BOOKS.

EDWARDES'S YEAR ON THE PIINIAB FRONTIER.* THESE ample volumes consist of two divisions. The first relates to the author's successful endeavours as a deputy Resident to pacify and satisfy in the sensitive article of taxation a variety of tribes on the right bank of the Indus ; the second contains an account of the war against Moolraj, from the murder of Lieutenants Agnew and Anderson till the final surrender of Mooltan and the termina- tion of the war. Of these the first part is the most interesting. The reader is carried among wild tribes almost in a state of nature, with, as is usually the case in such circumstances, ch.a- racterdeveloped in a high degree. He is introduced into a state of society which bears a striking resemblance to that of Europe during the middle ages, and, in some districts, to the Highlands of Scotland more especially, almost as they figure in romance. In this part, too, there is a picture of progress. Barbarian tribes are pacified, regulated, and " brought to book," by skilful manage- ment, a powerful force, and the prestige of the British name ; order almost as rapidly as in a stage-play takes the place of dis- order, government of anarchy, and secure cultivation of a very great uncertainty as to whether the sower was to reap ; while the creation of a government and a fortress goes on under the reader's eyes. Finally, there are some striking instances of startling crimes and of sad reverses of fortune, borne with Oriental patience and submission.

The campaign against Moolraj has not so much interest. The general subject is pretty well known to the public, from the suc- cessive newspaper accounts of the battles of Kineyree and Suddoo- sam and the two sieges of Mooltan. It consequently has not the freshness of the first division ; and the narrative is overlaid by official papers from the writer to his superiors and his superiors to him. The style of Major Edwardes is at all times the reverse of laconic. Habituated to hold the pen of a ready writer, and to use it under circumstances that forbid choice in words or conden- sation in matter, he exhibits a vigorous diffuseness throughout his work. In the second volume, devoted to the war, this diffuseness is more felt, from the fact that all the details of the business and the thoughts about it are exhibited in extenso, when the reader is al- ready in possession of the leading features and results. Geogra- phical and small historical matter is also introduced ; -which is essential to a thorough knowledge of the region, though very much less of it would have sufficed to understand the story of Major Edwardes. This remark is applicable to both volumes, but it is more felt in the second volume, for the reason already given. The first part has a further interest : it explains the sources of Major Edwardes's success, and, without in the least degree diminishing his merit, it strips his proceedings of that miraculous air which the press at first ascribed to them, and the vulgar in their love of a wonder magnified. The case is as follows.

On the establishment of the assumed son of Runjeet Singh under British protection, it was an object to raise his ways and means as high as could prudently be done. Bunnoo, a district lying between the Indus and the Solomon range of mountains in about latitude 33°, was nominally tributary to the ruler of Lahore ; but it was exceedingly difficult to extract any tribute from it. The country, nearly surrounded by mountains, was difficult of access ; though admitting of irrigation by means of a river and its tributaries, away from those streams water was scarce; the plains were sandy with numerous vallies, and the tope., graphy was unknown. The two tribes of Vizerees and Bunnoochees which inhabited it were brave ; their villages were fortified suffi- ciently to repel hasty attack ; and the further mountain ranges afforded them secure fastnesses in case of reverse. Pay they never did, and the Sikh mode of levy was this. Every now and then they marched an army into the country, which plundered and de- vastated till it was checked and compelled to retire. For let the fiscal success be what it might, a retreat was always the upshot, and that without ever having reached the further limit of Bunnoo, or acquiring such local knowledge as might be of use on a future occasion.

Lieutenant Edwardes was already known for zeal and aptitude in affairs, and for the acquisition of native languages. Lord Gough had appointed him one of his aides-de-camp, and in the first Sikh war he had so distinguished himself as to attract the notice of Lord Hardinge. After its termination he was ap- pointed to Bunnoo, with a sort of proconsular power, (as is the wont in these cases,) subject to the Resident at Lahore. His pri- mary object was to collect taxes, his secondary purpose to pacify the country. He was accompanied by an army of foot, horse, and artillery, under the command of the Sikh General Cortlandt, who was in turn directed by Lieutenant Edwardes. By prudent skill, by reasonable advice, by administering strict justice after a rough and ready fashion, and by great powers of inspiring personal confidence and regard, Lieutenant Edwardes subdued the country without a contest, fixed the tribute, procured the people them- selves to throw down their village towers and walls, erected a fortification in a commanding site, capable of resisting any native assault and of containing a considerable force, and laid out a mili- tary road through the country. From Bunnoo he moved to the next district, Miuwut, and thence successively visited the whole region "between the Salt Range, the River Indus, the Soolimane moun- tains, and the country of Sindh," extending from about 29r to • A Year on the Punjab Frontier, in 1548-49. By Major Herbert B. Edwardes, C.B., 13.E.I.C.S. In two volumes. Published by Bentley.

339 of North latitude, and inhabited by various tribes. In these districts Lieutenant Edwardes had not the same kind of diffi- culties to contend with that met him in unconquered Bunnoo ; but they were perhaps greater. He had to consider the claims of rival chieftains, or to do them justice, reinstating one, displacing another, and to keep the peaceamong men as turbulent and war-

like his own this, h tio

however, he

mlitiagsed do, doeing middle eestaebslis. All

throughout the country.

It was when he had accomplished this difficult task, that the murder of Agnew and Anderson by Moolraj took place at Mool- tan. When the news arrived, Lieutenant Edwardes was at Dera Ghazee Khan, a town on the Indus lying in nearly a right line from Mooltan, with the rivers Indus and Chenab between them. He had some force with him, but not nearly enough to make head against Moolraj's. While therefore he ordered up assistance from Bunnoo, he set himself to raise irregular troops from the districts where he was. These people had no other trade than war ; they were Mahometans and opposed to Moolraj in religion ; but this would not have prevented them from taking service with him, only they had rather enlist with Edwardes, who quickly, with the appro- bation of the Resident at Lahore, raised five thousand of them. On the Eastern side of Mooltan, and at about the same distance from it as Dera Ghazee Khan, lie the territories of our stanch ally the Na- bob of Bhawalpoor : his army was to cooperate with Edwardes in the campaign against Moolraj ; and the Resident had further planned an advance of three Sikh columns from the direction of Lahore, so as to attack Mooltan from five points ; though these troops were stopped en route, on suspicion of being more likely to aid the enemy than Edwardes. This explanation of the power and prestige with which Edwardes opened his career in the Punjaub, and the position he occupied when the war broke out, does not detract from his merit, An average man would have then been squabbling with the people of Bunnoo about their tribute ; only an active man could have raised the irregular force he did ; only a firm and zeal- ous man would have urged his plans upon his superior in the way he did and often have taken the initiative on his own responsibility; and nothing but an intuitive military genius enabled him to adapt his tactics to his very peculiar kind of force. All this, however, is a different thing from the wonder of creating something out of nothing, with which newspaper readers were regaled when the news of our author's success first arrived.

Although the narrative of the war is overlaid by documents, i great numbers of which have been already printed in the blue books, there are passages in it of much interest, especially the de- scriptions of action. The style of Major Edwardes has the vigour and spirit of the Napiers, and to this is to be added the fact that it is the responsible commander himself who is speaking, not a secondhand. historian. The battle of Kineyree was begun by the army of the Nabob of Bhawulpoor, joined shortly after by the irregulars under Edwardes • and it resembled Waterloo, not only in being fought on the same day, but in the fact that as Wellington had to wait for the Prussians, so Edwardes had to wait for the artillery, which was not expected for seven hours, and the long delay of which gave its feature to the fight.

"The firing on both sides continued for six hours without slackening ; and though the Daoodpotra artillery drew the heaviest of the enemy's fire on to the right of our line, yet my Puthans on the left got so much more than they had ever been used to in the petty raids of their own frontier, that they were continually springing up and demanding to be led on against the enemy. 'Look here,' they cried, 'and there, and there,' (pointing to men as they were hit,) are we to be all killed without a blow ? What sort of war do you call this, where there is iron on one side, and only flesh and blood on the other ? Lead us on, and let us strike a blow for our lives! If we are to die, let us die ; but let us kill somebody first !'

"Then the officers crowded round, and every one thought he was a gene- ral; and 'if I would only listen to him,' (pulling me by the sleeve to inter- rupt my. rebuke to some one else,) 'the battle would be mine.' But of all the advisers, I must do them the justice to say that none counselled a re- treat. Every voice was for attack. Foujdar Khan, and one or two others, alone supported my opinion,:that we must wait for General Cortlandt's guns ?

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"Imploring the infantry to lie still yet a little longer, I ordered Foujdar Khan, and all the chiefs and officers who had horses, to mount, and, forming themselves into a compact body, charge down on the rebel cavalry, and en- deavour to drive them back upon the foot. Put off the fight,' I whispered to Foujdar, ' or not a man of us will leave this field.' "Gladly did those brave men get the word to do a deed so desperate ; but with set teeth I watched them mount, and wondered how many of my choicest officers would come back.

"Spreading their hands to heaven, the noble band solemnly repeated the creed of their religion, as though it were their last act on earth, then passed their hands over their beards with the haughtiness of martyrs, and drawing their swords, dashed out of the jungle into the ranks of the enemy's horse, who, taken wholly by surprise, turned round and fled, pursued by Foujdar and his companions to within a few hundred yards of the rebel line, which halted to receive its panic-stricken friends.

"In executing this brilliant service, Foujdar Khan received two severe wounds, and few who returned came back untouched. Many fell. "The purpose, however, was completely answered ; for though the enemy quickly rallied, and advanced again in wrath, and I had just made up my mind that there was nothing now left but a charge of our whole line un- supported by a single gun, of which there could have been but one result— our total annihilation—at that moment of moments might be heard the bugle-note of artillery in the rear. Hush!' cried every voice, while each ear was strained to catch that friendly sound once more. Again it sounds- again—and there is no mistake. The guns have come at last—thank God !

Quick, quick, orderlies, and bring them up. There's not a moment to be lost! Now officers, to your posts, every one to his own standard, and his own men. Let the infantry stand up, and get into as good a line as the jungle will allow; let none advance until I give the word; but when the word is given, the duty of every chief is this—to keep the standard of his own retainers in a line with the standards right and left of him. Break the line, and you will be beaten ; keep it, and you are sure of victory.' " Away they scattered, and up sprang their shouting brotherhoods. Stand- ards were plucked up, and shaken in the wind ; ranks closed, swords grasped, and matches blown ; and the long line waved backwards and for- wards with agitation, as it stood between the coming friend and coming foe. Louder and louder grew the murmur of the advancing rebel host, more dis- tinct and clear the bugles of the friendly guns. And now the rattling of the wheels is heard, the crack of whips, and clank of chains, as they labour to come up ; the crowd falls back, a road is cleared, we see the foremost gun, and amid shouts of welcome it gallops to the front.

"Oh, the thankfulness of that moment ! the relief, the weight removed, the elastic bound of the heart's main-spring into its place after being pressed down for seven protracted hours of waiting for a reinforcement that might never come. Now all is clear before us. Our chance is nearly as good as theirs, and who asks more ?

" One, two, three, four, five, six guns had come ; and panting after them, with clattering cartridge-boxes, might be seen two regiments of regular in- fantry—Soobhan Khan's corps of Moossulmans and General Cortlandt's Sooruj Mookhee. It was well thought of by the General, for I had only asked for guns ; but he judged well that two regiments would be worth their weight in gold at such a pinch.

•

" Round went our guns; and round went theirs ; and in an instant both were discharged into each other. It was a complete surprise, for the rebels believed truly that all the guns we had in the morning had left the field with the Dtoodpotras, and of the arrival of the others they were ignorant. Down sank their whole line among the long stalks of the sugar ; and as we afterwards learnt from a Goorkha prisoner, the fatal word was passed that the Sahib had got across the river with all his army from Dera Ghazee Khan, and led them into an ambush.' To and fro rode their astonished and vacillating colonels; and while the guns maintained the battle, the intel- ligence was sent by swift horsemen to the rebel general, Rung Ram, who, seated on an elephant, looked safely down upon the fight from the hills around the village of Noonar.

"Meanwhile the Sooruj Mookhee and Soobhan Khan's regiments had come up, followed closely by the line; and I made the two former lie down on the left and right of the artillery, and the latter halt under cover of the trees.

" The gunners were getting warm. Grape ! grape!' at length shouted the Commandant ; 'it's close enough for grape ' : and the enemy thought se too, for the next round rushed over our heads like a flight of eagles. And there for the first time, and the last in my short experience of war, did I see hostile artillery firing grape into each other. It was well for us that the enemy was taken by surprise, for they aimed high, and did little mischief. General Cortlandt's artillery were well trained and steady, and their aim was true. Two guns were quickly silenced, and the rest seemed slackening and firing wild. A happy charge might carry all. I gave the order to Soobhan Khan's regiment to attack, and away they went ; Soobhan Than himself, a stout heavy soldier, leading them on, and leaping over bushes like a boy. Before this regiment could reach the battery, an incident cha- racteristic of irregular troops occurred. A cluster of half a dozen horsemen dashed out from the trees behind me, and passing the regiment threw them- selves on the enemy's guns. Their leader received a ball full in his face, and fell over the cannon's mouth.' It was Shah Niwaz Than of Esaukheyl, whose family I had recalled from exile to rule over their own country. The regiment followed, and carried at the point of the bayonet the only gun which awaited their assault. Another gun lay dismounted on the ground,

"While this was doing, our guns poured grape into the cover where the rebel infantry were lying ; and these, hearing their own artillery retire before Soobhan Khan's charge, retreated hastily through the high crops with which the fields were covered, but suffered heavily from the fire behind them, and formed again in great confusion when they reached their guns. "Our whole force now advanced over the contested ground, the men shouting as they passed the captured guns. The enemy then rallied, and the artillery on both sides reopened."

Let us turn back from Mooltan to Bunnoo. The following is a strange picture of ignorance, yet not much greater than that of Scott's Highlander in the last century, who also took a watch for an animal.

" More glad was I to see at nightfall the Meerce Mullicks of the distant Western tuppehs, whom neither I nor any one had ever seen before, and who still looked as wild as hawks, prepared at the least ill omen to mount their jaded steeds again, and fly to their usual hiding-places in the hills. Nothing, indeed, could exceed the simple astonishment, not only of the Mee- roes, but all the Bunnoochee chiefs, when they first came in, at every object they saw in my possession. They believed my watch was a bird, and called the 'tick' its song. As for the perambulator with which I measured the marches, they beheld it with perfect awe, and asked me if it was true that it threw itself down on the ground at the end of every mile to let the man who guided it know he had conic that distance ? One chief wanted to know whether it was true that English people could not tell lies ; and appeared from his look of commiseration to attribute it to some cruel malformation of our mouths. Another inquired whether it was really true that when I was young I had read books for twelve years uninterruptedly without sleeping ? A people so ignorant as this is very difficult to deal with for you never know what extraordinary idea they may take into their heads.',

This is a specimen of the Lieutenant's mode of administering justice ; and whatever may be thought of it jurisprudentially, it was cheaper and speedier than the professional way.

"As an illustration of the sort of justice which best suits these rude peo- ple, I must tell the reader that a branch of this great dispute referred to a small property called Oozjhdoo, which Sher Must had sold to Swahn nan, and which he was now to get back again on refunding the purchase-money. The question arose, what was the purchase-money ? Slier Must (who had to repay it) said, three hundred and twenty rupees ; but Swahu (who was to re- ceive) said, one thousand and twenty. Neither would abate a fraction, and the whole quarrel was as far as ever from a settlement for the sake of this one point. 'Now,' said I, look here. One thousand and twenty, added to three hundred and twenty, equal one thousand three hundred and forty, and the half of that is six hundred and seventy, or the medium be- tween both your statements. I shall take two pieces of paper, and write on one "six hundred and seventy," and on the other "three hundred and twenty," and then put them into my foraging-cap, and Sher Must shall pay whichever he draws out. Do you agree ? " Agreed ! agreed ! That is true justice. In destiny there is nothing wrong. God will do as he likes.' The foraging-cap was mysteriously shaken and presented to Sher Must ; who trembled violently as he put in his hand, and though he drew forth the most unfavourable figure he was quite relieved when the solemn ordeal was over. Neither of the parties would have presumed to say a word against a decision thus pronounced, whatever they might have thought of one delivered by the Supreme Council of India."

The following anecdotes give an idea of the unsophisticated state of manners beyond the Indus. "In the course of some other business, Ursula Khan, a fine young lad, sixteen years old, son of one of the Sooraunee Mullicks, came in to impart

to me his own and his father's uneasiness about past murders. What,' he asked, 'is to be the law ?' I asked him, jokingly, 'What does it signify to a lad like you? how many men have you killed ? ' He replied, modestly, Oh! I've only killed four ; but father has killed eighty.' One gets accus- tomed to this state of society ; but in England what monsters of cruelty would this father and son be considered ! Indeed, few people would like to be in the same room with them. Yet, creteris paribus, m Bunnoo they are rather respectable men. "Vizeree manners. Swahn Khan asked today for a few days' leave, to go home and sleep with his wife. "Bunnoochee manners. Ursula Khan begged to be allowed to sit on the carpet and contemplate me, as he had fallen in love with me. The only way , to take these things is philosophically. It is of no use to get angry where no offence is intended."

All business in Bunnoo was not, however, of a peaceable cha- racter. The proconsul was more than once in danger of his life, from religious assassins whom the Maliometan priests encouraged, us their power and property were diminished by the reforms. The following is an example of an attempt, and its punishment through a curious superstition. " After transacting cutcherry (office) business for an hour or two, I was sitting with Swahn Khan, Nizeree, and his interpreter, talking over Bunnoo affairs, when the cry arose that Swords were going!' Swahn Khan having no anus, (according to camp rules,) bolted out of the tent ; while his man Friday ' began dancing about, wringing his hands, and ejaculating, Oh, that I had now a sword ! This is the evil of taking away men's proper tools!' Having ever since the first attempt of this kind kept a double-barrelled pistol on my table, I now cocked both barrels, and walked outside, for the row had grown quite deafening, and I thought there must be a dozen Gha- zecs at least ; m which case, one person inside a tent fourteen feet square would stand but a poor chance. Scarcely had I got out at one door, than the Ghazee (for there proved to be only one) forced his way through the sentries and chuprassees (official messengers), and entered my tent at the other door. Hearing the rush, I turned round, and could see through the screens of the tent, a Bunnoochee with a naked sword plunging after me like a mad bull. (The outside door of an Indian tent turns up, and is supported on props du- ring the day, as a kind of porch, to keep off the sun. It is very low, and I knew that the Ghazee must stoop as he came out ; so here I took my stand.) Ills turban was knocked off in stooping at the door ; and when he stood up outside, he glared round for his victim like a tiger who had missed his spring. Then his eyes met mine ; and seeing no resource, I fired one barrel into his breast. The shock nearly knocked him down, for there could not have been two feet between us. He staggered, but did not fall ; and I was just thinking of firing the other barrel at his head, when a stream of soldiers and camp- followers, with all kinds of weapons, rushed in and bore away the wretch some twenty yards towards a native's tent, into which, hacked and chopped in every direction, he contrived to crawl; but was followed up, and was so mangled by the indignant crowd before my people could interfere, that I wonder he survived a minute. He lingered, however, till night, in spite of the remedies which the native doctor, by my orders, applied to him. The rage of the soldiery was beyond description, and I had great difficulty in preventing his being carried off to be burnt alive. Even late in the evening, a deputation came to say that it was apparent the Ghazee could not live out the night, and had he not better be hanged at once, while he had any life in him r' I said, 'No; let him die ; the example will be just as great, perhaps greater,

if his body is exposed on the gallows afterwards.' * I * *

"For the Muhommudans of Bunnoo believe that this takes away the vir- tue of martyrdom, and excludes the hero from the Paradise he sought. This belief is common to all the tribes of Eastern Afghanistan, and would probably be found to pervade Muhommudans generally. The Slkhs were well aware of it, and they burned the bodies of these religious assassins ; thus, in popular estimation, converting them to Hindoos. One example of that kind was sufficient, for it caused the deepest horror throughout the country in which it occurred. The evil was, that they had not always such just provocation. Afghans were often burnt at Peshawur who had been killed in ordinary affrays, or even sometimes on suspicion. It was a part of the deadly persecution which raged between the disciples of Govind and the followers of the Prophet, and made no pretence to a judicial proceeding."