides, replied day and night to the attack
of 4000 rebels well supplied with guns and ammunition. the women and children
burrowed in holes to escape the bullets or the fall of crumbling masonry.
Several of both sexes died from sunstroke or thirst; others were burnt
to death in the hospital set on fire by red-hot shells; and many fell in
attempts to procure water But the remainder bravely held the enemy at bay,
surrendering only on the sworn guarantee of the Nana that boats and provisions
should be supplied for their departure by the Ganges. On June 27, those
still alive, for the most part wounded and fever-stricken, were embarking
on the boats when a murderous fire was opened upon them. The survivors
were dragged ashore, the men being shot or hacked to pieces before the
eyes of their wives and children, while the latter, numbering some 150,
were taken back to Cawnpore. Here, with other women and children captured
in the attempt to escape from neighbouring stations, they were butchered
and mutilated, their bodies being thrown into a well, only just before
Henry Havelock, having defeated the Nana's forces, arrived to the relief.
Nothing was now left but for that general to proceed in all haste to
Lucknow. Oudh, so recently annexed, was administered by Henry Lawrence.
At the capital were 16,000 native troops, besides many soldiers and retainers
of the ex-King and of the nobles, waiting for the signal of revolt, while
the British portion of the garrison comprised only 700 men, including 60
gunners. As the tide of mutiny rose, the human driftwood of refugees from
various quarters floated down to Lucknow, and Lawrence prepared the residency
for the struggle so surely imminent. On June 30 he moved out to Chinhat,
to meet 6500 rebels, coming mostly from Faizabad. His native gunners deserted,
and, incurring heavy losses, he barely effected his retreat to the residency,
where 927 men of British extraction, including civilians and aged pensioners,
with 765 natives, composed his garrison. Two days later he was mortally
wounded; and John Inglis took command. By the middle of September his garrison
had been reduced to 1179, many being sick and wounded, and disease had
carried of nine women and fifty-three children. The relief column under
Havelock, whom James Outram generously declined to supersede, could only
reinforce the besieged by 2000 men, and the besieged had to renew their
heroic defence without even an addition to their food supplies. Outram,
who took command directly the relief was accomplished, was so closely invested
that he could not communicate with the detachment left at the Alambagh,
though that ridge was only four miles distant. To the constant fire of
grape-shot and the trials of climate were now added reduced rations. At
length, the arrival at Cawnpore of the Delhi column, and of the troops
pushed up from Calcutta, enabled the new Commander-in-chief, Colin Campbell,
to take command of the second relief force. Yet, when his reinforcements,
including William Peel's naval brigade, assembled on November 16 for the
final advance through the city, his force numbered only 3500 infantry and
400 cavalry, to whom were opposed 30,000 mutineers holding formidable positions
behind walls and canals.
Every step through the streets and gardens of Lucknow was contested,
2000 bodies of rebels being afterwards removed from the Sikandar Bagh alone.
But the residency was reached, and in the silence of the night, November
22, its 2000 helpless prisoners and wounded soldiers were withdrawn to
Cawnpore, and thence to Allahabad Outram was left with 4000 men at the
Alambagh, where Havelock was buried in the hour of victory; and Colin Campbell
returned to Cawnpore to deal with the rebels in his rear and then organise
a force for the capture of Lucknow.
The British, hitherto compelled to act on the defensive, were now free
to advance so far as their limited transport would permit. While Outram
watched Lucknow, Nana Sahib's troops, swollen by the Gwalior contingent,
were driven out of Cawnpore; other mutinous bodies were defeated at Fatehgarh;
and an army for the occupation of Oudh was assembled by the end of February,
1858. A Nipalese force took part in the operations against Lucknow, then
held by some 60,000 sepoys and 50,000 irregular Oudh troops and protected
by a formidable line of defences. Outram advanced on the other side of
the Gumti and cooperated with Colin Campbell's attack on the front of the
position. On March 21 the city was captured, and gradually the whole province
was recovered. A campaign in Rohilkhand followed. Meanwhile, in central
India Sir Hugh Rose, starting from Mhow, demolished several forts, defeated
the rebels before Jhansi, took that city by storm in March, and under a
burning sun routed a large force at Kalpi. On hearing that Tantia Topi
had occupied Gwalior, he recaptured that city and fort in June, and then,
broken down in health, handed over his command to Robert Napier. After
his defeat, Tantia Topi maintained for ten months a reduced body of adherents,
who outstripped the movements of several British columns, until at last
he was betrayed and captured (April, 1859). About the same time, the force
cooperating with Jung Bahadur against some 10,000 sepoys and the followers
of the Nana Sahib and the Begam of Oudh was joined by troops under Hope
Grant, who dispersed the enemy. Organised resistance was at an end, the
Nana Sahib disappearing for ever in the inhospitable jungles of Nipal.
Votes of thanks were passed by both Houses of Parliament, and on May 1,
1859, services of thanksgiving were held throughout the kingdom.
Lord Canning had no time to congratulate himself on the suppression
of the Sepoy Rebellion when he was called upon to deal with a white mutiny.
The Company's European soldiers bitterly resented the effect of the Act
of Parliament by which, on the transfer of the government of India to the
Crown, they were driven like sheep into the fold of the British army. Eventually
they were given the option of discharge, of which nearly 10,000 took advantage.
The reorganisation of the whole military system of India was thus necessitated;
but was not completed until much later.
The more congenial task of restoring the civil administration and regaining
the confidence of the ruling chiefs was accomplished by Canning, who had
exerted himself from the outset to assuage the bitter feelings of revenge
which events had excited. Wholesale executions, the blowing of rebels from
guns, and the extermination of entire bands of fighting men without quarter
asked or given, might have been justified by considerations of public safety.
But panic, and the cry of blood for blood had desolated villages and emptied
cities of their inhabitants, and it F was necessary to put a stop to excessive
measures of repression. On t November 1,1858, the Governor-General, then
appointed the first Viceroy in token of the direct responsibility assumed
by the Crown, announced the terms of the Queen's Proclamation in great
state at Allahabad. The gracious message lost none of its force by being
delivered while the clash of arms was yet being heard in central India
and on the frontiers of Nipal. Her Majesty accepted all treaties and engagements
made by the Company with the native princes and promised to respect their
rights, dignity, and honour. In an impressive passage, inserted by her
own special desire, the Queen acknowledged with gratitude the solace of
religion, and declared that all her Indian subjects should be protected
in the exercise of their religious observances. A principle already enunciated
in the Charter Act of 1833 was reinforced, and all, of every race or creed,
were to be admitted as far as possible to those offices in her service
for which they might be qualified. The Viceroy's proclamation of amnesty
was confirmed, and the royal clemency extended to all rebels save those
convicted of taking a direct part in the murder of British subjects. The
aim of the Queen's government was to be that which had so frequently been
announced by the Company, the benefit of all her subjects resident in IndiaÑ"
In their prosperity will be our strength, in their contentment our security,
and in their gratitude our best reward."
Canning opened a new chapter in the history of British relations with
the chiefs by issuing to them canal (Charters) of adoption and succession,
ensuring the continuance of native rule. The terror of annexation under
the " rule of lapse n was finally removed, while fresh emphasis was
laid on the duty of loyalty to the Crown, and a new responsibility placed
upon their shoulders. Fifty years had passed since the policy of non-intervention
had given way under Hastings to one of subordinate isolation, each State
entrusting the whole control of its external affairs to the paramount British
power. Now, a more active career of cooperation and partnership in an imperial
system was offered to the Queen's allies. Hitherto, it had been enough
to define their duties to the Company for the common defence, and to take
entire charge of their external relations. For the rest, within their own
territories the chiefs had for the most part governed as they pleased,
until the people of Coorg or Oudh had cried out for annexation, or a failure
of heirs had enabled Dalhousie to substitute British for native rule in
the interests of the people. But now Canning confirmed the intention of
the suzerain Power to perpetuate native rule, if the chiefs remained loyal
and true to their engagements. Henceforth, therefore, friendly advice and
timely interference must be exercised to correct gross abuses of power,
to maintain peaceful successions, and to place the continuance of native
rule upon the only sure foundations of peace and order, law and justice.
It might even be necessary to depose an unworthy ruler, or for a time to
govern on his behalf; but, if the State was to be preserved from annexation,
its ruler must prove himself a worthy member of the imperial system.
Upon British India the transfer of government to the Crown produced
no immediate or substantial change. New masters were installed at home,
but no new powers were conferred upon them. A principal Secretary of State
aided by a Council of India, at first composed of fifteen members, gathered
into his hands all powers previously exercised either by the Board of Control
through its faithful servants, the " Secret Committee," or by
the Courts of Directors and of Proprietors. The Secretary of State was
given the power of overruling his Council in most matters; while in others,
such as appropriations of revenue, he required a majority of their votes,
and he could on his own responsibility give orders regarding foreign affairs
and other " secret " matters with which the " Secret Committee
" used to deal. An independent audit of the accounts was provided,
and the control of Parliament secured over military operations outside
India; while annual reports upon the moral and material progress of every
province were to be laid before that body. All existing laws, treaties,
and orders were to remain in force, and generally the Statute was an enabling
and continuing Act, rather than one which created a new order of things.
The Mutiny had not merely ousted British authority from certain districts,
it had also suspended everywhere the introduction of reforms contemplated
by the last Charter Act and commenced by Dalhousie. The Indian Civil Service
was already being recruited by public competition, Haileybury College having
been closed in 1857; but the rule of seniority prevailed, and civil offices
were reserved in each presidency for civil servants appropriated to it.
An Act of Parliament (1861), validated appointments made in disregard of
these provisions, swept away numerous restrictions, and threw open a large
number of offices to persons not being members of the Covenanted Civil
Service. By another Act of the same year the High Courts of Judicature
in Calcutta, Madras and Bombay were established. But the most important
of the changes in the civil government effected by Lord Canning was that
which the Indian Council's Act enabled him to carry out. A fifth member
was added to the Governor-General's Executive Council, which for purposes
of legislation was reinforced by additional members who might be twelve
in number. The legislative authority of the Government of India was clearly
defined both in respect to Parliament, and in regard to the Councils of
Madras and Bombay, to which were restored powers of legislation taken from
them in 1833. Power was given to establish legislative councils in Bengal,
the North-West Provinces, and the Punjab. The Act was amended and extended
in 1869; but its introduction so soon after the Mutiny was worthy of a
strong and progressive Government. Simultaneously, progress was made in
the codification of Indian law; when, for the first time, were reaped the
fruits of Macaulay's labours on the Indian Law Commission established in
1833. The Civil Procedure Code of 1859, the Indian Penal Code of 1860,
and the Criminal Procedure Code, 1861, were primarily devised for the guidance
of untrained judges and magistrates; but they have proved to be instruments
of education and civilisation spreading broadcast among the people of India
Western ideas of right and wrong.
Before Canning left India "in prosperity and peace," he had
reassured the Talukdars and other classes in Oudh, and had, with the aid
of James Wilson and Samuel Laing, restored the financial equilibrium. The
year 1860-1 closed a long series of deficits with one of four millions;
but in the following year the drastic remedy of reducing expenditure by
five millions enabled Lord Canning to make both ends meet, and even to
relieve the Indian taxpayer of the license tax. Fortunately, the country
could look forward to a period of tranquillity, and, with the exception
of small operations on the frontiers, including Bhutan, and the Abyssinian
War, the army could pile arms while the process of military reorganization
ran its course. Lord Elgin, who relieved his predecessor on March 12,1862,
had declared his intention of practising self-denial and of walking "
in paths traced out by others " before he shaped his own course. That
time never arrived; for he died of heart disease at Dharmsala (November
20, 186s). Without delay, at the call of duty, John Lawrence left England,
and took over the office of Governor-General, January 12, 1864, which he
held till 1869.
The complicated task of reorganizing the Indian military system could
not have fallen into better hands, strengthened as they were by the experience
of his colleague Mansfield, Commander-in-chief, and Norman, his Military
Secretary. The difficulties were perplexing. The Mutiny and its suppression
had extinguished the native army of Bengal, and left a legacy of confusion
owing to the enlistment of irregular regiments under varying conditions.
Parliament had transferred to the service of the Crown all the European
forces of the Company, naval and military, and India could no longer recruit
Europeans for her service. But, while the naval forces ceased to exist
in 18603, the officers and soldiers of the late Company, whether artillery,
infantry or cavalry, had to be accommodated in a new military system, often
as much against their own wishes as those of the Queen's service. It was
decided that the artillery should be almost wholly European, that of the
Company being amalgamated with the Royal Artillery, while the proportion
of Europeans to natives in infantry and cavalry was fixed at one to two
in the Bengal army, and one to three in Madras and Bombay. The creation
of a local European force being disallowed, the necessary regiments were
to be lent from home and paid for by Indian revenues. The native army was
reconstructed in Bengal, and reorganised elsewhere, the officers being
supplied from a staff corps in which they gained a step in rank according
to length of service.