forty poor creatures-sick, wounded, women, and children-were burned to death; and nearly all the medicines and surgical instruments were destroyed. Those who were too young or too weak to fight, lived more like nomad tribes than Christian people; for the remaining barrack was too completely riddled with shot to shelter them safely; and hence women and children were to be seen crouching behind any barrier that offered, or even in holes in the ground.

These three weeks were a terrible time; but the real tragedy was still to come. On the 24th of June, Nana Sahib sent a messenger to say that all the English might retire to Allahabad, in boats down the Ganges, if they would give up the Intrenchment, treasure, guns, and ammunition. Sir Hugh Wheeler, hopeless and worn down, agreed to the proposal. On the 27th, the forlorn band, the remnant of the 900, quitted the place. They started to embark in about twenty boats; but then Nana Sahib's villainous plan shewed itself. Guns were brought down to the river-banks; rebel soldiers rushed into the water with swords, and killed most of the men of the hapless party. The women and children, denied the mercy of a speedy death, were conveyed on shore, and shut up in a building at Cawnpore called the Subadar Kothee, at Nana Sahib's headquarters. How many women and children went into this place, and what they suffered during the next eighteen days, no credible witness has ever told; they appear, however, to have exceeded 200 in number. After suffering cruel privations and shameful indignities, they were put to death on or about the 15th of July. Nana Sahib wished to prosecute ambitious projects of his own in other quarters; and he determined to get rid of the encumbrance of women and children. It was a butchery of the most savage and barbarous kind. Not only were tender women and children killed, but many of them were cut up piecemeal; and the room in which they were confined-the slaughterhouse, indeed-was strewed with women's and children's garments, clotted tresses of women's hair on the walls and floor, and pools of blood. The mangled and mutilated bodies and limbs were thrown indiscriminately into a well near at hand.”

NEILL'S ADVANCE FROM CALCUTTA.

Seldom has a government been placed in such complicated difficulties as those which beset the India authorities in May and June. General Anson, commander-in-chief of all the forces in India, being struck down by cholera, General Reed took his place, until the arrival of Sir Patrick Grant from Madras; and the latter officer held it only until the arrival of Sir Colin Campbell (afterwards Lord Clyde) from England. These fluctuations in headship greatly marred the progress of affairs; unity of purpose was wanting. Viscount Canning, at Calcutta, had no troops to send to the

The

imperilled districts; and more than 1200 miles of distance separated him from Sir John Lawrence, who had to hold and protect the whole of the north-west of India by his own skill and energy. governor-general had much to bear, from the vituperation of the Calcutta press and the adverse criticisms of English orators and writers; his best defence was pronounced when all was ended—that he had done well. It happened that, about that time, a little war with Persia had just been concluded, and that trusty troops were about to return from the Persian Gulf to India. It happened, too, that an expedition was just then being sent out from England to China, comprising military as well as naval forces. Viscount Canning, by a prompt use of such telegraphic means as were within his power, succeeded in obtaining the aid of a few choice British troops from both those sources. But an immense time would necessarily elapse before those troops could reach the focus of action. Under the old order of things in India, many weeks were required for a military force to reach Cawnpore or Lucknow from Calcutta, and a still longer time to reach Delhi; and although railways were constructed and opened by the year 1857, they did not render much assistance in the early months of the mutiny. Fortunate was it that the native soldiers in the Madras and Bombay armies were but little affected by the insurrectionary spirit of the Bengal sepoys and the Oude troopers; they came to the aid of the British regiments in Hindustan, though many a scorching week's march had to be accomplished.

The names of two gallant men are specially associated with the prompt and daring advance of small bands of soldiery through hundreds of miles of territory imperilled by the mutineers. One was General Neill; the other, still more renowned, General Havelock.

Neill was, in actual army rank, only a lieutenant-colonel in the month of June. He brought a few companies of Europeans from Madras, and advanced rapidly with them to Benares, which city he saved from imminent peril on the 4th of that month. Indeed, a plot had been formed by treacherous sepoys in the barracks, under the mask of fidelity to the last moment, to massacre all the Europeans in the city on that very night, and to repeat once more the drama of Meerut and Delhi. Neill had only a tiny force of 240 men and three guns with him; but he discomfited the rebels, and saved Benares. The rebels, however, maddened by failure, wreaked their vengeance on other parts of the city, in which the civilians and their families were in terrible danger throughout the month of June. Several of the imperilled persons took refuge in outhouses and stables, on roofs, or behind parapets, or in boats moored in the middle of the Ganges; ladies, children, and ayahs were guarded by a band of civilians ever on the alert, leaving the military free to operate in other quarters. No sooner were the events at Benares known at Allahabad-a very important place at the confluence of

the Ganges and the Jumna, commanding the traffic on both rivers than a native regiment, the 6th Bengal Infantry, suddenly mutinied on the 6th of June. The officers were astonished and dismayed, for the sepoys had vowed to be true to their salt, and had even volunteered to march against the rebels at Delhi. The scene was hideous. The sepoys, joined by jail-birds and ruffians of every stamp, commenced a work of death and devastation. Europeans were shot wherever they could be seen; the few English women who had not been so fortunate as to seek refuge in the fort, were grossly outraged before being put to death; the treasury was plundered; the houses of Europeans were pillaged. Tales were afterwards told of so appalling a character, that we can only hope that terror had exaggerated actual facts-of a whole family being roasted alive; of poor creatures being killed by the slow process of cutting off ears, nose, fingers, feet, &c. in succession; of men and women being chopped to pieces; of little children being tossed on bayonets before their mothers' eyes.

No sooner did Neill hear of these terrible events, than he prepared to come to the rescue at once-however small might be the number of faithful troops at his disposal. He was a man of indomitable energy and courage, just fitted for the emergency. He started on the 9th, with only 44 men, and marched the distance of 75 miles from Benares by the 11th. On the way, he found the country infested with bands of plunderers, the villages deserted, and none of the authorities remaining. He succeeded in entering the fort at Allahabad (situated a considerable distance from the main streets of the town). Neill now assumed command of the few faithful troops already in the fort, the handful which he brought with him, and another small detachment which followed him from Benares. By incessant activity, he kept in awe the thousands of insurgents and marauders who infested Allahabad on every side. His severity was terrible, and called forth much animadversion afterwards in England; but the astounding duplicity of the sepoys had rendered it necessary to make use of terror as one means of coercing them; kindness having utterly failed.

HAVELOCK AND NEILL AT CAWNPORE.

And now we come to the achievements of Havelock-the hero of the Indian mutiny wars, in the estimation of many English readers. There is some little danger of injustice here; for, though he gained marvellous victories with very small means, he was not embarrassed by those distressing difficulties which arose (in the case of Sir Hugh Wheeler and other responsible officers) from the presence of hundreds of helpless women and children. He was a noble character in all respects, and could well afford to share the credit for heroism which belonged to so many remarkable men during that eventful period.

Havelock, engaged in nearly every Indian war between 1823 and 1846, had been employed in 1856 in the brief expedition against Persia; and he was one of the officers of that expedition who responded to the urgent demand of the governor-general for military reinforcements. Steaming from the Persian Gulf to Bombay, thence to Ceylon, and thence to Calcutta, Havelock was at once placed in command of such a force as could be hastily got together, for the relief of Cawnpore, and then for service elsewhere. It was literally by fragments of companies, 20 or 50 men at a time, that troops were sent from Calcutta on to Benares, Allahabad, &c.; for it would have been worse than useless to send any but men of tried fidelity; and of these there were, alas! few besides Europeans in any part of Bengal.

Havelock reached Allahabad on the 1st of July, his progress so far having been facilitated by the gallant Neill; and then commenced the arrangements for an advance on Cawnpore. Or rather, those arrangements had already been commenced by Neill, who, on this very 1st of July, had pushed on a few troops to aid the beleaguered Sir Hugh Wheeler. What Sir Hugh's actual condition was at this time, his brother-officers little knew: the terrible truth had still to reach them. Neill sent on 800 men towards Cawnpore; but, in accordance with military ideas of seniority, he was superseded by Havelock as chief of the expedition: Neill himself remaining in command at Allahabad. Rumours of a direful kind came in from Cawnpore, and Havelock resolved to push on as rapidly as possible. Two of the many Indian nationalities, Sikhs and Ghoorkas, he and his brother-officers felt that they could trust; and the spirit of the man is shewn in a brief and pithy telegram transmitted to Calcutta: 1000 Europeans, 1000 Sikhs, and 1000 Ghoorkas, with 8 or 10 guns, will thrash everything.' In reality he had less than 2000 men in all in his little army, presenting an extraordinary mixture of Queen's troops, Company's Europeans, Sikhs, irregular cavalry, and volunteer cavalry from Allahabad—no Ghoorkas at present. His advance from Allahabad to Cawnpore, 250 miles (never far removed from the Ganges), was literally a fight the whole of the way. The rebels infested the country in enormous numbers, and tried their utmost to prevent his advance towards Cawnpore. But nothing could check him and his little band. Whether initiating or bearing an attack, the result was everywhere the same. He 'thrashed' them (to use his own language) at Futtehpoor on the 12th, at Aong on the 15th, at Pandoo Nuddee on the same day, at Aherwa on the 16th, and at other places in minor achievements during these memorable days. The battle of Futtehpoor was so extraordinary, that Havelock, in thanking his troops on the following day, said that it had 'produced the strange result of a whole army driven from a strong position, eleven guns captured, and their whole force scattered to the winds, without the loss of a single British soldier.'

He attributed this brilliant result to the rapid and accurate fire of the artillery, the power of the Enfield rifle, British pluck, and 'the blessing of Almighty God on a most righteous cause.' Having reason to suspect the fidelity of the few native horse with him (Oude irregulars), he disarmed and dismissed them in good time. On the other hand, there was hardly any limit to his trust of those whom he knew might be trusted. Here was an instance: 'The opportunity had arrived, for which I have long anxiously waited, of developing the prowess of the 78th Highlanders. Three guns of the enemy were strongly posted behind a lofty hamlet, well intrenched. I directed this regiment to advance; and never have I witnessed conduct more admirable. They were led by Colonel Hamilton, and followed him with surpassing steadiness and gallantry under a heavy fire. As they approached the village, they cheered and charged with the bayonet, the pipes sounding the pibroch. Need I add that the enemy fled, the village was taken, and the guns captured?' On another occasion, the general's son, Lieutenant Havelock, headed a few men of the 64th Foot to capture one of the enemy's guns; he literally walked his horse directly up towards the gun, in spite of repeated firing, and succeeded in the capture-an achievement which won for him the Victoria Cross. What the officers as well as the rank and file had to bear, in those days of long marches, constant fighting, and fierce sun's heat, is well shewn in the case of one young officer, a stripling volunteer horseman of eighteen. He was on picket all night, with no refreshment save biscuit and water; he marched with his corps 16 miles during the next forenoon; stood sentry for an hour with the enemy hovering around him; fought during the whole afternoon; lay down supperless to rest at nightfall, holding his horse's bridle the while; mounted night-guard from 9 till 1 o'clock; and then had his midnight sleep broken by an alarm from the enemy.

Neill and Havelock had been so much delayed in their march from Calcutta to Cawnpore, that Nana Sahib's fiendish work was achieved before Havelock's column arrived. The hapless women and children, and all that remained of poor Wheeler's band of military and civilians, were put to death by the filthy ruffian just two days before Havelock entered Cawnpore.

In what direction the prowess of the gallant general next shewed itself, will be seen presently.

LUCKNOW: SIR HENRY LAWRENCE'S DEATH.

The story of Lucknow is by far the most interesting of all which the mutiny presented; for there was six months' perpetual display of heroism, military skill, and untiring patience, although not the tragic horrors of Cawnpore. We shall best understand the events by treating them in four or five brief episodes.