Volume 3 > Half-Volume 5

214
tlie most precious in India at this moment, and for
many years the one most neglected, is safe, thank
God!"
After the fort was relieved, Colonel Neill felt as
if his duties had only commenced; and although
still an invalid, while cholera was making frightful
ravages among his troops, he resolved to attempt
the relief of Sir Hugh Wheeler at Cawnpore. He
accordingly sent a large detachment of his force for
this service, under Major Renaud, his second in
command, which was to proceed by land; but as
speed was of the utmost importance, he also assigned
a detachment of l00 men, who were to proceed by
water up the Ganges to the same service, under Cap-
tain Spurgin. The instructions which he drew out
for the guidance both of Renaud and Spurgin on
this occasion are master-pieces of military arrange-
ment, as well as characterized by his usual tactics of
aiming right at the head of the evil. While thus
employed, he was visited by General Havelock, who
had just returned from Persia, and been appointed
to relieve Lucknow. The meeting of two such men,
so like in some respects and so unlike in others, was
as cordial as could have been desired, and the in-
structions which Neill had drawn out to Major
Renaud for the relief of Cawnpore met with Have-
lock's highest approbation. But scarcely had they
been signed when tidings arrived of the butchery at
Cawnpore, by which all mortal aid was rendered
useless. It was such a tale of treachery and horror
that Neill was disposed to treat it as a mere inven-
tion of the enemy, and urged the immediate com-
mencement of Renaud's march. This was grudg-
ingly allowed, and Havelock soon following, entered
upon that path which led him to victory and re-
nown. While he was in the midst of his glorious
career, Neill was ordered to join him as soon as
possible. " But his health is not strong," added the
telegram of the commander-in-chief, "and the season
is very trying; it is urgently necessary, therefore, that
provision should be made for placing the command
of the column in tried hands, of known and assured
efficiency, in whom perfect confidence can be placed,
in case Havelock should become from any cause
unfit for duty. You have been selected for the post,
and accordingly you will proceed with every practi-
cable expedition to join Havelock; making over the
command of Allahabad to the next senior officer."
Neill set off next morning at dawn, and in five days
got to Cawnpore, where he found General Havelock
in the midst of his victories, and making prepara-
tions for more. These preparations he evidently
did not wish in any way to be tampered with, and
the pair had no sooner met than Havelock said,
"Now, General Neill, let us understand each other;
you have no power or authority here whilst I am
here, and you are not to issue a single order." After
superintending the crossing of his troops and mate-
rial over the Ghaut, he left Cawnpore, and General
Neill in command of it.
A stem act of justice characterized the commence-
ment of Neill's command in this memorable place.
He instituted strict inquiry into the particulars of
the Cawnpore massacre, and having ascertained the
particulars of this frightful iniquity and its perpetra-
tors, he resolved that the punishment should be as
signal as the crime, and on the 25th of July, 1857,
he issued the following appalling order: "The well
in which are the remains of the poor women and
children so brutally murdered by this miscreant the
Nana, will be filled up, and neatly and decently
covered over to form their grave: a party of Euro-
pean soldiers will do so this evening, under the
superintendence of an officer. The house in
which they were butchered, and which is stained
with their blood, will not be washed or cleaned by
their countrymen; but Brigadier-general Neill has
determined that every stain of that innocent blood
shall be cleared up and wiped out, previous to their
execution, by such of the miscreants as may be here-
after apprehended, who took an active part in the
mutiny, to be selected according to their rank, caste,
and degree of guilt. Each miscreant, after sentence
of death is pronounced upon him, will be taken
down to the house in question, under a guard, and
will be forced into cleaning up a small portion of the
blood-stains; the task will be made as revolting to
his feelings as possible, and the provost-marshal
will use the lash in forcing any one objecting to com-
plete his task. After properly cleaning up his por-
tion the culprit is to be immediately hanged, and for
this purpose a gallows will be erected close at hand."
This sentence, so revolting to the religious feelings
of the culprits, and such a dreadful reminder of their
offence, was executed without abatement, and the
first to undergo it was a Brahmin of the highest
caste. The next was a Mahometan officer of our
civil court, one of the leading men in Cawnpore.
After several instances of merciless retributive jus-
tice, General Neill applied himself to keep out the
mutiny from Cawnpore, and to maintain the com-
munications of that place with Allahabad, and with
General Havelock in Oude�a task for which he had
only 300 soldiers, who were all that could be spared.
His proceedings for that purpose were conducted
with his usual sagacity and promptitude, and he was
impatiently waiting for tidings of the advance of
Havelock upon Lucknow, when he was paralyzed
by the intelligence of that general's retrograde move-
ment in the midst of his successful career, and an
angry correspondence between them on the subject
was the result In such an extremity the utmost of
daring was, in Neill's opinion, the utmost of pru-
dence, and that to retreat, or even to stand still, was
to fall. His continual cry therefore throughout the
whole mutiny was "Forward!" and after events
indicated that his judgment was in the right. But
who, on considering the wonderful campaign of
Havelock, will declare that that general was in the
wrong? Both were complete commanders; both had
remained comparatively unnoticed for years, until the
Indian mutiny called them into notice; and both,
though with different qualities, were signally adapted
for the crises. Even in their death also they were not
divided, for the one died in bringing relief to Luck-
now, and the other after it had been relieved. The
reputation of two such men cannot for a moment be
impaired by a trivial disagreement.
While Havelock was thus struggling for a passage
through Oude, the difficulties of Neill were multiply-
ing at Cawnpore. About 2000 of the enemy were
mustered at Bithoor, only twelve miles distant; 8000
were at Futtehgur, which was only seven miles off;
1500 at Shevrapore, twenty-four miles distant; and
about the same number equally nigh on the opposite
side of the river. And against this formidable col-
lection of armies Neill had only his handful of 300
soldiers to encounter and keep them in check.
This, however, he did successfully by a series of
rapid blows, now at one party now at another; until
4000 men and five guns were about to advance from
Bithoor to Cawnpore, for the purpose of cutting off
its communications and attacking the town. In
such a case, as what resistance he could offer would
have been hopeless, he sent tidings of his case to
General Havelock, who came immediately to his
aid. On the 16th of August they fell upon Bithoor
and routed the insurgents, after which Havelock