SINCE Dalhousie annexed Outh, the people of that province had been sinking deeper and deeper in misery. After Oudh lost her independence, all the offices of honour, power, and wealth in the Nabob’s Kingdom were given to Englishmen, and theSwadeshi men had to go to the well. The Nabob’s army was disbanded, his nobles were driven into poverty, his ministers and other officers lost their positions and were pushed to the low ranks of wage- earners; and all of them entertained a rankling hatred of the slavery which destroyed their country and reduced them to such a state. The sting of slavery was felt not alone in the capital and among the palace officials. The traditional rights of properties and Inams (fiefs) of the big Zemindars and Rajas were also confiscated by the English. So, all these Rajas and Zemindars saw how, between even a bad Swaraj (national rule) and subjection to a highly developed foreign rule, the former was to be preferred and was infinitely more agreeable and honourable. The increase in the land-tax produced discontent among the peasants. Most of the Hindusthanee Sepoys in the English army were from Oudh, and the misery and slavery of the place of their birth soon made them intensely disaffected. Every one put his hand to the sword when he remembered how the English ruined Nabob Wajid Ali Shah with their cruel treachery and deceit. The big Zemindars of Oudh, were descendants of Rajput heroes. They were intensely excited when they heard of the perfidious cruelty of the English towards their King. After the annexation of Oudh, the English asked them to come and accept services under the new regime. Hundreds of the freedom-loving and valiant men replied, at that time: “We have eaten the food of Swaraj! We will not touch the foreigner’s food!” Sir Henry Lawrence was made the chief officer of the newOudh province. He was the elder brother of Sir John Lawrencde by whose alertness and statesmanship the seeds of the Revolution in the Panjab were smothered before taking root. Just as the Chief commissioner of the Panjab had saved that province, so also his brother in Oudh had begun his preparations to save this. If anyone deserves the credit of having materially helped to perpetuate British power in India in this Revolution, it is the Lawrence family. Sir Henry Lawrence, as soon as he stepped into Outh, really grasped the situation there and had expressed the fear of a Revolution, long before any other Englishman thought of it. Lucknow being the capital of Oudh province, Sir Henry had his headquarters there. He started the policy of pacifying disaffected Zemindars by sweet speeches. He took pains in organising a Durbar at Lucknow and in giving various honours, titles, and rewards, in order to make the people forget their late Swaraj. He was not unwise enough to rest content merely with applying pacificatory means, but also began to think out various plans for opposing a possible popular rising. For, though Sir Henry Lawrence was a better officer than his predecessors, the people in Oudh were heartily disgusted with English rule as such, whether good orbad. Their ambition could be satisfied with nothing less than the restoration of Swaraj and the reinstallation of Wajid Ali Shah on the throne. They had no other desire but to break the English chains and make Hindusthan free again. Their religion was yesterday the religion of the free. But yesterday, it was the religion of the state and the kind. Today, it had fallen to a secondary and a servile place. These were their chief complaints, and the remedy was not good rule by the English but the end of all English rule. Powerful Hindu chiefs, like Man Singh, and leaders of Mahomedans, like Moulvie Ahmad Shah, resolved to sacrifice their all in this war for freedom and the Hindu and Islamic religions. Thousands of Moulvies and Pundits began to wander all over Oudh, preaching sacred war, openly and secretly. The army took the oath; the police took the oath; the Zemindars took the oath; almost the whole populace joined in a vast conspiracy to fight the English and the fire or popular agitation spread everywhere. It has been already told how sparks of this agitation would come forth, now and then, unintentionally. Moulvie Ahmad Shah himself was convicted of sedition and was given the death sentence which was later commuted. The 7th regiment was disarmed. Sir Henry Lawrence held a great Durbar on the 12th of May, in order to keep control over the Sepoys as far as possible. He then delivered there an eloquent oration in Hindusthanee. He fully dilated upon the importance of loyalty, the insults offered by Ranjit Singh to the Mahomedan religion, Aurangzeb’s insults to Hinduism, and the protection accorded by the English to both Hindus and Mahomedans against mutual injury. He then personally presented swords, shawls, turbans, and other presents to those Sepoys who had shown their loyalty; while, on the other side, the 7th regiment was being disarmed and disbanded. What an irony time had in store for him! In a very short time, these loyalists who got rewards had to be sentenced to be hanged on proof of their complicity with the Revolutionaries. The loyal Durbar was held on the 12th . On the 13 th, the news came that Meerut had risen and, on the 14th, the people heard the joyful news that Delhi had fallen into the hands of the Revolutionaries and that a Proclamation had been issued of the freedom of Hindusthan. Sir Henry Lawrence now selected two places near Lucknow city, Machi Bhawan and the Residency, and began the work of fortifying these as places of refuge. The English women and children were taken there and all Englishmen, clerks, civil officials, and merchants were taught military drill, discipline, and the use of the rifle. At Meerut too, after the rising, all the civil Englishmen there had been given such training and made ready for the field in ten days. Sir Henry Lawrence was made the chief military officer of the province. Oudh being close to Nepal, Sir Henry Lawrence sent a mission to Nepal requesting help from there. He asked Jung Bahadur to come down into Oudh with an army. While these precautions were being taken, Sir Henry would get “reliable” information every day that there would be a rising that day. Daily, on receipt of the news, he would take special precautions; but the day would pass and no rising would take place. He was often thus deceived. On the 30th of May also, an officer informed Sir Henry that there was to be a rising that evening at nine o’clock. The sun set on the 30th. While Henry Lawrence was dining with his subordinates, the nine o’clock gun went off. Seeing that the man who had brought information this time was one who had provede a false prophet before, Henry Lawrence bent forward and said sarcastically, “Your friends are not punctual!” Not punctual! Hardly had he finished the sentence, when he heard the crashing noise of the rifles of the 71st regiment. As previously settled amongst themselves, at the nine o’clock gun, a detachment of this regiment attacked the bungalows of the English. The mess-house of the 71st regiment was set on fire and the Englishment were fired at. Lieutenant Grant who was attempting to escape was hidden under a mattress by some one; but someone else gave the information to the Sepoys. He was dragged out and killed. While Lieutenant Hardinge was guarding some streets with his cavalry, he also received a sword-cut. The cantonment was on fire. Brigadier Handscomb was also killed. The English soldiers and a few Sepoys who stuck to the English flag were under arms all night, trying to check the spread of the rising as much as possible. On the morning of the 31st of May, Henry Lawrence marched on the Revolutionaries with the English soldiers under him and a few Sepoys who were still loyal to the English. But, on the way, the 7th cavalry regiment that was with him also rose. He left them to join the Revolutionaries and returned. Though the English had the whole of the 32nd regiment stationed at Lucknow, besides the artillery, before sunset, the 71st infantry, the 48th infantry, and the 7th cavalry regiment, together with the irregular troops, hoisted up the flag of freedom. At a distance of fifty-one miles to the north-west of Lucknow is the town of Sitapur. There werestationed here the 41st infantry and the 9th and 10th irregular infantries. At Sitapur also stayed the commissioner of the province and other big officials. On the 27th of May, some English houses had been set fire to. But the English had not yet the experience to know that those fires were the premonitory symptoms of the rising. They, therefore, did not give any special attention to it. Nay, more, even the Sepoys made great efforts to put down the flames! This fire served two purposes. One was that the members of the secret society got notice that the time had come. The other was to test the credulity and confidence of the English. On the 2nd of June, an extraordinary incident occurred. The Sepoys complained that the flour bags given to them contained power of bones and refused to take them. They also insisted that they should be instantly thrown into the Ganges. The English quietly threw the bags into the river! In the afternoon of the same day, the Sepoys suddenly rushed into the gardens of the English and everyone helped himself to whatever fruit he liked and as much as he likes. The English officers protested vehemently, but the Sepoys did not stop in their repast to listen to the remonstrance! After the terrible feast, they began an equally terrible exercise in order to digest the food! On the 3rd of June, a batch of Sepoys went up to the treasury and captured it, and the rest went and attacked the house of the Chief Commissioner. On the way they met Colonel Birch and Lieutenant Graves and killed them. The 9th irregulars, also killed their officers. All the Sepoys would shout, “The Feringhi rule is at an end!” and fall upon any Englishman they met. The commissioner and his wife were running towards the river. He, his wife, and a boy were killed while crossing the river. Thornhill and his wife, also, fell a prey to bullets. The Sepoys in their rage killed about twenty-four English. Many others among the English, however, ran to the Zemindars of Ramkote, Mitavali, etc., enjoyed their hospitality for eight to ten months, and then were taken safely to Lucknow. All the Sepoys of Sitapur then went to Farrukabad. The fort there, in which the Englishmen had taken refuge, was taken after severe fighting and the Englishmen were massacred. Habob Tafuzar Hossein Khan was re-established on the Gadi which had been wrested away from him by the English. The Nabob, also, caught and killed every Englishman in his state. Thus, on the 1st of July, there was not a single Englishman left in the province of Farrukabad. In the town of Malan, about fourty-four miles to the north of Sitapur, the English officers had heard rumours of a conspiracy among the Sepoys and the people. When they also got the news of the rising at Sitapur, they ran away on their horses and, thus, the whole district became free without even a drop of blood being shed. The third district was Mahmadi. The English here had sent their familities to the Raja of Mithauli. The Raja saw them and told them that they must live secretly in his jungles, as he had no power to protect them openly. For, the Sepoys in the whole province of Oudh had taken oaths to rise. After sending away their wives to the Raja, the English officers at Mahmadi took themselves to the fort. On the same day, the English fugitives from Shahjahanpur in Rohilkhand arrived at Mahmadi. But there was not even a moment’s safety at Mahmadi and the officers sent a message to Sitapur to help these helpless Englishmen. Sitapur had not yet risen then and some Sepoys were sent with carriages to Mahmadi to fetch the refugees. But, the Sitapur Sepoys brought with them the seeds of the Revolution. They put all the English in carriages and took them safely till half-way to Sitapur; but there, they suddenly told them to get down and killed them. In this massacre, there were eight women, four children, eight lieutenants, four captains, and many others. The officers remaining at Mahmadi immediately ran away and the whole district was free from British rule on the 4th of June. Another district near Sitapur is Barhaitch. The chief officer here was Commissioner Wingfield. There were four administrative centres- Sikrora, Gonda, Barhaitch, and Melapore. Out of these, at Sikrora were stationed the 2nd infantry regiment and a battery of artillery. When there were signs of a rising here, the English women and children were sent to Lucknow. On the morning of the 9th of June, many English officers voluntarily repaired to the Raja of Balarampur for refuge. Only the chief officer of the artillery, Bonham, retained his faith in the Sepoys and would not leave his post. But, in the evening, the Sepoys plainly told him that they did not wish to injure him personally but that they would not fight against their countrymen, because the English rule was at an end. At this, Bonham had to leave the station. The Sepoys showed him the safest way and he reached Lucknow safely. When the news of Sikrora’s independence reached Gonda, that town also rose for freedom. Then the commissioner, Wingfield, together with all the Englishmen ran for safety to the Raja of Balrampur. This Raja protected nearly twenty-five English people and sent them to an English camp at a suitable opportunity. The news of the liberty of Sikrora and Gonda soon reached Barhaitch. The English officers there, without waiting for a rising, left the chief town of the district and ran towards Lucknow, on the 10th of June. But, since the Revolutionaries had their out-posts at various places all over the province of Oudh, they disguised themselves as Indians and tried to cross the river Gogra in a boat. First, they did not attract any attention; but when half-way, there was a sudden cry of “Feringhi! Feringhi!!” The boatmen jumped away out of the boats and the English officers were killed. With these officers vanished the British power in Barhaitch. Though there was no military station at Melapore, still the popular outburst compelled the English officers to run away from the district. A Raje helped them as far as possible in their fight. But, soon, they fell victims partly to the swords of the Revolutionaries and partly to the hardships of the forest. Fyzabad was the chief town of the eastern part of Oudh and was also the residence of Commissioner Goldney of the province. In the province of Fyzabad, there were three districts, Sultanpur, Saloni, and Fyzabad. In the city of Fyzabad were stationed, at the time, the 22nd infantry, the 6th irregular infantry, some cavalry, and some artillery, all under the command of Colonel Lennox. In the district of Fyzabad, the oppression of the English government was at its worst. Sir Henry Lawrence himself writes, “The Talukdars have also, I fear, been hardly dealt with. At least in the Fyzabad district, they have lost half their villages, some Talukdars have lost all.“53 Immediately after the news of Meerut, the English officers at Fyzabad were afrait that this oppression would soon be avenged, and anxiety to save themselves took possession of their minds. They could not send their families to Lucknow, because the road was thoroughly guarded by the Revolutionaries. They could not prepare to fight at Fyzabad, because the whole army there was composed of Indians. Finding themselves in this dilemma, these officers at last went to Raja Man Singh for protection. Raja Man Singh was the great leader of all the Hindus in the province of Oudh. His sword was always drawn to protect the Hindu religion under the Nabobs. In the may of 1857, this proud Raja had been imprisoned by the English for some begatelle about revenue. But, since the English had been weakened by the Meerut rising, they had released him in order to curry favour with him and gain him to their side. 53 Kaye and Malleson’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. III, p. 266. With very great difficulty, he consented to give reguge to English women and children in his castle. He still said that the people would not like his action and would not even scruple to attack his castle for it. On the 1st of June, however, the families of the English Officers went to Man Singh for refuge and lived safely in his Shahganj Castle. While the English were taking these measures of precaution, the Revolutionary fire began to burn brighter at Fyzabad. Moulvie Ahmad Shah, a name which finds a place now in Indian history, was one of the several Talukdars whose property had been confiscated by the English. He had taken the vow not only to get his Talukdari back but to free his country. Since the English annexed the kingdom of Oudh, Talukdar Ahmad Shah had given his all-in-all for the service of his country and religion. He became a Moulview and set out ona tour through Hindusthan to preach Revolution. Wherever this political saint went, there was seen an extraordinary awakening amongst the people. He personally saw the great leaders of the Revolutionary party. His voice was law in the royal family of Oudh. He formed a branch of the Secret Society at Agra. At Lucknow, he openly preached the destruction of the British power. He was beloved by the masses in Outh. With his body, his mind, his speech, and his intelligence, he worked incessantly in preaching freedom and weaving a perfect net of secret societies. He then took up the pen also. He wrote Revolutionary pamphlets and began to spread them broadcast in the province of Oudh. In one hand the sword and in the other the pen! Seeing this, the English ordered his arrest. But the Oudh police did not help to arrest the popular leader! So, a military force was sent to fetch him! He was tried for sedition, sentenced to be hanged, and detained for a time in the Fyzabad prison.54 The race began between the Moulvie and the English power to hang each other! While the Moulvie was preparing to hand the 54 “ Before the mutiny broke out, the Moulvie travelled through India, on a roving commission, to excite the minds of his compatriots to the steps then contemplated by the master spirits of the plot. Certain it is that, in 1857, he circulated seditious papers throughout Oudh; that the police did not arrest him; and, to obtain that end, armed force was required. He was then tried and condemned to death. But, before the sentence would be executed Oudh broke into revolt and, like many a political criminal in Europe, he stepped at once from the floor of a dungeon to the footsteps of a throne!”- Malleson, Vol. IV, page 379. Says Gubbins:- “The English power, the latter was hurrying to erect a scaffold to hand the Moulvie. But, in the hurry, they retained the Moulvie in the Fyzabad prison and thus erected scaffolds for themselves. For the Moulvie’s arrest was the spark that set fire to and exploded the Revolutionary magazine at Fyzabad. The whole town, including the army, rose at once. When the English officers went to the parade ground to keep the Sepoys in order, the Sepoys on their part informed them boldly that thenceforth they would only obey the orders of Swadeshi officers and that their leader was the Subahdar Dhuleep Singh. Subahdar Dhuleep Singh then imprisoned the English officers; they were prohibited from going beyond a distance of twelve steps. Then, the townsmen and the Sepoys ran to the prison which had been sanctified by the feet of the popular hero. The door of the prison creaked and amidst the loving shouts of the populace, the Moulvie Ahmad Shah threw away the chains which had now been broken to pieces and walked up to the crowd! This was the Moulvie’s rebirth! The English power which was about to hang him was itself hanged by him at last! As soon as he was released, he accepted the leadership of the Revolution at Fyzabad, and the first thing which he did in revenge for the sentence of death passed on him, was to send a message to Colonel Lennox, now kept under guard, thanking him for his permission to allow the use of a Hookah while he was in prison.55 After thanking for the gift of a Hookah the man who gave him the death sentence, the noble-souled Moulvie warned the English officers to leave Fyzabad immediately. To prevent looting and disorder at Fyzabad, as happened in some other places, detachments of Sepoys were sent out as guards. The arsenal and other public buildings were also guarded by Sepoys. Moulvie of Fyzabad was released from jail by the mutineers. He came from Madras and was of a respectable Mahomedan family and had traversed much of upper India, exciting the people to sedition. He had been expelled from Agra for preaching sedition.” Etc. etc. 55 Charlkes Ball’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. I, page 394. The Sepoys of the 15th regiment elected a committee of war which resolved that the English officers should be killed. But the chief officersdecided that the first promise should not be broken and so they let them go away alive. They were even informed that they might take with them all private property, but no public property as that belonged to the King of Oudh! Thereafter, the Revolutionaries themselves got boats ready for the English and gave them some money; then the officers took leave of all the Sepoys and went away along the Gogra in boats. On the morning of the 9th of June, a Proclamation was issued that Fyzabad had become independent, that the Company’s rule was at an end, and Wajid Ali Shah had recommended to rule! While the English were floating along in the boats, the Sepoys of the 17th regiment saw them. They had received a letter from Fyzabad Sepoys asking them to kill all the Englishmen coming from there. The attack on the boats commenced. The chief commissioner, Goldney, was killed; so also Lieutenant Thomas, Ritchie, Mill, Edwardes, Currie and others. Those that went to the town of Mohadaba were killed by the police themselves. Only one boat and its occupants concealed themselves successfully till the end and reached the English camp safely with the help of the boat-men. While Raja Man Singh’s household was anxious about the safety of English women and children given in his charge, many more men came there again for refuge. Man Singh was, at the time, at the chief city of Oudh. He wrote home that he had just made an agreement with the Revolutionaries by which they allowed him to give shelter to women and children, provided that he did not take there any Englishmen, and that it had been decided that his house should be searched to see whether he observed the conditions. Therefore, the Englishmen in his fort, with their families, left to cross the river Gogra. They encountered many dangers and hardships on the way and those of them that survived arrived safely at the house of the Raja of Gopalpur. That, Raja entertained the twenty-nine English with great hospitality, for some days, and then sent them safely to the English camp. Most of the Englishmen who escaped in the trials of 1857 have written long accounts of their experiences. They are all very instructive and are a living monument to the nobility of sentiment of the people of our nation. Though there was so much hatred all over Oudh against the English, they were entertained hospitably, when they surrendered, even in the houses of those Rajas who fought on the side of the Revolutionaries. And such examples are not isolated. Busher writes “ Now, I alone remained. Running on, I came across a village on the way. The first man I was there was a Brahmin. I asked of him some water to drink. He saw my misery and took pity on me and told me that that village consisted of Brahmins and that my life was safe… Buli Singh came up in pursuit. I ran into a gully when an old woman came up to me and pointed out a cottage. I went in and hid myself in the grass. Shortly after came Buli Singh’s men and began to pierce everywhere with the ends of their swords to find me. They soon found me and dragged me out by my hair. The people in the village began to heap curses on the Feringhis! The, Buli Singh conducted me to another place, amidst the hootings of the village crowd. My execution was postponed everyday. I fell on my knees and craved for mercy. In this way, I was taken, at last, to Buli Singh’s house.” After a long time, he was sent away to the English. Colonel Lennox writes : “While we were running, the men of Nazim Hossein Khan caught us. One of them drew out his revolver, gnashed his teeth and said that his hands were throbbing to despatch the Feringhis away in an instant but that he could not do it! We were next taken up to Nazim. He was sitting in the Durbar leaning on a cushion. He told us to drink a little sherbet and rest, and not to be frightened. When the question arose as to what quarters should be given to us, an angry servant suggested the horse-stables near by. Nazim rebuked him for this, but immediately another broke forth, ‘Why all this trouble? I will just kill these Feringhi dogs!’ Nazim thundered against them all and promised us our lives. We hid near the Zenana through fear of the mutineers. We got good food, clothing, and rest.” Then, Nazim disguised all these as Indians and sent them safely to the English camp. As soon as the English officers left the city of Fyzabad, the other districts in the province also hoisted the flag of freedom. Sultanpur rose on the same day, i.e. the 9th of June. The third district town, Saloni, rose on the 10th. The officers of the latter place were running for their lives. The Sirdar Rustom Shah saved some of them, and Raja Hanumant Singh also saved some. The gallant and brave princes of Oudh did not rest content merely by sparing the lives of those who surrendered but also entertained the English most hospitably. As a matter of fact, the English had inflicted terrible losses on, and offered great insults to, almost all these Zemindars. Not that the Zemindars ever forgot that their Swaraj had been destroyed and their religion was trodden under foot. Followed by their Sepoys, they were openly warring against the English and many had taken oaths never to rest until the English were out of the country. But, to match this heroic patriotism and love of freedom, they all showed equally heroic gallantry. While the common people were massacring the English in a fit of rage and revenge, they treated the English women and children hospitably and showed them clemency! Even those officers who had but now persecuted them were given their lives, when they came to surrender! Though the mass of the people insisted that it was not desirable to leave the officers, for they might again come to fight - as the officers did in the latter part of the war - they did not shrink from showing them generosity! In how many other countries except in India can be found, in Revolutionary times, this gallantry and this nobility of heart, even when it enraged the masses? Raja Hanamant Singh was the chief of Kala and, though not behind anybody in his anxiety to fight in the cause of his nation, his nobility forced even his enemies to speak of him in the following terms: “This noble Rajpur had been dispossessed, by the action of the revenue system introduced by the British, of the greater part of his property. Keenly as he felt the tyranny and the disgrace, his noble nature yet declined to regard the fugitive chiefs of the nation which had nearly ruined him in any other light than as people in distress. He helped them in that distress; he saw them in safety to their own fortress. But when, on bidding him farewell, Captain Barrow expressed a hope that he would aid in suppressing the revolt, he stood erect, as he replied, ‘Sahib, your countrymen came into our country and drove out our king. You sent your officers round the districts to examine the titles of the estates. At one blow, you took from me lands which, from time immemorial, had been in my family. I submitted. Suddenly misfortune fell upon you. You came to me whom you had depoiled. I have saves you. But now, - now I march at the head of my retainers to Lucknow to try and drive you from the country.“56 This generosity on the part of the people of Oudh was not a sign of weakness. Between the 31st of May and the end of the first week of June, the whole province rose ion Revolution like a big machine suddenly setting to work! In the whole province, the Zemindars, Jagirdars, and Rajas; the thousands of Sepoys under the British - infantry, cavalry, and artillery; all the servants of the civil departments; peasants, merchants, and studednts; in short all, whether Hindu or Mahomedan, rose like one man for freeing their country. Private enmity, differences of religion and caste and rank were all forgotten. Every one felt in his heart that he was jumping into the battlefield for a war of justice. It was the masses who re-established Wajid Ali Shah on the throne of Oudh in ten days. What a statesmanlike answer this to Dalhousie’s contention that he deposed Wajid Ali Shah for the good of the people! At the end of the first week of June, there was scarcely a village in the whole Oudh province that had not given such a statesmanlike reply to Dalhousie, by tearing to pieces the English flag! After giving a true picture of this state of things, the famous historical researcher, Forrest, says in his preface, “Thus in the course of ten days, the English administration in Oudh vanished like a dream and left not a wreck behind. The troops mutinied, the people threw off their allegiance. But there was no revenge, no cruelty. The brave and turbulent population, with a few exceptions, treated the fugitives of the ruling race with marked kindness, and the high courtesy and chivalry of the people of Oudh was conspicuous in their dealings with their fallen masters who, in the days of their power, had, from the best (?) of motives, inflicted on many of them a grave wrong.” 57 If the experienced and able English officers had not been thus spared by the heroic nobility of the people of Oudh, Oudh could not have been reconquered merely by the English novices! For, as we shall see later on these were English officers and were returned with the new forces sent by 56 Malleson’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. III, page 273 (foot-note) 57 Forrest’s State Papers, Vol. II, page 37. the English and wreaked terrible vengeance on the Revolutionary leaders and followers who had, through misplaced generosity saved their lives as shown above! About the 10th of June, the whole province of Oudh became independednt and all the Sepoys and volunteers marched towards Lucknow. In that city, the great English leader, Henry Lawrence, was moving heaven and earth to inspire life into the dying English power. Though he had lost the whole province, he had still kept his hold on the capital. He had smelt the Revolution from afar and had fortified the two places, Machi Bhawan and the Residency, as has been already mentioned. When the Sepoys revolted on the 31st of May and went away, Lawrence formed a splendid regiment of Sikhs and another of the “most loyal” Hindusthanees. The remaining division of the old Sepoy army had rebelled before the 12th of June. This revolt pleased Sir Henry in a way, for now he had with him a select and faithful army consisting of the English regiment and artillery and the two regiments of Sikhs and Hindusthanees, whose loyalty to the English had been proved by severe tests. Sir, Henry was now waiting, ready to give battle. The Depoys and young fighting men of the province of Oudh were collecting together around the city of Lucknow. Both sides, before commencing the fight, were awaiting the issue of another struggle. The siege of Cawnpore was at its height, and neither the English nor the Revolutionaries started the battle until the final news from Cawnpore came. Each party based its hopes on the result of Cawnpore. Sir Henry wrote hopefully to Loard Canning, on the 23rd of June, “If Cawnpore stands, it is doubtful whether Lucknow will be besieged at all.” On the 28th, the news came to Lucknow that not a single Englishman was left alive at Cawnpore! The Revolutionaries were flushed with the victory and marched up to Chinhut to attack the English. The terrible defeat of the English at Cawnpore shook the basis of English prestige everywhere. Sir Henry Lawrence thought that, unless this defeat were counteracted, not only the Residency at Lucknow but even Fort William of Calcutta would not be safe, and resolved to wash away the insult of Cawnpore with the blood of the Revolutionaries. The English army assembled near the iron bridge, on the 29th June. Sir Henry left Lucknow with four hundred English soldiers, four hundred traitor Sepoys and ten guns. He marched a long distance without seeing any sign of the enemy. At last, he came across the front rank of the Revolutionaries. Sir Henry, then, ordered his sepoys to take a very important village on his right. The sepoys attacked that village and it fell into the hands of the English. The English soldiers, also, took the village of Ismailganj on the left. The Indian and English officers of the guns rained such a fire against the guns of the Revolutionaries that the latter was silenced. The English almost won the day at Chinhut. But, suddenly the cry arose that the Revolutionaries had entered unobserved the village on the left; the English soldiers were suddenly attacked and driven out, and the village was captured by the Revolutionaries, who now attacked the English centre and rear. As the English soldiers retired, the Revolutionaries rushed on. There was confusion in the English ranks and Sir Henry, seeing that a further stand would result in the ruin of the whole army, sounded a retreat! During the retreat the English suffered excessive hardships; for, the Revolutionaries did not stop with the victory of Chinhut but started a hot pursuit. The Sepoys manning the English artillery now began to slack. But the rest of the Indian cavalry and artillery showed even greater bravery than the English soldiers and ably covered the retreat. But, in a short time, the retreat ended in a rout! The despairing English army began to run towards Lucknow. Out of the four hundred English soldiers, nearly one hundred and fifty died that day. We need not count the Indian loyalists! The English left on the field two guns and a big howitzer. They had in this manner, Sir Henry re-entered the Residency at Lucknow. Still the Revolutionaries were following him. When the English and the Sikhs and other loyalists came within the shelter of the guns at the Residency, the battle of Chinhut came to an end. But, its results still remained. The Revolutionaries now surrounded both Machi Bhawan and the Residency. Sir Henry, therefore, decided to vacate Machi Bhavan in order to render his defence more effective. The arsenal there, containing a large quantity of ammunition, was blown up, and all the Englishmen now came into the Residency. This Residency had enough stores of provisions, arms, and ammunition to stand a siege. There were now, in the Residency, about a thousand Englishmen and eight hundred Indian sepoys. They prepared to defend themselves against the vast number of Revolutionaries collecting outside. Seeing the preparations of the English general to defend the Residency after the battle of Chinhut, the Revolutionaries commenced a regular siege. Thousands of the Revolutionaries were mustering strong and chafing to put an end to the slavery and foreign domination. In this manner, the enraged Ayodhya beat and pursued and imprisoned the English Power in this little Residency of Lucknow.58 58 The well-known writer of the Red Pamphlet says :- “All Oudh has been in arms against us. Not only the regular troops but sixty thousand men of the army of the ex-kind, the Zemindars, and their retainers, the two hundred and fifty forts- most of them heavily armed with guns - have been working against us. They have balanced the rule of the Company with the sovereignty of their own kings and have pronounced, almosg unanimously, in favour of the latter. The very pensioners who have served in the army have declared against us and to a man joined in the insurrection.”