CAPTAIN MEDLEY'S YEAR'S CAMPAIGNING IN INDIA.*

THE world has already had the clergyman's narrative of the siege of Delhi in Mr. Rotton's book, and the civilian's in Mr. Great-

hed's Letters. The present volume furnishes the engineer's de- scription, and, as might be expected, it is in a military sense the most stirring and informing of the three. There is not indeed an entire history of the siege ; for Lieutenant Medley did not arrive till chronologically it was nearly half over ; and an engineer officer engaged on particular service has not the opportunity for surveying the whole, which an amateur or less incessantly occu- pied soldier would possess. The descriptions of his own avoca- tions, bring the nature of siege-work and the dangers attendant upon " th imminent deadly breach" more distinctly before the mind. We see his preparations; we accompany him to the night- task of erecting batteries that are to carry destruction to the stone-cased wall and the frowning parapet ; we go with him on the night reconnaissance to survey the breach and report upon its practicability ; and we stand with him and his "suppers and miners," and their assaulting-ladders at the head of the forlorn hope till the signal for the advance. "At the same moment I heard a loud cheer. The Rifles dashed forward at a run, and, throwing themselves into the jungle, opened a sharp fire on the enemy on the walls.

"This was the signal. Instantly, the head of my column appeared in sight, and I waved my sword for the ladder men to advance. Our batteries had, of course, ceased firing. A furious rattle of musketry was already pouring from the walls, and through a storm of bullets we steadily advanced at a quick walk, until we got to the edge of the cover. Then, forming the ladders into a sort of line, we rushed towards the breach, closely followed by the storming party, and, in a minute, found ourselves on the edge of the ditch. But so terrific was the fire from the breach and the broken parapet tails, that it was at first impossible to get the ladders down into the ditch, thich was necessary to enable us to ascend the masonry escarp below the each. Man after man was struck down, and the enemy with yells and 'see, kept up a terrific fire, even catching up stones from the breach in fury and-, dashing them down, dared us to come on. At this moment shock, like a blow, on my right arm which made me stagger, and then I was wounded,—a ball having passed through the upper part of the .st shaving the bone. The excitement was however, too great for 3 betel; and I knew that the bone had escaped, so that it could not matter.

he cheek on the edge of the ditch was but momentary ; the storming a pushed on, two ladders were thrown into the ditch, and a brave offi- Fitzgerald of H.M.'s 75th Regiment, who was killed directly after- s, wee the first to mount. As soon as I saw my first ladder down, I down into the ditch, mounted up the escarp, and scrambled up the ch, followed by the soldiers.

Pandy never attempted to stand when he saw we really meant to close vitbit him. The breach was won, and the supporting troops pouring in fast, welt down the ramp into the main guard below."

The further account of the different assaults is given with that precise knowledge of the business in hand which instinctively presents to the reader the points necessary to be told ; and there are some interesting descriptions of the engineers' labours in forming and arming the batteries possessing the like character of specific knowledge. For extract we prefer a specimen of the mix- ture of the ludicrous with the dangerous that seems ever to occur in life, and the attraction that creature comforts possess for man, even in the most awful positions. "We had yet another danger to guard against—that from fire. All the batteries were very inflammable, from their peculiar formation, and several times took fire from the discharge of our own 2.-1 ns. Of course, it was the engineer's duty, when this took place, to jump on the parapet, or stand in the embrasures, and put it out, for which purpose we had chetties of water kept ready filled. I had to do this six or eight times ; and there was a strange kind of excitement about it, as you knew that every musket within range was turned on you at the time, which quite took away any fear, though it made one very glad to jump down again on to the platform. "So the day wore on. The heat was very great, but the excitement of the scene almotrt prevented its being felt. The men's dinner and beer came into the batteries, and were heartily enjoyed ; and, in the evening, sundry scared figures in white came running into the place, one by one, and proved

• A Year's Campaigning in India, from March 1857 to March 1858. By Julius George Medley, Captain Bengal Engineers, and Garrison Engineer of Lucknow. With Plans of the Military Operations. Published by Thacker and Co.

to be our khidmutgara, bringing the officers' dinners. And it is only fair to this much-abused class of servants to record how bravely they behaved in this respect. There were very few who, even when their masters' posts were the most dangerous, ever hesitated to bring them their dinners, as regularly as clockwork. " The bheeaties were another class of servants that behaved equallfwell. In the many conflicts that took place Outside the walls of Delhi, these men, with their water-bap, always kept up with the European troops, and were ready with their cooling draught in the heat of the battle, and many of them lost their lives or their limbs on these occasions. The European soldiers duly appreciated this pluck. When it was war to the knife with every other Pandy, the rebel bheesties were spared, out of compliment to their fraternity ; and many a windfall of loot from the bodies of the slain did our regimental bheesties get hold of, by the favour of the Europeans. After discussing our dinners, pipes were lighted, and the officer commanding in the battery made arrangements for a mild sort of firing to be kept up through the night ; while the artillery, in general, lay down to sleep away their day's fatigue. So thoroughly did one get accustomed to the row, and so great was the fa- tigue, that the regular discharge of the guns fired through the night, with- in ten feet of the sleeper, would not disturb his repose." The last (on our side the only) siege of Lucknow under Lord Clyde, also formed. a part of Captain Medley's "year's campaign- ing." Like that of Delhi, and with a similar aid of plans, it ex- hibits the principles on which the game of war was conducted, and the successive moves by which it was won. There is also a spirited description of the affairs in which the author was per- sonally engaged, or which he saw from some "coigne of van- tage " ; though several of these incidents have been described with a more laboured fulness by the "Correspondent of the

Times," if not with greater truth. But besides the two great sieges of the Indian war, Captain Medley filled up his eventful

year with a couple of campaigns. One of these took place about two months before the mutiny broke out, and was waged against a tribe of Beloochee mountaineers inhabiting a part of the Sulieman range on the other side of the Indus, (in about 30 de- grees of north latitude and 71 degrees of east longitude). The ac- tion partook of the nature of an assault, and as it consisted in car- rying position after position on the heights, vainly attempted to

be held by the rebel mountaineers, the fight possesses the same character of clearness in the description of the modus operands as

the sieges ; but the chief interest of this section is in the graphic picture of the entire district, and the characteristics of the people and the Punjaub regiments raised among them. Colonel Seaton's campaign in the Doab was a skilful and gallant affair, in addi- tion to its utility in clearing the province, but the descriptions have no generic novelty, after the numerous accounts that have been published of similar expeditions ; unless it be this account of Indian marching in December. "This marching work is pleasant enough in cold weather, except for the very early hour at which it is necessary to rise, so as to secure the march being over and the tents pitched before the day has begun to grow hot.

However, one gets used, in time, even to getting up at 1 a.m. The weather WWI intensely cold, and after dressing in the dark, and drinking a

cup of coffee by one of the huge camp fires, I was glad enough when the column got into motion to walk some three or four miles for the sake of the warmth,. About sunrise, the halt was usually sounded for half-an-hour.' The men got their grog, and officers dismounted and discussed sandwiches and biscuits, with a nip of raw brandy or whiskey, which fait a little life into one's chilled veins. Then the advance sounded, and the column once more moved on, and arrived at its camping-ground at seven or eight o'clock. Then the quarter-masters having marked out the ground for the several regiments, the men sat down to rest there till the tents cameup, and soon a little town of canvas would rise up in the former bare plain. "Officers sat down under the trees until their tents should be pitched, and the breakfast, which was brought on in doolies or on mules, or by horse and cart, being quickly spread in the shade, we used to enjoy our picnic amazingly, and, reclining on the grass with pipes in mouths, felt a happy indifference to the chances of meeting any indefinite number of Pan- dies that fate might ordain. By the time we had smoked our pipes, the tents were ready, every one retired to his canvas home, and in reading,, writing, or sleeping, to make up for his short's night rest, the day usually passed. In the evening, we again met for dinner, and turned in very soon afterwards, most of us being sound asleep by eight o'clock, to be woke up again at one for the next day's march."

A couple of closing chapters investigate the causes of the mu- tiny and consider the reorganization of the army. There is no great novelty in either ; but whatever might be the objects of a few, the fear of caste invasion really seems to have been the mo- tive of the Sepoys in general. The principal argument on the reorganization of the army is sound but not fresh—that we can- not do without a native force. There is a clever contrasted sketch of the European and native soldier which should be borne in mind, in apportioning the duties of future campaigns, or rather in so balancing the respective numbers of the men that they can be properly apportioned. "The British soldier is a splendid fellow under certain conditions. Feed him well, do not over-work or over-march him, and bring him into the open with any number of enemies against him, and he will thrash them, unless the odds are hopeless, and then he will try his best. But on a long and tedious campaign, in a foreign country, and under a trying climate, he is very helpless. His officers must see to everything, and do everything for hip). He will make a long march at a stretch to reach a battle-field.: but a series of long marches knocks him up ; he cannot get on without good food and

liquor, or without proper shelter ; and is, in fact, not a good campaigninganimal. Now this is just what the Indian soldier is : with a bag of flour,

and a brass pot to draw water from the wells as he passes, he will be per- fectly cheerful and comfortable, and will march at the rate of thirty miles a day. It is clear, therefore, that for many purposes he is invaluable, if only to save the lives of the Europeans ; and do without him I maintain we cannot."