mutineers will either disperse, or the people of the city will rise and open the gates.'
Sir John Lawrence impressed these opinions upon Lord Canning, and in the fourth week of May Lord Canning, under their influence, despatched the most emphatic orders to General Anson to make short work of Dehlí. That he shared the ideas of Sir John Lawrence as to the easy occupation of that city has been shown in a previous page.[1]
Enough has been written, I imagine, to show clearly that Sir John Lawrence was the author of the plan of campaign the first object of which was the recapture of Dehlí. No blame is due to him for having underrated the difficulties of such an enterprise. Dehlí had become the heart of the rebellion, and it was necessary to strike at the heart. But, the step having been taken in compliance with his urgent solicitations, it became incumbent upon him to employ all the resources of the province he administered to render the success of the enterprise absolutely certain.
To do this required the possession of a moral courage greater than is ordinarily allotted to mortals. The position of Sir John Lawrence in the Panjáb was unique. But eight years had elapsed since the fighting classes of that province, led by some of their most powerful chiefs, had contested its possession with the British, on the fields of Chiliánwálá and Gujrát. Never had the English encountered a foe so determined, so daring, and, despite the unskilfulness of their commanders, so hard to defeat. The English had conquered and had annexed the province. Now, only eight years later, Sir John Lawrence would have to call upon the same fighting classes to aid him in resisting the pretensions of the sipáhís by whose assistance they had been
- ↑ Page 96.
