BOOK VIII. 1857. July. the officers, the priests and nuns, on arches, which runs round the Díwán-i-A'm, the hall of audience of Akbar.* To the senior officers and their families were allotted small tiled houses near the Mótí Masjid. Separate houses were also made over to fugitives of distinction. For officers of a lower rank tents were pitched on a large green plot near the same building. The Roman Catholic Archbishop and his ecclesiastical staff were similarly accommodated. To the nuns and their numerous pupils were assigned the sheds or store-rooms where the gun-carriages had stood. The Protestant chaplains had comfortable quarters, and the missionaries lived in the Palace the soldiers, garden. To the unmarried soldiers were assigned one set of barracks, whilst the married with their families occupied another set. These latter had saved their furniture and lived in comparative comfort. Those of the Europeans most to be pitied, in point of accommodation, were the merchants and shopkeepers. They had to content themselves with erecting small grass huts on and the Fura- the archways and tops of buildings. The Eurasians were still less comfortably provided for. They had to find an abiding place "anywhere."‡ the shopkeepers, sians. The officers who had the allotting of the quarters (a task that was no sinecure) had appointed to us each one arch, which we divided as I have before described. The temporary partitions of grass were so thin you could hear every word uttered in the next division."-A Lady's Escape from Gwalior. "They turned one large room or storehouse into a chapel and fitted it up marvellously well with crucifixes, altars, and candlesticks."-A Lady's Escape from Gwalior. 66 I have taken these details from Mrs. Coopland's book. Regarding the Eurasians she writes: The half-caste, or Kala Feringhees,' as the natives call them, who are uncharitably said to have the BOOK VIII. 1857. July. The total number of Europeans in the fort in July amounted to one thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine. Of these one thousand and sixty-five were men, the rest women and children. In addition there were three thousand eight hundred number in the and fifty-six Eurasians and Natives. The total Fort. rangements So much for the accommodation. In the course of a few days the various habitations came to be classified as "blocks" alphabetically arranged. This was the first dawn of order and arrangement. Further arSeveral of the archways or vestibules within the for supplies. fort were about the same time converted into shops; one into a post office. In the shops were sold the European stores which had escaped the savage instincts of the rabble. For some days no butcher's meat was procurable; but after the restoration of order in the city this defect was partly remedied, and the residents were supplied by the Commissariat Department. As time went on the natives began to bring in from outside fowls, eggs, and butter. But if the accommodation was rough and the privations were for a long time great, there were those who were prevented by no personal suffering from devoting themselves to the wants of others. Before even the men wounded at the battle of Sassiah had been deposited in the first improvised hospital, mattresses, pillows, and quilts, vices of both different races 'square' just beneath our baland the virtues of neither, cony: (the balcony of the were in immense swarms and Díwán-i-Am) "the rest lived had to accommodate them- in holes, tyrconnels, or selves anywhere. A large tops of buildings all over the number of them lived in our fort." on Devotion of the ladies to the sick and wounded. BOOK VIII. 1857. July. which the ladies had been preparing for the event, had been arranged on hastily manufactured wooden cots. The ladies then formed themselves into a committee to assist the doctors in ministering to the wounded. At the request of the senior medical officer, Dr. Farquhar, one lady, Mrs. Raikes, undertook to preside over this committee. The ladies were then divided into watches, and to these watches certain hours during the day and night were apportioned. To avoid teasing the men by too much nursing a small separate room was made up for the lady nurses. From this, at stated times, they issued and went their rounds distributing tea, jelly, soda-water, coffee, and soup, or helping to dress the wounds of the patients under the orders of the medical officers.* Meanwhile the Government stores within the fort were opened for the supply of clothing to those who most needed it. By degrees tailors were admitted from outside, and though the demeanour of these and other domestics was not * Raikes's Notes on the Re- duct of the ladies, modestly volt. Mr. Raikes adds the asked permission to invite following tribute to the feeling their nurses and all the gentry and conduct of the British and society of Agra to an soldier. "For weeks that the entertainment in the beauladies watched over their tiful gardens of the Taj. charge never was a word said There, under the walls of the by a soldier which could shock marble mausoleum, amidst the gentlest ear. When all flowers and music, these rough was over, and when such of veterans, all scarred and muthe sick and wounded that re- tilated as they were, stood up covered were declared conva- to thank their country women lescent, the soldiers, in order, who had clothed, fed, and vias they expressed it, to show sited them when they were their gratitude for the con- sick." always respectful, they showed yet the same regard as of yore for the punctually paid monthly stipend. It is gratifying to be able to record that the charity and devotion to the cares and sorrows of others displayed in the A'gra fortress knew no differences of religion. There was no place for the display of narrowness on the one side or of bigotry on the other. I have been particular in the inquiries I have made on this subject and the result of these has been to convince me that in their several spheres Catholic and Protestant strove to their utmost to do their duty to their neighbour. Brigadier Pol. whele is removed. taken by his The Civil Government all this time existed, but for all purposes of defence and provisionment the administration was in the hands of the military. Subsequently to his defeat at Sassiah Brigadier Polwhele had, by express orders from the Governor-General, been removed from command.* His place was taken by Colonel Cotton. Vigorous Measures measures were speedily inaugurated. The de- successor. fences of the fortress were strengthened and increased; numerous guns were mounted on the ramparts; the want of garrison artillerymen was supplied by the enlistment of promising Eurasians to form gun detachments; from the same class volunteers were called and selected and trained to serve as drivers; the powder magazines were covered by mud ramparts to protect them alike against treacherous attack and against the chances * This order, dated 26th of July, was received in Agra on the 5th of August. BOOK VIII. 1857. August. Dangers to which the garrison were exposed. The Commis. sariat Department. An expedition organised and sent to Aligarh. of being shelled. It must be recollected that all this time the Gwáliár contingent, possessing numerous field guns and a heavy battering train, was within seventy miles of A'gra; that its leaders were constantly boasting that they would attack A'gra; and that they were with difficulty restrained by Mahárájá Sindia. Inside the fortress was Major C. Macpherson, the agent for the Governor-General at Sindia's court. His communications with Sindia were daily. The nature of them led the garrison to believe that they were always liable to an attack from that formidable contingent. They could not be certain that the loyalty of the Mahárájá and his minister would for ever be able to restrain the soldiers. And this uncertainty, whilst it added no little to the difficulties of the garrison, hastened the completion of defensive preparations. Amongst these was the provisionment of the fortress. The cares of the Commissariat Department in this respect were greatly lightened by the influence exerted by a character well known in Indian history, Lálá Jotí Pershád, a contractor whose successful provisionment of the army during the Afghán, the Sikh, and the Gwáliár wars had gained him a great and deserved reputation. A bazaar was established immediately outside the fortifications and quickly assumed the proportions of a regular market. By degrees it began to be considered possible to organise an expedition for the relief of the neighbouring districts. Of these Aligarh, commanding the direct road to Dehlí, was the most |