his heels, and the cover of the jungles. He therefore divided his force into two brigades, one of which he led himself, and the other he placed under the command of the Nawab of Banda. He then marched southwards, eluded all the pursuing columns, and in a few days had crossed the Nerbudda. He then marched upon Sindwarra by the Patchmaree Passes, and as they only permitted of the advance of cavalry in Indian file, it was deemed inexpedient to follow him. His stay at Sindwarra was short, but he managed to procure sufficient supplies to carry him across the country in the direction of Asseerghur. He again eluded all our columns, leaving both cavalry and infantry behind him, and at one time threatened the Deccan. The rapidity of his movements was perfectly marvellous, and the facility with which he managed to carry his baggage along with him presented a remarkable contrast to the sluggish movements of our expensive commissariat. He was not, however, permitted to remain long in the neighbourhood of Asseerghur ; and seeing that he could not enter the Deccan, he determined to recross the Nerbudda, and, if possible, make a descent upon Baroda. After an engagement Rajpoor, he forded the Nerbudda, and entered Guzerat; but Parke's column was close at his heels, and, by a rapid flank movement, managed to overtake him at Chota Oodeypoor, some fifty miles from the Gaikwar's capital. Brigadier Parke at once drew up his men in order of battle. His first line was composed of Heathorne's battery, in the centre; fifty rank and file of the 71st highlanders on either flank; twenty-five of the Southern Mahratta horse in the rear; and two squadrons of the same corps and Aden horse on the right and left. His second line consisted of a troop of the 8th hussars and 3rd light cavalry; the Guzerat horse being on the right rear, and unable to deploy, in consequence of trees and bushes. The enemy mustered in great force, in a circle which appeared to envelope the whole of the English front and flanks. Their cavalry, about 3,000, threw out skirmishers, and their infantry, from a row of huts on their left, opened with jinjalls and musketry. at After firing a couple of rounds of shrapnel at 500 yards, the guns limbered up, and the line advanced. Tantia Topee, with his own personal guard, and the 5th Bengal irregulars—a splendid-looking corps, in sky-blue uniform,-made a rapid flank movement, partially screened by brushwood, with a view to get round Parke's right flank, and charge him in rear. The keen eye of the Brigadier, however, soon detected the manœuvre, and defeated it, by ordering Lieutenant Kerr, commanding the cavalry on the right, to charge. In an instant, this gallant officer and his men were down on the rebel cavalry, who were put to flight, numbers having been killed and wounded. The 5th Punjaub cavalry, a reserved body, then dashed forward, and were met by the Southern Mahratta and Aden horse, when a severe conflict took place, which ended in the enemy being broken and routed, with the loss of their standard, and sixty killed, a number of the wounded having managed to escape through the thick jungle. Tantia Topee also effected his escape, at the very commencement of the action. Three broken troops, the élite of the rebel force, were pursued and slaughtered for five miles. The pursuit was only abandoned in consequence of the men and horses being jaded by forced marches. The enemy fought with great obstinacy; their cavalry charged up to the muzzles of the guns, and were only driven back by deadly showers of grape and Enfield bullets. This engagement undoubtedly saved the wealthy city of Baroda from being taken and plundered; and it also taught Tantia Topee the activity and determination of the soldiers to whom he was opposed. With everything to aid him, he had been barely able to keep in advance of the pursuing columns, and allowed himself to be finally overtaken. From Gwalior to Guzerat, a territory which stretches over an air line for six hundred miles, he had been met at every point. Mahratta though he was, and flying for his life, his followers could not maintain the speed necessary to escape the relentless zeal of his pursuers. From every point, and city, and pass; at Nagpoor and Mhow ; in the defiles of Khandeish; For a at Baitool and Hoshungabad; on every road, and at almost every ford, he had been met and turned by British troops. He had raced across India, chiefly though Native states-always through a territory less under European control than any portion of the continent,and everywhere his ubiquitous foe was still present, fully armed, and wanting neither guns nor commissariat for the work. After the defeat at Oodey poor, his decline was marked and rapid. Repulsed in all his attempts to enter Rajpootana, he managed to cross the Jumna, and effect a junction with Ferozeshah, after sustaining innumerable defeats and disasters. He was, however, allowed but little time for deliberation. The pursuing columns were close behind him, and after fruitless attempts to enter Bhawulpoor, he was again driven southwards. time, he managed to elude pursuit in the Seronge jungles, in company with Maun Sing; but his last hour was rapidly approaching. Ferozeshah and the Rao Saheb were also compelled to seek the same place of refuge, until they were driven out with great slaughter by the brigades of Rich and DeSalis. The two last-named leaders sought safety in flight; aud Maun Sing surrendered to Major Meade under the amnesty; but Tantia lay in concealment in a village, from which he hoped eventually to escape into Nepaul. While there, reposing after his past fatigues, and speculating upon his future prospects, he was joined by Maun Sing, of whose surrender he was still ignorant. The latter, having previously surrounded the place with armed men, conversed with him upon his fortunes and his prospects, until Tantia, finding himself weary, dropped quietly asleep, having the utmost confidence in his old companion-in-arms. The moment had now arrived, and Maun Sing, stealing to the door, gave the requisite signal. In a few seconds, the house was filled with soldiers, and in less time than it takes to tell it, Tantia was loaded with irons. He entered the dhoolee, or palanquin, which had been brought for him, without opposition or remonstrance, and, on his arrival at Seepree. seemed to be perfectly resigned to the death which awaited him. On the 15th VOL. I.-35 The April 1859 he was brought to trial before a court-martial. The charges upon which he was arraigned were confined to rebellion, and opposing the British Government by force of arms. court did not long deliberate; and it soon became known all over the camp that the far-famed Tantia Topee was to perish on the scaffold. At 5 P. M. on the evening of the 18th April he was conveyed to the place of execution in a dhoolee, guarded by a company of the 3rd Bengal European regiment of infantry. After a delay of about twenty minutes, the charges, finding, and sentence of the court-martial were read in English, a native translation having been previously read to the prisoner. When requested to mount the platform, he did so without assistance, evincing neither hesitation nor apprehension. When the rope was being adjusted around his neck, his features betrayed no emotion, his countenance remaining calm and impassable to the last. He died without a struggle; and had it not been for his cruelties and crimes, we could almost have attributed to heroism the natural stoicism of his race and creed. A few minutes previous to his death, he denied having taken any active part in the massacre at Cawnpore; although he acknowledged that he was present when the atrocity took place. It, however, appears, as has been previously mentioned, that Government were in possession of proofs justifying his death for the part he took in that terrible tragedy. The only little feeling of humanity that he exhibited was while mounting the scaffold. He knew that his family had fallen into our hands; and he requested that as the Sirkar (Government) were taking his life, they would take care of his babas (children). This he repeated several times, showing that love for his little ones had outlived his misfortunes, and was strong even in death. It was the only little ray of light which his soul emitted; and when he was satisfied that no injury would befall them, he fearlessly yielded up the life his treason had forfeited. Revolting as were his crimes, he attempted neither palliation nor extenuation. He gave us no mercy, and he sued for none stern and us for years, had it not been for the treachery of his old friend Maun Sing. With Tantia Topee's death, disturb ances almost entirely ceased, and the country which was the scene of his raids gradually settled down, the people returning to their customary avocations. In Tantia Topee, the revolt lost its "head and front"; and it is not too much to say that the gallows at Seepree did more for the pacification of India than an army of ten thousand men could have accomplished. It permitted nearly a dozen brigades to return to cantonments, and restored confidence and security to a tract of country as large as France. But a short shrift and a strong cord are not always so productive of good as they were in the case of Tantia Topee. His death excited but little commiseration, both Europeans and Natives feeling that he deserved his doom. He had played a high game, and losing, had paid the forfeit with his life. ROUNDABOUT PAPERS. VIII. relentless to the last, he surrendered his life without a murmur or a struggle; betraying as few symptoms of nature or humanity on the scaffold at Seepree as he had done by the well at Cawnpore. The age of Tantia Topee has been variously estimated; but his general appearance did not betoken it to be more than forty or forty-five years. He was not a man of any dignified or distinguished presence, but his bearing was martial and easy. His countenance was intelligent, but offered no marked characteristics. His complexion, as is usual with men of his race, was olive; his stature about the medium standard; and his beard and moustache thickly besprinkled with grey. His devotion to the cause of the Nana Saheb was worthy of a better master, and a better fate. To the last, he rejected every offer of mercy, and spurned every overture of surrender, preferring death to the betrayal of the cause to which he had pledged himself. He was the masterspirit of the rebellion in Western India, and the number of engagements he fought is almost incredible. From the hour he first crossed swords with the Bombay troops on the banks of the Betwa, to the moment of his surprise and capture in the jungles of Seronge, WE want a subject for our Roundabout his life was one of incessant warfare. Paper: so many crowd on our mind at His escapes were marvellous, and his once, that we are determined to take marches extraordinary. He had more none of the crowd, but will choose after than once as many as nine flying columns another fashion. We take the nearest in ful pursuit of him, and managed, book to hand it turns out to be a good again and again, not only to distance, and useful one-Webster's English Dicbut to double them. The fleetest horse- tionary. We open it where chance may men of our army were unable to over- direct, and choose the word that may take him; and when he was surprised, lie beneath our forefinger. Here it is: or driven to bay, his presence of mind "Cell-a small cavity; a small room; never deserted him. Perfectly conscious a cave; a hollow space between the that he could not stand against us in ribs of a groined roof." Our readers the field, with our splendid field-pieces would be tired if an attempt was made and unerring rifles, he only fought until to write a history of cells; the subject, our troops were sufficiently wearied to therefore, shall be but lightly touched render flight safe, and pursuit hopeless. upon; and as it is not to be a long and He cared little about leaving his guns tedious paper, we crave implicit attenbehind, knowing that he could replace tion. It matters not whether we go them with others in almost every town first to the vegetable or animal world through which he passed. He, how-to commence, for both plants and ever, always carried along with him his sick, wounded, and helpless; and the spoils of plundered cities were rarely, if ever, left behind. Possessed of great energy and ability, and almost exhaustless resources, he might have annoyed ABOUT CELLS-SELLS. animals are well nigh built up of cells, or tissues formed of modified cells. They abound in roots, in leaves, in stems, and in fruits take for example a slice from a cucumber, or water-melon; place it beneath the : microscope, and nothing but cells in close juxtaposition will be visible. Imagine tiny bladders, so small that three millions shall be required to form one carnation leaf, and you will gain a fair idea of a cell. If woody matter be deposited within the membrane forming the cell wall, strength and hardness result; and an aggregation of such cells forms wood. Cut a slice from your table; examine that you will find woody cells;-they may be altered in shape by pressure and close packing, and be spindle-shaped, or even fibrous, but they were once cells. It is from these elongated cells, formed into vegetable fibres, that India muslins, which nobody wears, are made-and mummy clothes, now out of fashion, were also made; and when our descendants exhume the body of King Amasis from the bowels of the Sphinx, such cloth, we venture to guess, will be found swaddling his dried up carcass—we dont mean the carcass of the Sphinx, but that of King Amasis; for it is now certain, in spite of Lord Lindsay's description, that the Sphinx belongs to the male sex beneath the mysterious monster's chin lies his beard-detached and buried in sand. But we have nothing to do with Abu'l Hol, or the Father of Terror, as he is called by the Arabs; but return to our subject-cells. We find them making up the substance of the fossil wood from the petrified forests of Egypt, and Lybia, though their cavities are filled by jasper, chalcedony, and agate. Thus hardened, they have lasted an immemorial age, and thus become "Medals of Creation." If we turn to the animal kingdom, we find similar cells to those of plants. They are not, however, identical, but undergo the same modification in shape from external agencies: they are flattened in the blood, prismatic in the teeth, spindle-shaped in the hair, and reduced to mere scales on the skin. Hard woody matter we have said occupies vegetable cells, while crystalline mineral matter exists in those forming the hard enamel of human teeth, and in the shells of fishes. Besides these mineral substances, many others fill cell cavities; and not the least curious are the pigment granules, because they are the sole cause of the One thing is their deve differing colours of races. certain concerning them lopment is much increased by exposure to solar light. No persons are more acquainted with this fact than English ladies in India, who jealously guard themselves against the sun's rays, well knowing that from the least exposure an aggregation of freckles will appear, so obstinate, that all the kalydor of Rowland will fail to wash them out. The better classes of Natives of this country are equally careful in guarding off the sun's rays; and, consequently, are much fairer in complexion than those who are unable, or careless on the subject. We think we have said enough to show what mighty structures can arise from these small cavities of Webster's; and if our readers want an illustration of his second meaning of the word cell, they can call and see our "small room,' which we call the editor's: they must attend when we hold a durbar to receive the Graces and Muses ;-but we protest against any one calling it a cell, or hinting they have been sold. 66 We cannot undertake to describe a cave," as we are nò hermit, and the days when Britons lived in them, and fed on berries, are gone; besides, as Mr. Landseer is so ably illustrating the caves in our presidency, it leaves our brush but little room to add to the chiaro-oscura of his pictures. Turning to another part of the book from which we have chosen our subject, we discover the word "Sell" to mean "To part with for a price; to dispose of, or betray, for money; to vend; also to have traffic with one; to be sold." Now this explanation, "to be sold," is exactly what happens very frequently among the joyously minded subalterns of Bombay, who find a fund amusement in selling each other: if, for, example one fails to obtain any object he has sought, he terms it a "sell," and sometimes " a jolly sell"; or if he succeeds in gaining the blind side of his companion, he exclaims "Sold again!" This puts us in mind of a friend of ours, who in our youth was librarian to a large institution ; a pleasant man he was, and full of pleasantries. "Fine day this, old fellow!" said he to us, one hot summer's day, as we asked him for some light reading with which to beguile an hour. 66 Very," said we. "What a glorious day for a pic-nic, or fishing excursion in the country, would this be: are you fond of fishing?" asked the librarian, in one of his most casual manners, while he jingled his bright bunch of keys with which our book was to be produced. "That is our most particularly favourite amusement," we replied. "By Jove! that's just it, then ; the next time I go down to Virginia Water, you shall accompany me-for my ticket admits two. But come along; what book shall we get you?" Here we walked over to the tall wire-latticed cases, while he continued the conversation:- "The last time but one I was trolling in Virginia Water, a most singular circumstance occurred. I had just gained a narrow ledge of rock overhanging a deep portion of the stream; my bait, a gudgeon, was dangling in the water, as I scrambled to a broader and better footing, when what I considered a very large jack seized the bait. I, in accordance with my custom, had arranged a quantity of line in loops over my little finger, so as to allow the fish to dash off unchecked. Away he went in fine style, dragging the looped line from my little finger, and unfortunately, at the same time, twitching off a much valued diamond ring : it fell into deep water, and to have looked for it would have been to have sought a needle in a load of hay. In my anxiety, however, my attention became so distracted, I lost my fish, and in no very enviable humour I returned to London." "Uncommonly provoking," we answered. "Was'nt it?" said he "But the strangest part of the story remains untold about a month afterwards, I again made use of my ticket, took my rod, and sallied off to fish; and while passing the narrow ledge of rock, I was painfully reminded of my lost ring, and, strange to say, just as I was meditating on it, another jack darted at my bait, and carried it off. I played him with lots of line, and at length landed him, but, contrary to my expectations, he did not weigh over two pounds. This was the only sport of the day, and being desirous of keeping on good terms with the park servants, as I passed through the lodge gates, I presented the fish to : the keeper's wife; and, more wonderful than all to relate, when she opened the fish to clean it, she found"--"No! not the RING?" we exclaimed; and if you did the same, dear readers, you will comprehend what it is to be "sold." We leave our readers to imagine the expression made use of by the librarian in reply, as he walked over to his desk, his sides shaking with suppressed laughter; while we retired to a quiet window recess with our light literature. IX. POSSESSED OF A DEVIL. Ir we place any truth in the numerous assertions, proverbs, or aphorisms, that pass as current coin amongst literary and other folk, we must believe that some men are born with silver spoons in their mouths; others are conceived under unlucky stars ;-whilst some, again, enjoy the loaves and fishes, others get the stones and serpents ;-some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them. We have read of people being monomaniacs on certain points only, and erudite on all others: a friend of ours fancied himself a teapot, and requested a friend to pour him out. This is a fact, as others in India, and in captivity at Lucknow, can attest. How is it that a man may imagine himself a poet, a warrior, or an orator? He is possessed of a devil, and nothing can exorcise the evil spirit from his breast. We have been fortunate, or the reverse, as the case may be, in coming in contact with many of these creatures, who have proved amusing or obnoxious, according to the peculiar traits of the devil that has possessed them. An egotist is possessed of a devil that is for ever rendering him ludicrous in the eyes of his fellow-men, and the laughing-stock of the world. The pedant is another; equally possessing the evil genius with the egotist, or the man whose fanatical tendencies are caviar to the multitude. Some men are possessed of a devil in the shape of an antipathy to certain animals and things. Uladislaus, King of Poland, became frantic at the sight of an apple; the Duke of Schomberg, and Boswell, hated, and felt the evil influence of, cats; we know of a lady who faints if a bird is loose in her room; |