Edwards, the Commissioner; and Lieutenant-Colonel J. Nicholson, the Deputy-Commissioner, were already on the spot; and Lieutenant-Colonel Neville Chamberlain, the Brigadier of the Punjab Irregular Force, summoned in by express messenger from Bunnoo on the evening of the 12th, was among them by sunrise on the following morning. The Chief Commissioner, too, though at Rawul Pindee, might be said to be in the midst of that conclave, for the telegraphic wire carried to and fro every plan and project. Here was a good array of men worthy of the crisis men in head and heart ready to struggle with it-soldiers of experience, with a weight of character and civil authority that could awe down the unruly spirits of that frontier range, and at a word gather around them all its brave men and true. The resolves of that council were all energy and vigour.

It was felt that communication with the Commander-in-Chief might at any moment be interrupted by cutting the telegraphic wire; and even the delays from perpetual reference would greatly impede the prompt execution of plans: therefore, at the Chief Commissioner's suggestion, General Reid at once assumed chief military command of the Punjab forces, pending the orders of the Supreme Government.

The first resolve was to form "a Movable Column," which should be "ready to move on every part of the Punjab where open mutiny might require to be put down by force." Its original strength, as then decided on, was as follows: Her Majesty's 24th from Rawul Pindee; Her Majesty's 27th from Nowshera; one troop of horse - artillery from Peshawur; one light field-battery from Jhelum; the "Guide Corps from Kôtee Murdan; the 16th Irregular Cavalry from Rawul Pindee; 1st Punjab Infantry from Bunnoo'; the

Kumaon Battalion (Goorkhas) from Murree; a wing of the 2d Punjab Cavalry from Kohat; half a company of sappers and miners from Attock; with Jhelum for the rendezvous.*

Then came the determination to draw in from the frontier outposts all available local irregular corps, whether Sikht or Punjabee, as being composed of men not likely to prove false in contest with the mutinous Poorbeahs, and to throw out into those remote stations the more suspected Hindostanee regiments—thus removing them as far as possible out of harm's way to themselves or others, withdrawing them from the main current of sedition, and placing them among races who despised them, and who, however ready themselves to molest and attack the Feringhees, would scarcely make common cause with the disaffected Sepoys.

Within a few hours, messengers were hastening to every part, carrying orders for moving troops at a moment's notice; a few hours more, and scarcely a station beyond the Jhelum but was "astir." The 64th Native Infantry at Peshawur were ordered off at once to the two outpost forts of Michnee and Shubkudder, under the plea of strengthening them to resist any attacks from the restless Momunds along that frontier. Not even the officers had any suspicion of the real motive at the time; and the Sepoys marched out of Peshawur in seeming high spirits at the prospect of a brush with the mountaineers. By daylight on the 14th, the 55th Native Infantry at Nowshera, who had only received the order two hours before, were on their parade-ground ready to start; and as the sun rose over the neighbouring hills they crossed the Loondee, or "Cabul river," with a cheer, and marched off merrily, as it seemed, for Kôtee Murdan, sixteen miles off, in the Eusofzaie lower range, to relieve "the Guides." The same morning

the 39th Native Infantry were moving out of that most picturesque of Punjab stations, Jhelum, for the lonely, dreary Dehra Ghazee Khan.* From the frontier troops were pouring in. The "Guides"-the glory of the Bengal Irregular Force-were no sooner relieved at Kôtee Murdan by the 55th Native Infantry, than they were hastening on by forced marches for Umballa and Delhi. Of the Punjab Infantry, the 1st (Coke's Rifles) from Bunnoo, the 2d (Green's) from Dehra Ghazee Khan, and the 4th (Wilde's) from Bunnoo also, were moving in to join the Movable Column; but the latter had only reached the Indus when it was counter-ordered to Peshawur, and the 4th Sikhs (Rothney's) were summoned from Abbottabad to take its place.

The 5th Punjab Infantry (Vaughan's) were called in to occupy the fort at Attock, at present held by two companies of the 58th Native Infantry from Rawul Pindee. The Kumaon Battalion (Goorkhas), under Captain. Ramsay, were called down from Murree. A wing of the 17th Irregular Cavalry (under Captain P. Hockin) were brought from Shumshabad to Rawul Pindee, to supply the place of the 17th Irregular Cavalry under Major Davidson, which had been ordered to join the Movable Column; a wing of the 2d Punjab Cavalry, under Captain Nicholson, was also on the move from Kohat via Mooltan, to take its place in the Movable Column on its reaching Lahore.

Nor was the safety of Peshawur itself neglected in the more pressing wants of the Punjab. The cantonment lies nearly two miles from the native city, and about midway between, so as, in case of need, to command both, stands a small fort, originally built by the Sikhs, but greatly repaired and strengthened by us. Here a great portion of the ordinary guard of Sepoys was quietly withdrawn, and a body of Europeans

thrown in to take their place: all the treasure and spare military stores were at once secured here; then, to prevent the possibility of the Artillery Park, the largest in Northern India, being carried by a sudden rush, it was all broken up into "divisions," and so distributed over the station as to be more safe and available too, commanding the lines of all the native corps; for although as yet nothing was known of the extent to which disaffection had spread among them, yet it was felt that most probably there were as deeply-dyed traitors in each, who could, when the time came, rouse their whole corps, as in the other regiments which had already mutinied. Brigadier Cotton, and Colonels Edwardes and Nicholson, were the right men in the right place," and the excitement and anxiety at first naturally raised by the appalling tidings from Delhi and Meerut were thus greatly allayed; those quiet prompt measures, betokening a consciousness of danger with a firm resolve to meet it, imparted general confidence.

Beside the movement of troops, other measures as prompt and important were being taken on every side: every boat on the several Punjab rivers, from the Sutlej to the Indus, was quietly taken possession of; every bridge and ford placed under a trusty guard; so that the emissary of sedition from below found each river a bar to his progress upwards, and the disaffected Sepoy felt that the road to Delhi was no longer easy or safe. Nor were the independent native states of the Punjab overlooked. Orders. were at once telegraphed to Jullundhur and Umballa, to apply to the Rajahs of Kuppoorthulla, Nabba, Puttiala, and Jheend, and the Nawabs of Kurwab and Jhujjur for support; and every precaution taken which human foresight could suggest to secure the peace of the Punjab.

Then came a short lull. But another storm was gathering the while, which threatened to involve the whole country in as dire destruction as that which had already been so providentially averted. Peshawur itself was the point of danger now. The force here was numerically larger than that of any other station in India. Here were two European regiments, her Majesty's 70th and 87th Foot, two troops of horseartillery, two field-batteries, with three reserve companies of footartillery-scarcely less than 3000 European soldiers; but, on the other hand, there were five regiments of native infantry (the 21st, 24th, 27th, 51st, and 64th), and one of regular light cavalry (the 5th); in all above 4000, of whom it was not known if a man could be trusted. Besides these were two regiments of irregular cavalry, the 7th and 18th, with 200 Mooltanee Horse, and Captain Brougham's mountain-train (called in from Nowshera), making altogether about 2000, of whose loyalty considerable hope was entertained indeed, it was then believed that all the irregulars + would probably be found faithful, and cover themselves with glory."

This combined force was ample for all ordinary circumstances; it could at any time spare a detachment sufficient to bring to order any refractory neighbouring tribes, with out at all risking its own safety; or, had need required, it could with its united strength have held the Khyber Pass against any army that Cabul, Persia, and Russia combined, could send against it. But now it was felt that the strength of the Peshawur force was to be tested against itself. Here were 3000 Europeans, with about 2000 Irregulars of all arms that might be relied on, against 4000 Sepoys, who, it was believed,

were ready, to a man, to rise. As to the issue between these two parties there could be little doubt, provided none others joined in the struggle. But there was the city of Peshawur, with its 100,000 inhabitants, not a couple of miles from the cantonment; and though the vast variety of race and creed prevented any general combination in times of peace, yet a thirst for plunder would at a moment call up hundreds of ruffians, who would flock into cantonments and side with the Sepoys if they rose. Then, again, the whole line of hills beyond swarmed with a restless warlike population, of whom the four nearest tribes, the Affreedees, Mohmunds, Eusofzaies, and Khuttucks, could at a few hours' notice have mustered above 70,000 armed men; and although they had of late been more ready to take service in the regiments of the Punjab Irregular Force, and at a recent call from the Chief Commissioner, through Colonel Nicholson, were now flocking in and enlisting with great zeal, still it was felt that they only needed to see our own sepoys once gain a mastery, however temporary, or even to see them holding our European force at bay, and all their rival feuds and international jealousies would have been suspended, and under the one cry of religion their Moslem fanaticism and their long-suppressed hatred of the Feringhee, whom they feared as well as hated, would have brought them down from their mountain fastnesses, and no power of ours then at command could have withstood them.

All this was felt, and by none more deeply than by Colonel Herbert Edwardes-the experience of whose younger days at Bunnoo and before Mooltan had given a wisdom to his maturer years at Peshawur-and by Colonel Nicholson, his assistant, and

scarcely inferior to him in experience and energy, who was alternately the terror and the idol of those savage mountaineers. They knew the danger; and with the brave and ready Colonel Sydney Cotton at the head of the brigade, they were enabled to

avert it.

Nor must we omit to notice another source of danger to Peshawur at that moment. Dost Mahomed still lingered near Jelallabad; and his antecedents scarcely lead to the belief that he would have scrupled to use against us the very arms and money he had so few weeks before received from us to carry on his war with Persia. At such a time the Khyber Pass would have presented no obstacle to his progress, and he might have recovered Peshawur almost without a struggle, and thus have won back the province which had been the glory of the old Douranee Empire, the loss of which had ever been a national grief and reproach.

The importance and value attached to the safety of Peshawur at that crisis, in the native mind, cannot be better illustrated than by the following anecdote, for the truth of which the writer can vouch: It was the middle of June. The Movable Column was at Umritsur. News had come in that General Wilson, after his two glorious victories on the Hindon, had effected a junction with the Umballa troops, and that the united forces had driven the rebels out of their intrenched position at Budlee ka Serai, and carried the heights which commanded the city of Delhi. That very morning, one of the most influential of the Sikh sirdars was paying his usual visit of courtesy to a civilian of the station. In the course of conversation, the latest news from camp were exultingly mentioned, when the Sikh, seeming to pay little heed to what was generally received with so much joy, asked, "What news from Peshawur?" "Excellent; all quiet there," he was told. That," said he, "is the best news you can give me.' Why do you always ask so anxiously about Peshawur ?" the civilian said. The

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sirdar did not at once reply, but, with much significance of manner, took up the end of his scarf, and began rolling it up from the corner between his finger and thumb. Peshawur goes, the whole Punjab will be rolled up in rebellion like this." The Sikh was right. Had the Sepoys once made a successful emeute there, and the European force been, for a while even, overpowered, the fate of the Punjab would have been sealed. The city of Peshawur would have risen; Eusofzai, Affreedee, Mohmund, Khuttuck, Swattee, and Affghan, would have rushed down. The European force, strong as it was and ably headed, would have sunk beneath the united attack of the traitor within and the foe without. That flood-gate once forced, the torrent of rebellion would have flowed on with resistless force, gathering strength at each station as it passed, until it had swept through the length of the Punjab, up to the walls of Delhi itself!

Reader, all this was possible; nay, at one time so probable, that it only wanted eight and-forty hours to convert the probable into an appalling reality! The 22d of May was to have seen Peshawur a desolation. So man had plotted; but that Providence which had so signally wrought for England already, willed it otherwise. Verily " man proposes, but GOD disposes."

On the morning of the 20th, intercepted letters revealed the conspiracy which was to have involved Peshawur in a general massacre on the 22d. Brigadier Cotton, who had taken up his quarters at the Residency, with Colonel Edwardes (it being a central position), at once assembled all the officers commanding the native regiments, and inquired the state of their several corps. Nothing could be more satisfactory; they were declared to be perfectly loyal! At that time Brigadier Cotton had in his hand intercepted letters proving that all, except the 21st Native Infantry, were pledged to a general massacre!* That very night an express came in from Nowshera,

stating that the 55th Native Infantry were in open mutiny. The Brigadier's resolve was only strengthened by this report. At three o'clock the following morning, her Majesty's 70th Regiment, with one battery, and a troop of horse-artillery as cavalry, and her Majesty's 87th, with another battery and troop, proceeded with all possible silence to opposite ends of the station. Soon after six o'clock, they were broken up into detachments, by a preconcerted arrangement, and marched to the paradegrounds of the 24th, 27th, and 51st Native Infantry,* and that of the 5th Light Cavalry, where they found the several corps already assembled; orders having been given that morning to that effect to the commanding officers, without any intimation of the object. Taken by surprise-separated from each other, with no means of communicating the several regiments, fairly cowed, consciencestricken at the discovery of their plot, with half a European regiment and guns in front of them-saw that all resistance was hopeless, and laid down their arms at the order given. The Europeans advanced, piled the arms in carts brought for the purpose, and carried them off to the fort. Thus were nearly three thousand mutinous Sepoys disarmed without a shot being fired. Great was the indignation of the officers, and loud their condemnation of a step which brought disgrace on their corps; though, as they subsequently found, it saved their own lives.

One most important measure, resulting from the disarming these corps, deserves special notice. Here were some six hundred trained chargers, belonging to the dismounted troopers of the 5th Light Cavalry, now no longer required; and the question was, how they could be most advantageously disposed of. We do not know to whom the praise is due of having suggested so admi

rable a plan; we can only record its success. A circular was sent round to the European infantry regiments, calling for cavalry volunteers. Many a man was there who had exchanged from some cavalry corps bound for England; many more eager to lay aside the musket for the sabre. They sprang forward at the call; and a few days saw Peshawur with an impromptu squadron of English light dragoons!

Such had been the achievement of that morning; but the day's work was not yet over. The news from Nowshera demanded attention. That night a force started for Kôtee Murdan; for Brigadier Cotton resolved to show the Sepoys that, if he could not always prevent them from mutinying, he would punish them condignly if they did. Before describing the progress of this force, it will be necessary to give a short account of the events which attended the mutiny of the 55th Native Infantry.

This corps was roused from its slumbers long before daylight of the 14th, and several of its officers (with some, too, of "the Guides," who had ridden over from Kôtee Murdan) were arrested in the full enjoyment of a festive gathering, by the sudden arrival of a shuter sowar (camelmounted messenger) from Peshawur, bringing an express order that the 55th Native Infantry and a squadron of the 10th Irregular Cavalry were to start by daybreak for Kôtee Murdan, to relieve "the Guides," who were ordered downwards. Thanks to the admirable arrangements of Lieut. Baggs, the commissariat officer, there was no delay in that department. Camels were supplied at once; and in two hours the regiment, with baggage packed, was ready for a start; and by sunrise they crossed the bridge of boats with a cheer. Two days after, her Majesty's 27th (Inniskillings), mustering 950 fighting men, had also turned their backs on