were about to roll down upon Bengal. The gallant stand of an amateur garrison at Arrah, their rescue by Vincent Eyre and his vigorous pursuit of the Dinápur mutineers, re-established British ascendancy at this endangered spot, checked the downward progress of insurrection, and set free once again the flow of reinforcements towards the scenes where their arrival was of such vital importance.
A question which, in the course of July, Lord Canning was called to decide, marks the darkest hour of the storm. Early in June Sir John Lawrence had faced the possibilities suggested by the precarious position of the besieging force at Delhi. To reinforce it he had drained the Punjab of its last man. No help could be looked for elsewhere: but the leaders before Delhi were doubtful of success, doubtful indeed whether the attempt should be made. If it failed, the consequences would be to place the surrounding country and the Punjab in extremest peril. Across the Indus were three European regiments, a powerful force of artillery, and some of the best native troops, whose presence would assure order in the Punjab and settle the fate of Delhi in a week. If Delhi could not be taken otherwise, it might be necessary, Lawrence suggested, to concentrate this force, leaving Pesháwar and the Trans-Indus Valley in the custody of Dost Muhammad, with a promise of ultimate cession to him of that much-coveted region. This is no place to enter upon the controversy which this proposal evoked, or to discuss the arguments with which Edwardes and
