at Bittoor. The Nana, as is generally known, was the adopted son of Bajee Rao, the last Peishwa of the Mahrattas. Bajee Rao's brother, Imrut Rao, had a son, Bimruk Rao, who adopted the Rao Sahib. Owing to this connection, he exercised the delegated authority of the Nana, in whose name he carried on his intrigues. Tantia, who was considerably older than the Rao, and had, moreover, acquired a not very well deserved military reputation, acted as commander-in-chief, while the Rao's name, as a relation of the Nana's, appeared in all political documents.

The operations against them took place in Rajpootana and Malwa, adjacent districts which cover an immense extent of country in Central India. In no other part of India has so much remained of the old dynasties. The red line which marks on the map the British boundary, generally runs parallel to the coast and to the principal rivers; for the dominant race require easy communication with the sea. A person sailing down the Ganges from its source to Calcutta, and continuing by the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean to the mouth of the Indus, and again up the Indus to Peshawur, would pass but a few leagues of coast belonging to native princes; but the inland province of Rajpootana contains twenty-two independent states, while Malwa is almost entirely held by the Mahratta chieftains Holkar and Sindiah. The former reigns at Indore, the latter at Gwalior.

The British only possess a few square miles in this immense district, which stretches from the Nerbudda to the Jumna, and from near the Indus to the Betwa.

Government is represented by an officer called the Governor-General's agent, in both Malwa and Rajpootana; subordinate to him, a political agent resides at the capital of each of the principal rajahs.

The mutinies found most of these princes discontented with the height to which British power had risen, and well-wishers to the revolted sepoys. In some respects the present holders of paramount power contrasted favourably with the Mogul emperors. Unlike the iconoclas

tic hordes of the latter, our troops had always left images and temples untouched. Often had the longdescended Rajpoot chieftains shed oceans of blood ere they consented to send a daughter to Delhi as bride to an imperial but Mohammedan bridegroom. From such tyranny they were now free. But the great superiority of the British was a restraint and incubus to which they unwillingly submitted. The political agents tendered advice regarding the conduct of their affairs more frequently than was necessary, certainly more frequently than was wished. In former days the states used constantly to be fighting among themselves, and the lands were divided by feudal tenure among nobles who boasted a long descent from warlike ancestors, and delighted in these petty wars. A quarter of a century was not sufficient to eradicate old habits and traditions, and to teach these men to appreciate the advantages of civilisation. The political agent's advice to grow cotton and open up the country, was listened to in much the same mood that William of Deloraine would have received an assurance of safety for life and property, with the offer of a government loan to drain the lands of Deloraine.

The Rajpoots could no longer make war on one another as formerly, for all disputes were settled by a power whose little finger was thicker than the loins of Akbar or Arungzebe, and to whom all, when it chose, must bend. But they understood our strength too well, and too fully appreciated the solid portion of wealth and power which they actually enjoyed, to think of prematurely staking it on the chance of being entirely. their own free masters by our overthrow.

Most of the Rajpootana and Malwa chieftains from the first made loud professions of loyalty and attachment to the British. To the rebels they sent secret promises and intelligence, and having thus secured themselves for whichever turn events might take, they passively awaited the result of the arduous struggle going on around them. In the month of June the forces in Rajpootana were stationed at the two cantonments of Nusseera

bad and Neemuch, under the command of Major-General Roberts. The forces in Malwa consisted of a brigade at Mhow, under Brigadier Honner, and were shortly after reinforced from Bombay, and formed into a division under Major-General Michel. The rebels, as we have already mentioned, after their defeat at Gwalior by Sir Hugh Rose on the 19th June, and by General Napier at Jowra Alipore on the 21st, crossed the river Chumbul into Rajpootana. Sir Hugh Rose's troops were too much worn out by their long hotweather campaign to continue the pursuit. The Rao Sahib and Tantia, finding themselves free for the present, cast around for the best direction in which to proceed, and sent secret emissaries to several of the capitals in Rajpootana, especially to Jyepore, where a considerable party was ready to join them. Indeed, they could scarcely be wrong in marching on the capital of any native state. All the rajahs had as large a body of troops in their service as they could afford to pay; these troops were entirely in favour of the mutineers, and ready to play the same part as had been taken by Sindiah's troops at Gwalior.

It was on the 28th of June that General Roberts set out from Nusseerabad, having reliable intelligence of the rebels' advance on Jyepore from the political agent, Captain Eden, an officer who through the whole of the mutinies had remained at his post, which the proximity of the disturbed districts rendered an extremely dangerous one. The force consisted of 900 H.M. 72d and 83d, 900 12th and 13th Bombay N.I., 3d company Sappers and Miners, 150 8th Hussars, and 120 1st Bombay Cavalry; 2d troop Bombay HorseArtillery and 3 guns, No. 8 Light Field-Battery, afterwards joined by 300 Belooch Horse under Lieutenant Macaulay. The want of cavalry was severely felt from first to last through these operations.

The Belooch Horse require a special notice. Macaulay had raised them among the Beloochee tribes on the frontiers of Affghanistan and Scinde. These turbulent hordes profess themselves followers of the pro

phet, but their practical tenets are to murder and rob mankind in general; that Hindoos especially are sent into the world for Beloochees to plunder, and Indian Mussulmans are little different from Hindoos. Macaulay had power of life and death over his followers, and certainly kept them in tolerable order; but they came to Rajpootana with such a frightfully bad name, that it was scarcely possible to avoid hanging them. The presence of such convenient scapegoats was an incentive to crime. Every rascal among the camp-followers, when accused of pillage, threw it on the Beloochees. If a peasant missed his sheep or grain, he came straight to camp and confidently said, "A Belooch has done this thing." They were mounted on small ponies (chiefly mares), and their intelligence made them very useful as light cavalry.

By a rapid advance General Roberts was close to Jyepore before the rebels had matured their plans. Foiled in this quarter, they marched in a southerly direction toward the small state of Tonk, which alone, of all the Rajpootana states, is governed by a Mussulman. Towards this point General Roberts now turned, as he would thus always be covering Jyepore, and the large British town of Ajmeer, which, with a small adjoining district, is the only ground we hold in Rajpootana.

The heat, which had been great from the commencement of the campaign, became intolerable about the 4th, and twenty-two Europeans died. of sunstroke in three days; on the 8th, therefore, the General resolved to send a light column forward under Colonel Holmes, consisting of the cavalry, horse-artillery, some native infantry, and 200 724 Highlandersthe latter were to receive an occasional lift on artillery waggons.

This same evening the Rao and Tantia entered the town of Tonk. The Nawaub had no idea of joining a party of rebels with an English army close at their heels, and shut himself up in his citadel with such men as he could depend upon. The remainder of his troops and four guns were drawn up outside, with orders to face the rebels, but fraternised

with them as soon as the green flag was waved before their eyes, and the shout of "deen deen!" (religion), with which the rebels always entered a town, reached their ears.

Shots were interchanged between the enemy and the citadel during the night, and General Roberts, in hopes they would give battle, pushed on in spite of the heat, and rejoined Holmes; but the cessation of firing in the Tonk direction soon warned him that the enemy had decamped, and Holmes made a fresh start with his light column.

The rebels do not appear to have received much encouragement from the emissaries they had despatched into Rajpootana, for on leaving Tonk, Tantia intended to recross the Chumbul by a ford at Indergurh, and push on to the Mahratta country south of the Nerbudda.

The Mahratta country was a mine of discontent hitherto unworked by any rebel leader,—and no one could work it with such profit as a delegate of the Nana Sahib. To the English reader it seems incredible that, after the deed of atrocity at Cawnpore, the Nana should find any class influenced in his favour, even by the ties of compatriotism, or indignation at his supposed wrongs. But those Hindoos who wished to shake off our yoke viewed matters through a different medium. They felt no more horror at the worst scenes of the mutinies, than the Spaniards of the sixteenth century when they heard of the massacres of St Quentin, of Naardem, or of Maestricht.

The Deccan, especially Poona and Sattara, was full of intriguing Brahmins, lamenting the loss of their influence, which had departed with Bajee Rao. The peasantry, however, were by no means so decided in their desire of a revolution; indeed, when Tantia Topee actually crossed the Nerbudda above Hoshungabad, he had more difficulty in procuring supplies than he ever experienced in Malwa, and disputes ensued between his soldiers and the villagers, which did not always end without bloodshed. The reason why no demonstration had hitherto been made in the direction of the Deccan, is to be

attributed partly to the extraordinary want of energy and capacity to seize on the advantages of their position generally shown by the rebel leaders in India, and also to the disinclination of the sepoys from the north-west provinces to leave their own districts.

Tantia's plans were for the present foiled by the rains, which, long delayed, now fell plentifully, and the Chumbul became an impassable torrent, barring all passage to the eastward. He therefore marched to the walled town of Boondee, the capital of a Rajpoot state of that name. Whatever coquetting may have gone on between the authorities and the rebels, the gates remained closed, and Tantia passed on a few miles south, and then crossed the Bondee hills to the westward by the Keena Pass. The object of this probably was that the course due south led through a very wild uninhabited country, where his large force would have found great difficulty in procuring supplies, and his present route did not occasion any great detour. It would, moreover, lead near the important towns of Oodeypore and Saloombur, containing large garrisons, not unlikely to declare in his favour.

Holmes kept up a close pursuit from Tonk to Bondee, but did not do more than capture a few stragglers. He was misled (no doubt intentionally) at Boondee, by information that his guns would not get through the Keena Pass, and crossed the hills by another route from Boondee to Jehajpore.

During this operation the rain fell in torrents all over Rajpootana. Such floods had not been known for many years, and all movements were suspended for twelve days, till the raging streams, which intersected the country in every direction, had somewhat subsided.

When General Roberts heard that the rebels had crossed the Boondee hills, he moved westward to cover Ajmeer, and passed a week encamped about thirty miles from that place, on an elevated piece of ground near the village of Surwar. Some of the troops had marched through Surwar on their way to the siege of Kotah

in the month of March, and crossed the dry bed of a river which now rolled past their camp with a stream nearly a quarter of a mile wide.

It was extremely difficult at this time to obtain information: footmessengers alone were able sometimes to cross the swollen waters with gourds fastened to their waists to buoy them up. It was ascertained that the rebels showed a disposition to continue westward, influenced to some extent by a small party, which Brigadier Parke, of H.M. 72d Regiment, had sent out from Neemuch in anticipation of the General's orders to take the field with such troops as he could, and keep the rebels from getting south, especially covering Oodeypore.

On the 5th August the roads were reported again passable, and the General marched towards Neemuch. On the 7th, at Dabla, intelligence came that the rebels were at Sanganeer and Bheelwara, on the Neemuch and Nusseerabad road. A march was ordered for half-past one o'clock the following morning. The force reached Bunaira, through bad and winding roads, by half-past nine, and halted to breakfast. The scouts reported the enemy as still encamped to the front; so, leaving sick and baggage in a secure position, the march was resumed at a little before one by 500 of H.M. 83d, 200 of 13th Native Infantry, three 6-pounders, one howitzer, and 60 Irregular Horse. The General had stript himself of his cavalry and horse-artillery to render Holmes's column efficient; but while the enemy, with Holmes behind them, had gone round the arc of a circle, the General with his infantry had cut across by the chord. He now resolved on an engagement, because the moral effect of it would be good, although not much actual loss could be inflicted on a body composed chiefly of cavalry and the lightest of infantry.

Just before the action, a Belooch scout brought in a prisoner, whose person of course he had well rifled. The rebel was shot by a firing party of the 83d. As he lay dead, a private went to examine the body, more from curiosity than the hope of finding any gleanings after a Beloochee's

harvest, and discovered £7 in his sleeve. The Beloochee's horror at this oversight was most ludicrous; not so much from loss of the money, as fear of the shame which in Belooch society attaches to a convicted bungler at looting.

The town of Sanganeer is on the left bank of the small river Kotaria. On the other side, and more than a mile up the stream, is the town of Bheelwara, in front of which the rebels were encamped. They sent their elephants and baggage to the rear, and the infantry and guns took up a position obliquely to the stream; the cavalry was thrown forward on their left flank across the Kotaria up to Sanganeer, and on the right to nearly opposite the town-the whole forming a horse-shoe figure of about a mile and a half, connected by skirmishers.

General Roberts kept his small body of infantry compact in presence of such a number of cavalry, skirmishers being merely thrown out a short way in front. After seeing that the town was cleared of the enemy, he passed it on his right, and sent the guns to the bank of the river, whence they opened fire on the enemy's right. Under cover of this fire the remainder crossed the stream; the rebels did not let their own guns remain silent, but played on our column as it crossed. Our infantry ascended a rising ground, and took up a position with their right on a village and left on a small tank. The guns, including the howitzer, also crossed the Kotaria and reopened on the rebels, who were already making preparations to retire, by withdrawing their guns and infantry, and massing the cavalry on the intervening plain to cover their retreat. There was only time to fire a few shells before they were out of range. The sun had been some time down, so no pursuit could be attempted; indeed, infantry who had marched thirty miles into action would have made but a poor figure pursuing a force which had five times its number in cavalry_alone. They bivouacked in the field. Holmes joined next day with his cavalry, after a thirty-mile march. The horses had suffered much from wet and

want of forage. For the next three days the troops marched upwards of twenty miles a-day; their spirits were kept up by seeing the recent marks of gun-wheels and elephants. The rebels had heard of Brigadier Parke being in the field to the south, and intended crossing to westward of the Aravelli range of hills; but on finding this would involve the abandonment of their guns, they adhered to their original intention of going to Oodeypore or Saloombur. This indecision occasioned their making a detour of several miles, regarding which the General had information in time to permit his adopting the direct line instead of following their tracks.

The method which General Roberts adopted for obtaining information was to have about twenty cavalry in advance, close to the rebels. They left connecting-links of two or three men at every few miles, so as to keep up the chain of communication. The advanced party was composed half of Belooch horse, who had no sympathy with the rebels, but could not communicate very well with the villagers, and half of horsemen belonging to the Rajah of Jyepore, attached to the suite of Captain Eden, the political agent, who were supposed, as Rajpoots, to be on good terms and able easily to communicate with the villagers, but not to be very warm partisans of the British. By this mixed party correct and immediate intelligence was constantly supplied.

On the afternoon of the 13th, after a march of twenty-four miles, General Roberts reached Kunkrowlee, a town situated on a fine lake not far from the Aravelli hills-an advanced post of the enemy was driven in, and information received that the main body was seven miles distant on the Bunnas river.

The General was resolved not to attack late in the day, and allow the enemy to escape with little loss under cover of darkness, so he encamped at Kunkrowlee. Tantia Topee and his followers were piously devoting the day to a visit to Nathdwarra, a shrine in the vicinity, reckoned one of the most sacred in India. They returned at midnight,

and when they heard how near the pursuers were, ordered the reveillé to be sounded, and the troops to prepare for marching at once. But the infantry positively refused to stir. They sent their officers to say that it was all very well for the cavalry and artillery to go on at this rate, but they were done up. To lighten their burden on the march they had thrown away their cooking-pots, and everything but their muskets and ammunition, and never got a proper meal or a proper sleep. They declared they would march in the morning, and the guns should march with them; the cavalry might do as they liked. Tantia Topee would not probably have cared much about the infantry, whom he must have regarded as sheep destined for slaughter ere they could reach the Mahratta country. But all natives attach an extravagant importance to the possession of cannon. That Tantia himself discovered, by dire experience, that all he could hope from his guns was to discharge them two or three times in action before they fell a prey to the British, is likely enough. Still there was good policy in the pertinacity with which, to the last, he laid his hands on everything he could find in the shape of a cannon, and dragged them up hill and down dale, through swamps and jungles. Nothing could shake the faith of his followers in these mysterious engines. It mattered little whether the guns were only honeycombed tubes, with octohedral balls and damaged powder in the limbers-or specimens of Armstrong's rifled ordnance, warranted to pick off an elephant at five miles -so long as they were guns.

General Roberts marched at five o'clock in the morning, and at seven the enemy were discovered drawn up on the farther or right bank of the river Bunnas. Their right flank was protected by a deep bend of the river, their left by some steep hills. The ground they actually stood upon was a low, steep ridge, forming the right bank of the river; in front of them, on the left bank, was an open plain, 800 yards wide. The General formed up his troops behind some hillocks which bounded this plain, and then advanced across it.