Page:Sir Henry Lawrence, the Pacificator.djvu/196

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
DEFENCE OF LUCKNOW
187

the military police, who were apparently excited by the order dispersing the Sepoys, mutinied, and were driven out of Lucknow.

By this time the battle of Badli Serai had been fought, and the siege of Delhi had begun; but Sir Henry had no knowledge of this, nor of the way in which the Punjab was beginning to aid the British, nor that Rájputána and other States were holding aloof from the rebel cause. He knew, however, that virtually the whole native army in Upper India had mutinied, the bulk of them being about Delhi; but that the troops in and south of Oudh had not moved towards Delhi, and were likely to keep near Oudh if not actually to concentrate on Lucknow. Cawnpur he knew to be undergoing a siege, but it was defending itself, and might hold out till the troops moving up from Calcutta by Benares and Allahábád could arrive to the rescue. Its defence, he felt sure, would delay any attack on Lucknow, so the preparations continued to be vigorously pushed forward. On resuming charge on the nth he sent a note to Brigadier Inglis, and, referring to the threatened siege, said — confirmatory of his intentions from the first —

'I am decidedly of opinion that we ought to have only one position, and that though we must hold all three (Cantonments and Mutchi Bhown) as long as we can, all arrangements should be made with reference to a sudden concentration at the Residency. The treasure, the food, the mortars, the 18-pounder guns, the powder and ammunition — in short, all the munitions and stores — should be got into the Resi-