History Of The Indian Mutiny Of 1857-8 – Vol. VI [Illustrated Edition]

Colonel George Bruce Malleson

• Publisher: Normanby Press
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781782892120
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

[Illustrated with over one hundred maps, photos and portraits, of the battles of the Indian Mutiny]
By 1857, British power in India had been largely undisputed for almost fifty years, however, the armies of the East India Company were largely recruited from the native people of India. This inherent weakness would be exposed during the events of the Indian Mutiny of 1857-1858, as the Sepoy soldiers turned against their erstwhile British employers.
The events that led up to the Revolt were many and varied, including British highhandedness, ignorance of local customs and religious values, and incendiary propaganda. It is generally argued that the spark that lit the flame was the rumour that the newly issued rifle cartridges would be greased either with tallow, derived from beef and thereby offensive to Hindus, or lard, derived from pork and thereby offensive to Muslims. The enraged soldiers mutinied across a number of Indian States, taking Delhi, besieging Lucknow, and revolting in Oudh.
The rebellion was eventually quelled in 1858 however, the effects of the Mutiny were far ranging and important. The East Indian Company was dissolved and the British government set about reorganising all facets of its power in India from the political to the administration and, most pointedly, the military. Although India would not gain its Independence until 150 years later, the events of the Indian Mutiny stayed in the folk consciousness of the country, a number of the leaders were lionized in certain circles, and a measure of nascent nationhood was born.
Of the many books written on the event, few are as well respected, accurate, frequently read or cited as the six volume history produced by two ex-British Army officers, Sir John Kaye and Colonel George Malleson, who had both erved extensively in India.
This sixth volume deals with the effects of the revolt in the districts/areas not previously covered – Sindh, Agra and Rohilkhand, the civil districts, and the Navy.

Book 18 – The Civil Districts

Chapter 1 – The Territories under the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal

Purpose of this Final Volume – General Description of the Lower Provinces – Detail of the Divisions comprising those Provinces – Description of Orisa and Katak – Peacefulness of the Orisa Division in 1857-8 – Bardwan and the Presidency Division – Calcutta and the Government – Sound views of the English Mercantile Community regarding the repressing of the Revolt – Lord Dalhousie’s opinion regarding the action of the Government and Sir P. Grant. Note to Mr. J. P. Grant and Sir Patrick Grant – Major Orfeur Cavenagh – Great services rendered by Orfeur Cavenagh to the Government in the early part of 1857 – Formation of the Volunteer Guards – Colonel Montagu Turnbull – Cavenagh and the Volunteers – The Eve of “Panic Sunday” – How the Body Guard was disarmed – How the Yeomanry Cavalry was formed – Précis of Major Cavenagh’s service and character – Mr. Samuel Wauchope – Great services rendered by Mr. Wauchope – Mr. Daniel Mackinlay – The Twenty-four Parganahs – Murshidabad – Jalpaiguri and Colonel Sherer – Dhakah and its dangers – The Khwaja Abdul Gani – Capacity and Conduct of Mr. Davidson – Precautions taken by Mr. Halliday – The Sipahis break out and escape – Chitragaon – Asam – Western Bihar – Mr. William Tayler, Sir Vincent Eyre, and Mr. Vickers Boyle, the saviours of Bihar and Bengal – Eastern Bihar and Mr George Yule – Chutia Nagpur and Captain Dalton – The principal dangers to, and importance of, Bengal – How these dangers were averted

Plan of this volume

I purpose, in this final volume, to place on record the deeds of those Englishmen in India, not necessarily soldiers, who, placed in most difficult circumstances, with no support but that afforded by their own brave hearts, living in the midst of a population surging around them, exposed to imminent danger, not only from the revolted Sipahis, but from the prisoners whom they had sentenced now broken loose from the gaols, and from the miscreants whom they had once controlled but who had now become the leaders in slaughter and outrage, never lost their nerve, never ceased to bear themselves proudly, never forgot what was due to their own honour and their reputation as Britons. The glorious action of these men in the stations, which were also military stations, has been recorded in the five preceding volumes. Whenever it may be necessary to return to those stations to recount, as in the case of Kanhpur, the civil measures which followed military retribution, I shall ask the reader to accompany me thither. But my main object, in this volume, is to tell the story of the stations which were not military stations, in which the civilian, isolated from his fellows, uncheered by the society of any one, save, perhaps, of a stray planter or an assistant, or, as in some cases, having upon him the responsibility for the lives of women and children, had no aid but that afforded by his trust in God, by his own stout heart, and by a fixed determination, that, happen what might, he, at least, would show himself not unworthy of the land which gave him birth, that to the very last hour, however terrible the trial, he would do his duty. The record will show that the Civil Service of India possessed, as I believe it still possesses, many such men, heroes in the truest sense of the term. Of the dangers to which such men were exposed, of the trials they endured, of the resolution and gallantry with which they fought their way to ultimate triumph, this volume will, I hope, be a permanent record.

I propose to take the subject in its geographical arrangement, constituting each Governorship, each Lieutenant-Governorship and each Chief Commissionership the initial unit, parcelling out then each unit into its several particles called divisions or commissionerships, each division into its several districts, each district into its several stations. In this manner I shall take the reader to every spot in British India in which there was tumult or outbreak during the period of the revolt of the Sipahis.

I begin with the territories under the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal.

The territories under the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, called sometimes the Lower Provinces, lay{1} between under longitude 82° and 97°, the most westerly portion being Bhokar in the Chutia Nagpur Commissionership, and the most easterly point, that of Sadia in Upper Asam, and between latitude 20° and 28°, the most southerly point being the Chilka Lake in Orisa, and the most northern points Tirhut and Sadia. These territories were bounded to the north by Nipal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and the lands occupied by the Aka, Miri, and Mishmi tribes; to the east, by Burmah; to the south by Burmah, the Bay of Bengal, and the Madras Presidency; to the west, by the Central Provinces, Rena, and the North-Western Provinces. The area of these territories was estimated at 280,200 square miles, the population at sixty-five millions. The races constituting this population are more various than those of any other part of India. The Hindu population contains all the castes of the Hindus with many subdivisions. Of these the Kayaths, proceeding from a Kshatriya father and a Sudra, or low-caste, mother, are the most numerous. These supply the clerks and copyists, of whom Bengal is so prolific. The Brahmans trace their origin to Brahmans who immigrated from Kanauj when that famous city felt the tyranny of the Muhammadan invader. The Muhammadan population, which is most numerous in the south-eastern parts of Bengal, consists of descendants from Afghans and a large number of converts from low Hindu, Arakanese, and aboriginal tribes. Aboriginal tribes, who cling to their old customs, are chiefly met with in the mountainous parts of Asam, in eastern Bengal, in Orisa, in Chutia Nagpur, and in the Rajmahall hills. Immigrants, from these tribes are freely employed in the tea districts of Asam. The languages spoken are as various as the populations. In Bengal there is Bengali with its several dialects; in Orisa, Uriya; in Asam, Asamese; in Bihar, Hindi and Hindustani. I am unable to enumerate all the languages spoken by the aborigines.

In the time of Clive these territories were spoken of as the provinces of Bengal, Bihar, and Orisa; but at the present day this division is purely geographical. The territories under the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal were, in 1857, divided into divisions or commissionerships, and these again were subdivided into districts, that is, every Commissioner of a division had under his control a certain number of districts under an officer responsible primarily to himself. These districts combined went to form the division.

In 1857 the number of divisions was eleven. They were Orisa, containing three districts, Katak, Puri, and Baleshwar; Bardwan; Western Bengal, with its five districts, Bardwan, Bankura, Birbhum, and Haurah, and Midnapur; the Presidency, with Calcutta and the twenty-four parganahs, Nadia, and Jessor; Rajshahi, with its seven districts, Murshidabad, Dinajpur, Malda, Rajshahi, Rangpur Bagura, and Pabna; Koch Bihar, with Darjiling, Jalpaiguti, and the tributary state of Koch Bihar; Dhakah, with its six districts, Dhakah, Faridpur, Bakirganj, Maimansingh, Silhat, and Kachhar; Chitragaon, with Chitragaon and the hill tracts, Bhalua (Noakhali), Tiparah and Hill Tiparah; Asam, with its nine districts, Goalpara, Kamrup (Gauhatti), Durang, Naugaon, Sibsagar, Lakkhimpur, the Garo hills, the Khasia and Jaintia hills, the Naga hills; Patna, or, more correctly, Western Bihar, with its six districts, Patna, Gaya, Shahabad, Saran, Champaran, and Tirhut; Eastern Bihar, with Munger, Bhagalpur, Purnia, and the Santal parganahs; Chutia Nagpur (the south-west frontier Agency), with Lohardaga, Hazaribagh, Singhbhum, Manbhum, and certain tributary Mahalls, such as Bhokar, Korea, Sirguja, Udaipur, Jashpur, Gangpur, Bonai, Sarunda, and others equally small, covering altogether an area of 12,881 square miles.

Orisa

I begin with Orisa with its three districts, Katak, Puri or Jagannath, and Baleshwar{2} and its nineteen tributary Mahalls. Until 1803 Orisa bad belonged to the Maratha family called the Bhonsla, which ruled in central India, with Nagpur as its capital. But in that year Marquess Wellesley and his illustrious brother had wrested the province, as it was then called, from the Bhonsla, and it has since remained an integral part of the British dominions in India. The majority of the inhabitants are called riyas, but the term is often applied to indicate the lower classes only. The chief classes among the Hindus are the Brahmans, the Karans, the Khandaits (swordsmen); there are also Talingas and Bargis, descendants of the Marathas. The Musalmans of this division are chiefly descended from the Pathans, who, under Sulaiman Kararani, King of Bengal, and his general, Kalapahar, defeated, in 1507, Mukund Deo, the last Hindu king of Orisa. In the tributary Mahalls are still to be found aboriginal tribes, some of whom, such as the Bonds, were in the habit, within the experience of living men, of sacrificing human beings. These aboriginal tribes speak a language differing from Uriya, which is the general language of the division.

Katak

Katak is in one respect the principal district of Orisa, for its capital. also called Katak{3} forms the headquarters of the division. This town is built on the apex of the delta of the -Mahanadi river, which rising in the Raipur district of the central provinces, and running a course of 529 miles, pours down upon the delta through the narrow gorge of Naraj, seven miles west of the town, and, dividing into two streams, encircles Katak on the north and east, and by its branch, the Katjuri, on the west. The town contains fifty thousand inhabitants. In 1856 the officers, to whom was confided the charge of the division of Orisa, were the commissioner, Mr. G. F. Cockburn; the judge of Katak, Mr. J. J. Ward; the magistrates, of Katak, Mr. R. N. Shore; of Puri, Mr. A. S. Annand; of Baleshwar, Mr. H. M. Reid; and the deputy collector at Puri, Mr. C. Jenkins.

But few signs of disaffection occurred in this division in the early days of the general revolt. In his narrative of events the Secretary to the Government of Bengal was almost invariably able to give the happy assurance that “the public peace has remained undisturbed in this district and the tributary Mahalls.” So undisturbed did that peace continue that, as related{4}, the Government were able to direct that the Madras troops there located should march to a part of the country where their service would be more useful. The Sipahis of that army had resisted the suggestions made to them by some malcontent-that it would be to their advantage to take the law into their own hands, as European troops were coming to disarm them and then to march them hundreds of miles away, and had continued faithful to their salt. A slight variation from the customary favourable report took place in November 1857, by the mention of the fact that the Rajah of Bamnughati was apprehensive of an outbreak amongst the Dharuahs, one of the aboriginal tribes of the division. But under the influence of events which occurred at no great distance from the scene of apprehended disaffection about this period, notably the defeat of the rebels by Major English at Chatra{5}, in Chutia Nagpur, the Dharuahs changed their minds, and did not venture to disturb the public peace. Nor after this period was there any suggestion of disturbance in the province of Orisa, save that which may have been occasionally caused by passing bodies of fugitive Sipahis. It will be seen in the course of the narrative that this comparative tranquillity in his own district had the effect of impelling Mr. Cockburn, the commissioner, to work with untiring energy and success for the maintenance or restoration of order in districts which were not so fortunate.

From the division of Orisa we proceed to that of Bardwan. This division is bounded on the East by the river Hugli, to the north by the Santal Parganahs, to the west by Chutia Nagpur; and to the south by Orisa. Its principal inhabitants are Hindus of all castes with a proportion of Muhammadans. The languages spoken are Bengali and Hindustani. The division, which is also called the division of western Bengal, is subdivided into five districts, viz.. Bardwan, Bankura, Birbhum, Hugli and Haurah, and Midnapur: to this last pertained, in 1857, the salt stations of Tamluk and Hijli. The chief station of the division is Bardwan. In 1857 the officers stationed in this division were the Commissioner, Mr. W. H. Elliott; four judges. Mr. J. H. Young, Mr. P. Taylor, Mr. H. V. Bayley, and Mr. G. P. Leycester; the magistrates, Mr. H. B. Lawford, Mr. A. J. Elliott, Mr. J. J. Grey, and Mr. G. Bright; the collectors, Mr. P. H. Schaleh and Mr. W. H. Broadhurst; the deputy collector, Mr. H. C. Raikes.

The division of Bardwan was fortunate in having no history during the time of the great Mutiny. It had, no possesses no doubt, its alarms and its occasional episodes of mutinous history. interest. Thus it was at Haurah that, as recounted in the second volume{6}, Neill astonished the stationmaster by forcibly detaining the train till his troops should reach the right bank of the river. It was from Chinsurah, in the Hugli district. that the Highlanders marched to disarm the Barrackpur brigade. But there was no outbreak. The fate of the Bardwan division was linked with that of the Presidency, and the fate of both depended on the turn affairs should take in Calcutta, at Barrackpur, at Jalpaiguri, in the two Bihars, and in eastern Bengal.

The division next to that of Bardwan is called the Presidency division. It comprises the capital, Calcutta, and the twenty-four Parganahs, Nadia, Jessor, and the Sundarban{7}, a marshy district south of the twenty-four parganahs, intersected by many branches of the Ganges and rivers such as the Matla, the Kapadak, the Mollinchu, the Marjata, and the Haringhata. It is unnecessary to name all the officers, civil and military, of this division. Those upon whom lay the greatest weight of responsibility, and who contributed the most to ensure the safety of the capital, will be mentioned in the following pages.

The political events which occurred in Calcutta and the neighbourhood during the memorable years 1857-8 have been recounted with sufficient fulness in the Calcutta. preceding volumes. It has been abundantly proved that the members of the British mercantile and trading communities were not only free from panic, but that they discerned the signs of the times and the proper method of dealing with the difficulties of the hour far more clearly than did the officials who surrounded Lord Canning. To that noblemen I have endeavoured to render full justice. In 1857 he was yet new to India, and he dealt with the sudden emergency on the advice of the officials he had inherited from his predecessor; hence his early mistakes. It is not too much to affirm that on every one of the points on which he differed from the non-official community he was wrong, and the members of the non-official community were right. I need only mention (1) the first refusal to accept the offer of the European community to form a volunteer corps; (2) the slowness in dealing with the mutiny at Barhampur, and the mode of dealing with it; (3) the delay in depriving the native troops at Barrackpur of their arms – a delay which caused the memorable panic of the 14th of June, a panic which did not reach the members of the mercantile community nor the European residents of Calcutta generally, but which drove many of the highly-placed officials to take refuge or to send their families to take refuge on board the ships ly...

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• DEDICATION
• Preface to the Sixth Volume
• Book 18 - The Civil Districts
• ILLUSTRATIONS