administrative office under the Government of Book VIII. 1857. India had reason to regard with a light heart the Chapter IV. future as affecting his duties and his charge that official was the Agent to the Governor-General in Rájpútáná. April. rence hears Colonel Lawrence went to Abú in April, then, Colonel Law. with serenity and confidence, nor had he any of the mutiny reason to feel uneasy until the account of the at Mírath. mutiny of the 10th of May at Mírath roughly startled him. The intelligence of this event reached Abú the 19th of May. Colonel Lawrence at once comprehended its importance in all its bearings. His long connection with the native army had not mastered a judgment naturally keen and searching. He saw that the Barhámpúr mutiny, the Bárrákpúr outbreak, the Mírath rising, were no isolated acts due to some local grievance, but that each of these constituted a scene in one and the same tragedy. He saw at a glance, in fact, that the whole army was contaminated. of Rájpútáná. His first thought directed itself naturally to the The condition province under his charge. What, in fact, was the condition of Rájpútáná? Its population numbered ten millions of men subject to protected kings: it comprised an area of a hundred thousand square miles; within that area were five thousand native troops of all arms, belonging to the British army, all of whom, Colonel Lawrence, in his inmost heart, knew, would take the first favourable opportunity to mutiny: within that area, excluding some twenty sergeants attached to the native infantry regiments, there was not a BOOK VIII. Chapter IV. 1857. May. The troops at of Colonel Lawrence. 248 COLONEL LAWRENCE MEETS THE CRISIS. single European soldier fit for duty. The nearest station held by English troops was the station of Dísá, in the Presidency of Bombay, about a hundred and fifty miles from Abú. Such then was the position-a province inthe disposal habited by ten million natives, guarded by five thousand ill-disposed soldiers, presided over by a Colonel in the British army with some twenty or thirty British officers at his disposal, watching the certain approach of the wave of mutiny! It was a position to test the stuff that was in a man! How did Colonel Lawrence meet it? The arsenal at Ajmír, One of the first thoughts that occurred to him was that the arsenal at Ajmír must at all hazards be secured. Ajmír is a strip of British territory in the heart of Rájpútáná having as its capital the ancient and famous city of the same name. Close to this city, and commanded by the heights outside it, was an old and dilapidated fort, and within the fort was an arsenal capable of furnishing a siege train of great strength, guns, muskets, and ammunition; and containing a large quantity of specie. This arsenal was, is garrisoned when the mutiny broke out, under charge of the light company of the 15th Regiment of Native by disaffected troops. Infantry, a regiment notoriously disaffected. But, after the bad news from Mírath, the military Is now rein- authorities at Nasírábád, acting on a curious forced by other dis. affected troops. principle, somewhat analogous to that of setting a thief to catch a thief,† had strengthened the light *The Mutinies in Raj- began, in consequence of the pootana, by Iltudus Prichard. news from Meerut, the grena"When the excitement dier company of the 15th THE AJMI'R ARSENAL IS SECURED. 249 Chapter IV. 1857. May. company by adding to it the grenadier company BOOK VIII. of the same regiment. The arsenal at Ajmír, containing the matériel for the whole of Rájpútáná was, then, when the news of the Mírath outbreak reached Colonel Lawrence, under the protection of two companies of a native regiment which all but its own officers knew to be disaffected. Colonel Law. mons European troops rence sum from Dísá. It was most important to place this arsenal as soon as possible in secure hands. As quick as thought, then, Colonel Lawrence despatched a requisition to the officer commanding at Dísá to despatch a light field force to enable him at the same time to assure the safety of the arsenal and to overawe the regular native troops at Nasírábád. The force was despatched, but before it could arrive, the Commissioner of Ajmír, Lieutenant-Colonel Dixon, acting on Colonel the inspiration of a dying man-for he sur- happy invived but a few days-had made the arsenal spiration, safe. This officer, feeling, as Colonel Lawrence felt, that the caste question was a most important factor in the movements of the native army-that it was in fact the question of the hour-bethought him of the regiment, of which, in fact, he was Native Infantry was sent, rison; but the grenadier comostensibly to reinforce the pany was generally supposed light company in the foot, in to be less tainted, or rather, I reality to act as a check upon should say, more free from it. This may appear a curious suspicion than the rest, and, arrangement to some of my in those days, we were all dereaders, as, if the protection ceived alike."-The Mutinies of the fort was the object in Rajputana. The author aimed at, it could scarcely be belonged to the 15th Native attained by doubling the Infantry. strength of a traitorous gar Dixon's BOOK VIII. Chapter IV. 1857. May. commandant, raised for civil duties and appertaining exclusively to Rájpútáná, composed entirely of low-caste men, of men who had no sympathy with the Brahmanical prejudices of the regular army. This regiment was the Mairwárá battalion, quartered at Bíáor, a little place southwest of Nasírábád on the Dísá road. Without the delay of a single day Dixon ordered Lieutenant Carnell, his second in command, to march at once with a hundred men of his battalion upon and Carnell's Ajmír. Carnell replied by acting with the most praiseworthy promptitude. Making a forced march of thirty-seven miles, he surprised the sepoys before they had concerted their plans with their comrades at head-quarters. The new arrivals at once took charge of the arsenal, and the regular troops were sent back to Nasírábád. promptitude, save the arsenal. Colonel Law rence raises a second bat. talion of Mairs. This movement saved Rájpútáná.* The lowcaste Mairs continued to the end faithful to their European lords. To show his appreciation of their good service and their loyalty Colonel Lawrence raised on his own authority a second battalion from the men of their tribe. Subsequently he did even more. He recommended that both battalions should enjoy all the privileges of regular native regiments, and this recommendation was agreed to. To return. Colonel Lawrence, secure, on learning of Colonel Dixon's successful action, *It cannot be doubted the city, Rájpútáná would that if the arsenal at Ajmír have been lost for the time. had fallen into the hands of -Prichard's Mutinies in Rajthe mutineers, and with it, pootana, pages 39, 40. APPEAL TO THE NATIVE PRINCES. 251 Chapter IV. the native regarding the arsenal and important position of BOOK VIII. Ajmír, turned his attention to the native princes 1857. with whom he was officially connected. Feeling that May 23. it was above all thing necessary to maintain before Ho addresses their eyes a sovereign position, and to insist upon princes of their fulfilling the duties which protected princes Rájpútáná. owed to the paramount power, Colonel Lawrence on the 23rd issued to them a proclamation. In this proclamation he called upon them to preserve peace within their borders, to concentrate their troops on the frontiers of their respective States, so that they might be available to aid the British, to show zeal and activity in dealing with any body of rebels who might attempt to traverse their territories. Whilst thus requiring the co-operation of the native princes Colonel Lawrence warned the commandants at the several stations to act with promptness and vigour, and he made the request to the Government of Bombay, that any European troops, returning to Persia, who might be required for service in the North-West Provinces, should be sent to A'gra via Gújrát and Rájpútáná. and Nímach are gar risoned wholly by native troops. The two military stations garrisoned by the Nasírábád native regular army, in the province under Colonel Lawrence's control, were Nasírábád and Nímach. The regiments and batteries at these stations being entirely native it was not to be expected, and Colonel Lawrence did not expect, that they would escape the general infection. Hence the precaution he had taken to send to Dísá for troops. It was a wise and prudent precaution, but unfortunately the troops could |