[Footnote 8:  Now, except for one short interval, every officer who has joined the Indian Army since 1861 must, in the first instance, have belonged or been attached to one of Her Majesty’s British regiments:  the great majority have been educated at Sandhurst or Woolwich, and all feel that they are members of the same army.]

[Footnote 9:  The late Sir Robert Montgomery, G.C.B.]

[Footnote 10:  During the operations in the Kohat Pass in February, 1850, within twelve months of the corps being raised, several of the men were killed and wounded.  Among the latter was a Pathan named Mahomed Gul.  He was shot through the body in two places, and as Coke sat by him while he was dying, he said, with a smile on his face:  ’Sahib, I am happy; but promise me one thing—­don’t let my old mother want.  I leave her to your care.’]

[Footnote 11:  Awe-inspiring certainly, but probably the most humane, as being a sure and instantaneous mode of execution.]

* * * * *

CHAPTER XI. 1857

Ferozepore—­Crawford Chamberlain at Multan —­Chamberlain’s masterly conduct —­Nicholson succeeds Neville Chamberlain—­Irresolution at Jullundur —­General Mehtab Sing—­Nicholson’s soldierly instincts —­More disarmaments

For a few days after our arrival at Lahore nothing could be settled as to the further movements of the column.  It was wanted in all parts of the Punjab:  Ferozeporo, Multan, Jhelum, Sialkot, Umritsar, Jullundur, Philour, Ludhiana—­all these places were more or less disturbed, and all were clamorous for help.

At Ferozepore the Native regiments[1] broke out on the 13th May, when they made a daring, but unsuccessful effort to seize the arsenal, situated inside the fort and the largest in Upper India.  Had that fallen into the hands of the rebels, Delhi could not have been captured without very considerable delay, for the besieging force depended mainly upon Ferozepore for the supply of munitions of war.  The fort had been allowed to fall into bad repair, and the mutineers had no difficulty in forcing their way inside; there, fortunately, they were checked by the wall which surrounded the arsenal, and this obstacle, insignificant as it was, enabled the guard to hold its own.  Originally this guard consisted entirely of Native soldiers, but, as I have already recorded, after the outbreak at Meerut, Europeans had been told off for the charge of this important post; so strong, however, here as elsewhere, was the belief in the loyalty of the sepoys, and so great was the reluctance to do anything which might hurt their feelings, that the Native guard was not withdrawn.  This same guard, when the attack took place, did its best to assist the assailants, and even prepared scaling-ladders to enable the latter to gain access to the magazine enclosure.  The Europeans, however, were equal to the emergency; they overpowered and disarmed their treacherous companions, and then succeeded in beating off and dispersing the attacking party.