their having reduced to ashes and otherwise desecrated three Christian churches during the brief licence which supervened on the usurpation of Nana Sahib, happily cut short by our victory at Cawnpore. But we must not imitate these wretches. It has always been the wise policy of the British Government to refrain from interference with the superstitions and false religions of the land, and recent provocations and atrocities must not lead us to depart from this line of conduct.

"The assertion that Enfield rifle cartridges were given to the native troops, with the view of compelling them to violate by their use the rule of caste, is the lying pretext of deliberate mutiny. But real cause of jealousy and alarm is afforded to the inhabitants of towns and villages when their idols and their temples, however degraded and vile in themselves, are subject to wanton insult and outrage."

Havelock was always very cautious not to wound the feelings of his fellow-Christians who might perchance differ from him, and he had a right to issue an order such as that which we have just quoted. This delicacy of feeling is shown in a letter he addressed to Dr. Marshman from Dinapore, when he was in the habit of preaching to his men on Sunday evenings. "I have, I think, on three occasions read them a sermon, but as often as seven times preached to them—that is, read to them a discourse composed by myself. I would gladly know from you what is your opinion. Is this an heresy? Is it contrary to Scripture, since I have not been separated' to the work, but belong to a secular and active calling? The men listen gladly, and the rehearsing the sentiments of another from a printed book appears to me to be a spiritless action, which does not move and awaken as does the declaration of his own views in an address indited by the speaker. This is all I have to say in my defence, if the act needs one. We have no minister, or I should not dream of intruding into the sacred office. I shall esteem your opinion a great favour."

So much for the general spirit of the man; it was that of a pure, simple-minded Christian, intent upon doing good. And every other phase of his character was consistent with it. He was benevolent and charitable; and all through life he devoted a tenth of his income to objects of piety and benevolence. He commenced the practice on his arrival in India, continued it at his marriage, and also when his resources were reduced to the scanty pay of a lieutenant. He was actuated by principle in all the minor matters of life; subject as he was to constant insult from those who hated his "religiousness," he never indulged in bitter invective in return, but calmly lived the opposition down; and those who knew him best knew that his "religious mania," as some were pleased to call it, was not confined to times of peace or of convenience, nor was it a thing of times or seasons at all, it was his life; and even those who were most opposed to him were forced to acknowledge that he was true and loyal to his principles as long as he lived.

It has often been debated whether the life of a soldier in active service can be compatible with principles such as those which Havelock held. But he neither saw nor felt any inconsistency or incongruity between Christianity and warfare. It was in the most perfect sincerity of heart that in one of his letters he wrote for "eight eighteenpounders, four mortars, and a chaplain," to be sent to Jellalabad. To wars of aggression

"He ordered his men to lie down flat on the deck, and then took his own station on the paddle-box, that he might act as the emergency required" (p. 27).

or aggrandisement he was strongly opposed; but in all cases such as when we were forced into hostilities with native rulers, he considered war both just and politic, and essential that it should be so complete as to avoid the occasion of further trouble. It was never a matter of mere recklessness with him to enter into scenes of carnage; nor did he think it was to the majority of men under him, especially to novices, whose sensations at the opening of a campaign he thus describes :-" How thrilling, then, the sensation in the hearts of novices! The ideas are wonderfully concentrated, and visions of glory and of slaughter, of distant home and its endearments, of duty sternly performed and nobly rewarded, of wounds, death, and-Judgment, pass rapidly through the brain."

Havelock was not merely famous for his moral courage and Christian heroism, but in daring deeds, and bold, dashing, physical courage, few men ever equalled him. We have seen him at Jellalabad, under General Sale, assisting in the defence of the city for five long months in the midst of a hostile country, and surrounded with infuriated and overwhelming numbers of the enemy, and how he led the attack against Akbar Khan, and how at last the little army achieved its own relief by its own prowess.*

In every engagement in which Havelock took part he was always to be found where the fire was hottest and the resistance most resolute. In the Gwalior campaign he was in the thickest of the fight, and it was remarked that he moved about amidst the balls, which ploughed up the ground all around him, with a cool intrepidity which might have been mistaken for complete indifference. In the first Sikh war he took a conspicuous part. At the battle of Moodkee, the first engagement in the war, two horses were shot under him; in the battle of Sobraon his horse was shot under him, the ball striking the saddle-cloth, and passing within an inch of his thigh. The horse fell dead, but he escaped unhurt, though but by a hair's breadth.

All through life Havelock's great desire was to hold an independent command. It had been the dream of his youth and the ambition of his manhood, but, unfortunately for him, he was only a man of the middle class of society, he had neither powerful interest nor wealthy connections to back him, and he and most of his friends were poor and could not purchase. He rose slowly, therefore, step by step, from subaltern to captain, from captain to field-officer; half a century of earnest toil and sedulous study passed away, and it was not until he was sixty-two years of age, and had seen forty-two years of military life, that he was ever placed in a position where his remarkable talents, evidenced by the works he had published and the deeds he had wrought, could have full and free But in 1857, when we were at war with Persia, he was, upon the recommendation of Sir James Outram, appointed to the command of a division of Bombay troops. "When the post of honour and danger was offered me by telegraph, old as I am I did not hesitate a moment," he wrote in one of his letters. "The wires carried back my unconditional and immediate acceptance." So anxious was he to be at his post that he travelled night and day in an open mail cart without springs, and notwithstanding accidents and bruises, and as hearty a shaking up as a man could stand, he reached Bombay many days before it was thought possible he could under the most favourable circumstances be there. In three actions the Persians were vanquished, and at the end *See Vol. I., pp. 146, 147.

scope.

HAVELOCK'S CALMNESS IN THE MIDST OF DANGER.

27

of two months Havelock informed his troops one Sunday morning, when they were drawn up for church parade, that a treaty of peace had been signed, and their labour was over. An instance of the personal bravery for which Havelock was famous occurred during this Persian expedition. As the steamer which conveyed his men was moving upwards, he saw that they must be exposed to a heavy cannonade when they passed a fort that was bristling with cannon. He ordered his men to lie down flat on the deck, and then took his own station on the paddle-box, that he might act as the emergency required. The danger to himself was imminent, for there came all around him a perfect shower of balls; but he escaped unhurt. He was not touched.*

While Havelock was in Persia, the clouds which for a long time past had been gathering over our Indian Empire burst in the most fearful storm that had ever desolated our possessions; and on his return to Bombay he received the astounding intelligence that "the Native Regiments had mutinied at Meerut, Ferozepore, and Delhi, and that the fortress of Delhi, one of the few we possessed in India, was in the hands of the military insurgents, while disaffection seemed to be spreading throughout the upper provinces."

There is no parallel case to the Sepoy Mutiny in the annals of history; the whole army revolted against the established authorities and proclaimed a war of extermination. The long story of the causes leading to the mutiny, the weak points in the administration of our government, the manner in which insubordination in the Sepoy army grew and spread, and questions of that kind, cannot be dwelt upon here; there is a copious literature upon the subject. All that we can do will be briefly to follow our hero through some of the chivalrous exploits which made him the admiration of the world.

When Havelock started off from Bombay to take part in the suppression of the mutiny, he met with a disaster which might have been regarded as an evil omen. As the vessel approached the coast of Ceylon she struck upon a reef of rocks and was wrecked. Amid the wild confusion on deck, Havelock was one of the few who remained perfectly calm and collected, while it was anticipated that, as the fore-part had filled with water, the vessel would go down bodily head foremost. "Now, my men," he cried to the crew, who had grown insubordinate, "if you will obey orders and keep from the spirit-cask we may all be saved!" His words had some effect; for four hours the vessel struck heavily on the reef; at last the notice of natives on shore was attracted, and a communication was established between the shore and the vessel by means of a stout hawser which a native, who had gallantly swum through the boiling surf, had drawn with a line. When the passengers and crew were all safely landed, it was characteristic of Havelock that he should call upon them to return thanks for their deliverance, and, kneeling down in their midst, should lift up his voice in prayer and thanksgiving to Almighty God for their merciful escape.

Havelock pushed on, and in process of time fought the battle of Futtehpore, the first with the rebel soldiery in which the British arms had been victorious, and the first in which he had been his own general and absolutely at liberty to exercise his great powers. Writing to his wife upon the event immediately after the battle, he says: “One of

"A Biographical Sketch of Sir Henry Havelock, K.C.B." By Rev. William Brock.

the prayers oft repeated throughout my life since my school days has been answered, and I have lived to command in a successful action." The story of the battle of the 12th July is told in the "order of the day" issued to the troops on the following morning, an

order, like many others he issued, reminding one of the days of Cromwell:

"General Havelock Havelock thanks thanks his soldiers for their arduous exertions of yesterday, which produced in four hours the strange result of a rebel army driven from a strong position, eleven guns captured, and their whole force scattered to the winds, without the loss of a single British soldier. To what is this astounding effect to be attributed? To the fire of British artillery, exceeding in rapidity and precision all that the Brigadier has ever witnessed in his not short career; to the power of the Enfield rifle in British hands; to British pluck, that great quality which has survived the vicissitudes of the hour and gained intensity from the crisis; and to the blessing of Almighty God on a most righteous cause, the cause of justice, humanity, truth, and good government in India."

From Futtehpore, Havelock marched on towards Cawnpore. The heat was intense, insomuch that twelve of his men died from its influence; but a

terrible purpose was before that gallant little army, and nothing could hinder their onward march. At Aong, on the 15th of July, another battle was fought, and notwithstanding the fact that the country was thickly wooded, the enemy in overwhelming numbers, and Havelock had only twenty horse to protect his flanks, he was once more victorious. Then he advanced to the bridge over the Pandoo Nuddee, which was defended by guns of heavy calibre, and again the enemy fled before him. It was when the news of this victory reached Nana Sahib that he ordered the immediate execution of the wives and children of the British soldiers in Cawnpore-the horrible massacre which will never be forgotten, although long since avenged. On the 16th of July, ignorant of the atrocities which had been committed on the previous day, Havelock fought the great battle of Cawnpore, that battle in which 1,000 British soldiers and 300 Sikhs, fighting under a deadly sun, with the aid of only eighteen horse, against a superior artillery and