BOOK VIII. Chapter IV. 1857. June. liam Eden. Rájá of Jai cient here to state that whilst General Lawrence by his personal exertions and prompt action saved the great arsenal of Ajmír and recovered the two military centres of Nasírábád and Nímach, his lieutenants at Jaipúr, at Jodhpúr, and at Bharatpúr, nobly seconded his efforts. It will be necessary to devote some lines to their action. The agent at Jaipúr was Major William Eden, Major Wilan officer possessing ability, firmness, and discretion. The reigning Rájá of Jaipúr, Mahárájá Rám Singh, owed his throne, his education, it might almost be said his life, to the British. He Ram Singh, had been extremely well educated, was naturally púr. intelligent, and, being well acquainted with the history of Rájpútáná during the later days of Moghol sway and the entire period of Maráthá oppression, he was profoundly convinced that his own safety, the permanence of his rule, and the prosperity of his subjects, were bound up in the maintenance of the British suzerainty. The tale of the oppressions and tyrannies suffered by his ancestors and their subjects during the short period which had elapsed between the withdrawal of that suzerainty and its restoration—the period between 1804 and 1818-was still fresh in the minds of the prince and of his people. Major Eden then experienced no difficulty with the Mahárájá. He was as eager to show his loyalty as Major Eden was to demand it. The same spirit animated his people generally. Unhappily it was not so with his army. The sepoys composing it had come, for the most part, from the recruiting grounds which had supplied the British native His reasons attached to for being British over rule. 258 THE MAHA'RA'JA' OF JO'DHPUʼr. Chapter IV. 1857. June. His loyal feeling is not shared by his troops; BOOK VIII. army, and they were influenced by the same feelings of distrust and hostility. Here, too, as at Gwáliár, as at Indúr, it was plainly shown that when the fanaticism of an oriental people is thoroughly aroused, not even their Rájá-their father as all consider him, their god as some delight to style him-not even their Rájá can bend them against their convictions. Five thousand of the Mahárájá's troops were indeed put into the field :-they even marched towards the districts of Mathurá and Gurgaon with the avowed mission to maintain order and re-establish civil government. But it quickly appeared that if the maintenance of order and the re-establishment of civil government were to involve the necessity of fighting the revolted sepoys, the Jaipúr troops would neither maintain the one nor re-establish the other. Like the Sihor cavalry, for the Eng. they were prepared to defend European fugitives, who refuse to wage war lish. Jódhpúr. Rájá Takht His misgovernment. but they would not wage an aggressive warfare. Their views in this respect having been practically established, the five thousand Jaipúr troops were recalled to their own territory. At Jódhpúr, the agent was Captain MonckMason, highly-gifted, energetic, daring, and possessing tact and judgment. The position of Jódhpúr was peculiar. Its Rájá, Takht Singh, transferred in 1843 from the throne of I'dar to that of Jódhpúr, on the failure of hereditary issue in the family of the deceased ruler of the latter State, had not succeeded in conciliating the respect or the affections of his subjects. He had shown himself avaricious, careless of affairs, BOOK VIII. Chapter IV. 1857. June. difficult of access. Many of his thákúrs, or nobles, were extremely ill-disposed towards him; some were in veiled, others even in open rebellion. The Mahárájá himself had no love for his Suzerain. Still he was not blind to the fact that, in the state of ill-feeling that existed between him and his nobles, it behoved him to cling to the British as his surest anchoring ground. He placed, there- Places a fore, a small contingent-two thousand men and tingent at the six guns at the agent's disposal. Up to the end of June, then, matters looked well in Jódhpúr. The events that succeeded belong to a subsequent period of this history. small con disposal of the British. At Bharatpúr, the agent was Major Nixon. Bharat púr. The prompt action of the Darbár of the minor Rájá, and the mutiny of the troops of this principality, have been already related.* At Alwar there was no political agent. The Alwar. Ráo Rájá, Bénéi Singh, at once placed a small contingent at the disposal of the British. His death, however, almost immediately afterwards, and the complications that ensued in his own State, rendered the proffered aid for all practical purposes nugatory. There remains to be noticed Udaipúr, the Udaipur. most ancient and the most venerated of all the States of Rájpútáná. The name of the Ráná was Sarúp Singh. He, like the Rájá of Jodhpúr, was not on good terms with his nobles. The British agent at this court was Captain Showers. When Captain the news of the Mírath mutiny reached Rájpútáná, Captain Showers was at Abú, with other officers, * Vide page 154. Showers. Chapter IV. 1857. June. 260 SUMMARY OF COLONEL LAWRENCE'S CONDUCT. BOOK VIII. the guest of Colonel Lawrence. Captain Shower? was ordered to leave Abú and to return to his post at Udaipur. In the opinion In the opinion of his chief, however, his movements in that direction were not sufficiently rapid. Nor did his subsequent proceedings meet more with General Lawrence's approval, and at a later date that officer was under the necessity of reporting to the Government Captain Showers's "repeated acts of disobedience and defiance of his authority." The ultimate Disapproval result was the removal of Captain Showers from political employment; the immediate consequence, a jar in the communications which it was necessary that the Agent for the GovernorGeneral in Rájpútáná should maintain with the staff of officers through whom he worked with the native princes. of his conduct by Colonel Law. rence, and its consequences. Summary of I have endeavoured thus briefly to describe the condition of Rájpútáná up to the end of June, duct in Ráj. 1857. We see the shock of the mutiny broken, tence's con pútáná, the great arsenal saved, the principal native chiefs confirmed in their loyalty, by the vigorous and decided action of Colonel Lawrence. It is true that the regular regiments located in the two military centres had revolted. But Colonel Lawrence had recovered those centres. In Rájpútáná, in a word, defiance had been met by defiance, force by force. Events proved this principle to be a sound one. Compare the instant relief of the regular garrison at Ajmír by troops who could be trusted, with the hesitation to show doubt evinced at A'gra, Alláhábád, Banáras, BOOK VIII. Chapter IV. 1857. June. promptness, Dánápúr, and Bárrákpúr. The first-named policy saved British interests without imperilling a single life; the second led through a sea of slaughter to the same results. Had Rájpútáná which was risen, it is difficult to see how A'gra could have saved by his held out, how our force before Dehlí could have decision, and foresight. maintained its ground. And that Rájpútáná did not rise is due to the prompt, decided, and far-seeing action of Colonel George St. Patrick Lawrence. The mutinous regiments are hurrying out of Rájpútáná. It is time now that I should bring back the reader to the fortress which they are hoping to surprise and capture. |