BOOK VIII. 1857. May 31. peans. The Brigadier-Brigadier Polwhele- them. teers. Fuller effect was now given to the carrying out Raises volun. of the resolution passed at the general council regarding the organisation of volunteers, horse and foot. The class appealed to, composed of clerks in the public offices, pensioned soldiers, Eurasians, tradesmen, independent gentlemen, responded freely to the call. A body of infantry was formed for the protection of the station itself, whilst Horse Volunteers were enrolled to guard and escort to the fort the women and children in case of a sudden rising, and to afford aid to fugitives from neighbouring stations. Mr. Colvin's position. Notwithstanding the disarming of the sepoys Difficulties of the mind of Mr. Colvin was far from easy. The country around A'gra was in a blaze. Direct communication with the districts to the north Raikes's Notes on the Re- had conspired to overpower volt. Mr. Raikes adds: "On the European regiment when examining the musquets, in church, to rush upon the many were founded loaded guns, and then to shoot, plunwith ball. It was afterwards der, and burn, from one end well known, that on this very of Agra to the other." Sunday morning, the sepoys BOOK VIII. Chapter I. 1857. May 31. The initiative passes into the hands of the rebels. The Gwáliár contingent. 168 HE LOSES THE POWER TO INITIATE. west had been cut off in the last week of May; that with Calcutta was severed the first week in June. In the capital of his own provinces the Lieutenant-Governor was isolated. One by one the towns and districts around him fell away from his grasp. The disbanding of the sepoys, and the presence of a regiment of European infantry and of a battery of European artillery, had for the moment saved A'gra. But A'gra was within seventy miles of the capital of the greatest of the Maráthá rulers, faithful himself to the British, but whose troops, levied in the recruiting ground which had supplied the British native army, were not to be perfectly trusted. A'gra again was the natural and historical point of attack for the contingents of the native princes of Central India,—and, however favourable might have been Mr. Colvin's opinion of the native princes, the example of Bharatpúr had led to the inference that their contingents sympathised with the mutineers. Mr. Colvin's position, then, even after he had, by disbanding his two native regiments, removed the immediate danger, was extremely critical. Every day events were passing beyond his control; his power to initiate was disappearing; it was becoming more incumbent upon him to shape his action so as to meet the manoeuvres of others. The initiative in fact had passed into the hands of the rebels. The danger nearest to him was that which might come from the Gwáliár contingent. I have stated in a preceding page that immediately after SINDIA SENDS TROOPS TO A'GRA. 169 the outbreak at Mírath Sindia had placed a considerable body of troops of his contingent, commanded by British officers, at the disposal of the Lieutenant-Governor. But these men were the brothers of our sepoys, allied to them by caste, by religion, by sympathy. Sindia not only did not trust them, but he had warned the British political agent at his Court, Major Charters Macpherson, that they would inevitably seize their opportunity to follow the example set them at Mírath and Dehlí. Major Macpherson, an officer of a stamp especially fostered by the East India Company, thoroughly acquainted with the natives of India and trusted by them, pointed out then to the Mahárájá, that, holding the convictions he had expressed regarding the men of his contingent, it would become him to show the sincerity of his attachment to his Suzerain by placing his body-guard, Maráthás of his own kindred or caste, at the disposal of the LieutenantGovernor. To this proposal Sindia had acceded, and the body-guard had been sent off to A'gra. Later events were to show that not even the comrades and kinsmen of the Mahárájá had been able to escape the infection. The Gwáliár contingent was composed of four field batteries of artillery, a small siege train, two regiments of cavalry, and seven of infantry, aggregating eight thousand three hundred and eighteen men. The greater portion of the force was stationed at Gwáliár, under the command of Brigadier Ramsay, with outposts at Siprí and A'gar. The cantonment at Gwáliár was occupied by having the Chapter I. 1857. May. ladies at Gwáliár. BOOK VIII. the officers of the contingent, their wives and families. It may excite surprise that with the avowed conviction of the Mahárájá regarding the degree of confidence that could be placed in the soldiers of the contingent-convictions shared by his Prime Minister, Dinkar Rao; by the Resident, Major Macpherson; and communicated, it must be presumed, to the Lieutenant-Governor-the ladies and children should not have been placed in security, whilst yet there was time to remove them. The subject had not been neglected. to the Resi dency, They are sent The Mahárájá himself had, so early as the last week of May, suggested the removal of the ladies and children from cantonments to the Residency, which was beyond the city, and about five miles from the cantonments. It so happened that, on the 28th of May, in consequence of a strong impression that the sepoys would rise that night, the ladies did actually spend a night there, protected by a portion of the Mahárájá's own guard. Well would it have been if they had been allowed to remain, or if they had been sent to A'gra! But on receiving a remonstrance from the native officers, affirming the excellent disposition of their men, and protesting against the slur which had been cast upon them by the transfer to the protection of the Mahárájá of the ladies and children, the Brigadier recalled the latter to the station. but ordered back to can. tonments. Forebodings of disaster. Though confidence had disappeared the illusion was maintained. Almost every post brought in vain to Gwáliár convincing proofs that of all possible illusions this was the most baseless. SUSPENSE IS AGONY! 171 With rumours of the wildest character from the North-West there came from places nearer at hand accounts in detail the truth of which was apparent. Now it was that the troops at Ajmír and at Nasírábád had mutinied, and had made their way to Dehlí; now, that their example had been followed by the Nímach garrison; now, that the province of Rohilkhand had risen; now, that there had been a massacre at Jhansí; and now, that the panic had even reached Calcutta. From Kánhpúr, from Alláhábád, and from the stations in their vicinity, the absence of news gave birth to even more sinister forebodings. BOOK VIII. 1857. June. suspense. Such was the life from day to day in Gwáliár during the first fortnight of June 1857. It was The terrible a life of terrible suspense, of pressure on the nervous system, difficult to endure.* " Suspense," has declared a great writer, "suspense is agony, but decision may be despair." There were some of our country women at Gwáliár, one certainly of the fairest and most gifted amongst them, to whom it was allotted to pass through the suspense to succumb in the end to the ruthless and too cruel decision. At one time during that fortnight it had been almost resolved to send the ladies in 66 "We live in a state of it), as we were determined not dreadful uncertainty," writes to die without a struggle. Mrs. Coopland (A Lady's Es- Oh! the misery of those days! cape from Gwalior). 'My None but the condemned crihusband seldom undressed at minal can know what it is to night, and I had a dress al- wait death passively; and even ways ready to escape in. My he is not kept in suspense, husband's rifle was kept load- and knows he will be put to a ed (I learned to load and fire merciful end." |