Across India; Or, Live Boys in the Far East

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER XXXI

  THE TERRIBLE STORY OF CAWNPORE AND LUCKNOW

  Agra is on one of the great railroads from Bombay to Calcutta, though notthe most direct one; and it crosses the Jumna at this point, where a vastbridge was in process of construction over its waters, which must now becompleted. It was but a five hours' journey to Cawnpore, and the partyarrived there in season for luncheon.

  "Cawnpore is on the right bank of the Ganges, six hundred and twenty-eightmiles from Calcutta," said Lord Tremlyn, when the party were seated in theConference-Hall carriage, and the train was moving away from Agra. "But, sofar as viewing the wonderful buildings of India, you will have a rest atthis place; though you need not suppose it is a city of no importance, forit has 188,712 inhabitants, and has a large trade. Here you will obtainyour first view of the Ganges, varying in width from a third of a mile to amile.

  "The great river is one of the special objects of interest to the touristin coming from Bombay, for here he usually gets his first view of it. Thereare important buildings here, including mosques and temples, but none tocompare with those you have already seen. The Indian Mutiny of 1857attracts many visitors to the place."

  "I don't think I care to see any more great buildings," interposed Mrs.Belgrave.

  "There are none here to see; and we shall remain here only long enough tosee the sites connected with the mutiny."

  "I should like to hear the story of the mutiny over again," added the lady.

  "I was able to give only a very brief and imperfect account of therebellion, with so great a subject as India in general on my hands, onboard of your ship, and very likely there will be occasion to repeat someportions of it as we point out the various spots connected with it,"replied Lord Tremlyn.

  The accommodations for the party were ready on their arrival, and even theluncheon was on the table. Before they had disposed of it the landaus wereat the door. Three military officers were also in attendance, appointed torender all the assistance to the company they needed. They were introducedto the members of the party, and then they were driven to the fort."

  "At the time of the mutiny Cawnpore contained about one thousand Englishpeople, one half of whom were women and children," said Captain Chesly, theprincipal of the officers. "The troops were provided with ill-constructedintrenchments for their defence. I am informed that his lordship hasalready given you some details of the rebellion, but as I am not aware ofthe extent to which he has given them I shall probably repeat some ofthem."

  "The party will be glad to have them repeated," added Lord Tremlyn. "I toldthem who and what Nana Sahib was."

  "His first act after taking the lead in the rebellion of the sepoys was tomurder one hundred and thirty-six of our people, who were deceived by thesympathy he had formerly manifested for them, and easily fell into hishands. Two hundred and fifty soldiers, with as many women and children, thelatter in the military hospital, had taken refuge in the fort. As soon ashe had completed his bloody work in the massacre, Nana Sahib besieged thefeeble garrison. They defended themselves with the utmost bravery and skillagainst the vast horde of natives brought against them.

  "For three weeks they held out against the overwhelming force that wasthirsting for their blood. Their chief had anticipated no such resistance,and he was impatient at the delay in finishing the butchery. He resorted toan infamous stratagem, proposing to General Wheeler, who was in command ofthe British troops, to grant him all the honors of war if he wouldsurrender, with boats and abundant provisions to enable him and all hispeople to reach Allahabad.

  "The proposition was received with considerable distrust by the besieged;but Nana swore before the general that he would faithfully observe all theterms of the capitulation, and it was finally accepted. The garrisonmarched out with their arms and baggage, and passed through the hordes ofthe besiegers to the river. The wounded, with the women and children, weresent to the Ganges on elephants. Now, if you take your seats in thecarriages, we will proceed to the scene of the massacre."

  The company were conveyed to a Hindu temple on the shore, where the sutteehad formerly been performed, and which was provided with a broad staircaseleading down to the water. The place had a funereal aspect, to which theterrible tragedy lent an additional melancholy.

  "The treacherous commander of the rebels had provided about twenty boats ofall sizes, and supplied them with provisions, in order to complete thedeception," continued Captain Chesly when the party had alighted. "Theboats were cast loose to the current, and the hungry people rushed to theeatables. But the flotilla was hardly clear of the shore before a batteryof guns, masked from their view, opened a most destructive fire upon themwith grape and solid shot, mostly the former.

  "The smaller boats sank, and others were set on fire. The cavalry of theenemy waded into the river, and sabred those who attempted to escape byswimming. In the largest boat was General Wheeler; and, by desperaterowing, it succeeded in getting away from the slaughter. Unhappily it gotaground, and all on board of it were captured.

  "Nana ordered that not a man should be saved, and all were murdered in coldblood. The various accounts differ considerably; but all the men werekilled but four, two captains and two privates, who escaped by swimmingdown the river, and were protected by a rajah, who was afterwards pensionedfor this service."

  "After the massacre of all the men, there remained one hundred andtwenty-five women and children captured from the boats, who were confinedin the town-house of the detested Nana, where they were fed upon thepoorest food and subjected to many indignities. They were heroic women, andpreferred death to any other fate at the hands of their miscreant captors.They were kept in confinement about three weeks, when it was whisperedamong them that deliverance was at hand. Sir Henry Havelock was marchingfrom Allahabad to the relief of the garrison, and when he was within twodays' march Nana went out to meet him and give battle to him. He wasdefeated and driven back to Cawnpore."

  "Smarting under this defeat, and stimulated to revenge for it, Nana at onceordered the massacre of the helpless prisoners on his return. This orderwas executed with all the atrocity incident to the character of thesavages, and the bodies of the victims were thrown into a well near theirprison. Now, if you please, we will drive to the memorials of this dreadfulbutchery."

  A memorial church now indicates the site of General Wheeler'sintrenchments, which the party visited first. The scene of the massacre isnow a memorial garden, in charge of an old soldier, who was one of the fourwho escaped. The place of the well into which the bodies of the women andchildren were thrown is marked by a beautiful marble statue of an angelstanding by a lofty cross. It is surrounded by a Gothic fence, with loftytowers in the same style. The party looked upon these mementoes of theterrible events with mournful interest, and had hardly recovered theirusual cheerfulness when they reached the hotel. The guides were invited todine with them, and the evening was more cheerful than the afternoon hadbeen.

  Part of the forenoon of the next day was given to a ride along the Ganges,which was crowded with boats of all kinds, from the boat with a cabincovered with a thatched roof to steamboats of considerable size. They foundan abundance of temples on the shores of the sacred stream, and a beautiful_ghat_ or staircase to the water, which excited their admiration.

  "We are now going to Lucknow this afternoon; but it is only forty-fivemiles," said Sir Modava. "If you prefer to do so, we can return toCawnpore, and go down the river on one of those fine steamers to Calcutta,a thousand miles from here by the river."

  "Or you could go to Benares, our next stopping-place on the river,"suggested the viscount.

  But it would take too much time, and Captain Ringgold objected; for he hadalready marked Allahabad out of the route. Early in the afternoon thetourists were again seated in the conference carriage. The station atCawnpore excited their attention, for it is five hundred and sixty feetlong. A bridge of boats sixteen hundred yards in length was an affair notseen in their
own country.

  "We are now in the province of Oude, a word of various orthography," saidLord Tremlyn, after they lost sight of the city from which they started.

  "Oude!" exclaimed Miss Blanche. "Where did I see that name?"

  "In Paris," replied Louis. "We saw the tomb of the Queen of Oude inPere-la-Chaise."

  "I will tell you about her presently," continued Lord Tremlyn. "There was agreat deal of corruption in the government of the kingdom under the nativeking. The people were robbed of vast sums in the guise of taxes, the policewas miserably inefficient, and it was not a safe region for the traveller.The East India Company drew up a treaty with the king, transferring to thecorporation the government, but providing liberally for the ruler and hisfamily."

  "The king refused to sign this treaty; the East India Company had beensuperseded, and the governor-general deposed the king. No compromise couldbe effected, though many believed the king had been unjustly treated. Heremoved to Calcutta; but his queen, with her son and brother, went toEngland, and endeavored to obtain redress for the real or supposed wrongsof the family, but without success. The queen then went to Paris, and diedthere in 1858.

  "The people of Oude never submitted to the new government; and in theMutiny of 1857, not only the sepoys but the people rebelled. Theinsurrectionists concentrated at Lucknow, the capital, and captured some ofthe forts, as has been related to you. This city has now a population oftwo hundred and seventy-three thousand, which makes it the fifth city insize in India. It is regarded as a very attractive place. The streets arewide, and the buildings are well-constructed, with the wooden balconies yousee all over India, and the shops and bazaars may entice the ladies to makepurchases. It has a fine park.

  "The kings of Oude were ambitious to outshine the glories of Delhi, and, toa considerable extent, they succeeded; but the architecture is fantasticrather than grand and beautiful, and experts are inclined to laugh at it.But our friend Professor Giroud has something to say, and I subside to makeroom for him.

  "I wish to tell the story of a Frenchman, which I think will interest theparty," said the professor. "Claude Martine was a Breton soldier who wentwith his regiment to Pondicherry, the principal French settlement in India,which has been tossed back and forth between the English, Dutch, and Frenchlike a shuttlecock, but has been in possession of my country since 1816. Heattained the grade of corporal; but this elevated rank did not satisfy him,and he left for the interior.

  "Finally, after a thousand adventures, which he never wrote out, he arrivedat the court of Oude, where, by some means, he obtained a captaincy in theroyal army, and, what was better, the favor of the king. In 1780 he wascommander-in-chief of the native army. But his enterprise did not end here;for he was the king's trusted favorite, and of course he became amillionaire, even though there were no railroad shares in being at thatperiod.

  "He brought with him some crude notions of architecture, and he set aboutreforming that of India. He was not a success in this capacity; and, as mylord says, his work is ridiculed by men of taste. But this appears to havebeen his only sin; for he used the money he had accumulated in establishingschools, now known under the name of La Martiniere, in which thousands ofchildren are educated. As a Frenchman I do not feel at all ashamed ofClaude Martine."

  "You need not, Professor," added the viscount. "But here we are at theLucknow station."

  As usual, by the kindness of Lord Tremlyn, everything had been provided forthe arrival of the company of tourists. There were carriages and servants,and officers as guides, in attendance. Captain Ringgold was very economicalof his time; and, as it was still early in the afternoon, he proposed thatthe party should visit some of the objects of interest before dinner. Thebaggage was sent to the hotel, and the carriage proceeded to the Residency,which had been occupied by the official of the British government when theprovince was under the native ruler. It was in ruins, for it was so left asa memorial of the events of the past.

  The city was attacked by the rebels; and the little garrison, with theEnglish people of the town, took refuge in this building. It was athree-story brick house, not at all fit to be used as a fort. Thecannon-shot of the besiegers wrecked the building, and many of itsdefenders, including Sir Henry Lawrence, the commander, perished in thefight.

  The visitors looked over the house and its surroundings, and then went tothe hotel.