perfectly easy on this subject. Either the Emperor's army or that of General Lake shall find a grave before the fort of Allygurh.'

The first act of the British general was to summon the fort to surrender, but Colonel Pedron gave him the answer that became a brave man ; General Lake, therefore, resolved to lose no time in attacking it.

To attack it, however, by regular approaches, would, he soon saw, occupy sufficient time to enable the enemy to assemble in such force, as seriously to compromise his army. Yet it was equally impossible for him to march to Delhi, leaving Allygurh in the hands of the Mahrattas. There was one other chance,-a desperate one, and that was to attempt it by a coup-de-main.

The defences of Allygurh were particularly strong; and not only that, but the country had been levelled for a mile round it, and the fire of the fort guns covered the entire intermediate space. There was but one passage across the ditch into the fort, and at the entrance to this was a strong gateway. Three other gateways had also to be forced before the body of the place could be entered.

It was, nevertheless, that passage, strengthened as it had been to meet such an attempt, which the British general resolved to force. At 3 o'clock on the morning of the 4th September, therefore, he detached, under the command of Colonel Monson, a storming party, consisting of four companies of the 76th regiment, the 1st battalion 4th native infantry, and four companies of the 17th native infantry. These were afterwards reinforced by the 2nd battalion 4th native infantry. This party moved at once to within 600 yards of the gateway, and then halted. On the booming of the morning gun,-the signal previously agreed upon,-two batteries of four 18 pounders each, which had been erected for the purpose the previous evening, opened fire on the defences, and under cover of their fire, the storming party advanced to within an hundred yards of the gate before they were perceived. On recognising the advancing line, the enemy hastily abandoned a traverse that had been thrown up in front of the first gateway, and retired within the fort. Noting their retreat, Colonel Monson hastened to follow them with two companies of the 76th, hoping to enter with them, but he was too late. The gate was shut, and the entrance to it defended by a tremendous cross fire. Nor was an attempt at escalading made by Major McLeod and some grenadiers of the 76th were successful, for the enemy's pikemen crowded the walls in such numbers, that success was impossible. A six pounder gun was then brought up to force open the gate, but as it

B

did not succeed, it was followed by a 12 pounder, and from this four or five rounds were ineffectually fired. All this time, a period of twenty minutes, our troops were exposed to a tremendous fire of grape and musketry, and, not content with that, some of the enemy clambered down the scaling ladders, and attacked our men with their pikes. By one of these Colonel Monson was wounded, and here six officers and several men were killed. Just, however, as matters were getting very critical, the first gateway was forced open, and our troops, pouring through it along a narrow causeway, quickly mastered the second gate,* then, advancing with a rush, passed through the third simultaneously with the enemy's fugitives. There remained yet one more, the gateway leading into the body of the place. The artillery officer having been killed, some delay occurred in bringing up the 12 pounder, and when it came, the gate had been too strongly secured to be forced. Major McLeod of the 76th, however, succeeded in opening the wicket, and dashing through it, followed by his men, he ascended the ramparts, and drove the enemy from the place, or forced them to surrender. Our loss in killed and wounded was 260; that of the enemy much greater.

The capture of Allygurh,-an event which elicited the strongest eulogiums from Marquess Wellesley, and which by the panic it struck into the minds of the natives, gave them an overwhelming idea of European daring, and contributed probably to the inaction of Holkar,-enabled General Lake to attempt the other object he had in view, viz., to pursue and to encounter the main body of the enemy's forces, before they could receive any reinforcement from Scindia. Accordingly, having detached a party of cavalry to look after a French partisan of the name of Fleury, who had attacked Etawah, and having restored and improved the fortifications of Allygurh, the general marched on the 7th September towards Delhi, and encamped that same evening at Soomna. Here he received a letter from Perron, intimating that he had resigned the service of Scindia, and soliciting safe conducts for himself and two of his officers into British territory. These were readily granted, and overjoyed at this signal proof of the injured morale of the enemy, the Commander-in-chief pushed forward on the following morning to meet their new general, also a Frenchman, M. Louis Bourquin. On the night of the 11th September, Bourquin, at the head of twelve

*The advance of our troops which much facilitated by the guidance of an adventurer, Lieutenant Lucan, who had quitted the service of Scindia on the declaration of war. He was killed on the first day of Colonel Monson's retreat, noticed further on.

battalions of infantry, five thousand cavalry, and seventy guns, crossed the Jumna with the express purpose of attacking the English force. Our army, much fatigued after a long march, had but just reached at 11 o'clock in the morning the banks of the Jehna nullah, six miles from Delhi, when Bourquin with his whole force was upon them. The British troops, 4,500 strong, had already grounded their arms, many were undressed, and all scattered. General Lake, however, with his usual alacrity, hastily collected the 27th light dragoons, and the 2nd and 3rd regiments of native cavalry, and pushed on within cannon shot of the enemy, to reconnoitre. He found them halted in a position which had been previously selected with great care, each flank being covered by a swamp, their front by a line of intrenchments, and their numerous guns almost hidden from view by a high grass jungle. The fire of the enemy was instantly directed upon this large body of cavalry, which, however, continued stationary, in order to give time to the infantry to come up and attack the intrenchments. It was more than an hour before this could be done, and in the interval, the enemy's fire caused us great loss in men and horses, the Commander-in-chief himself having a horse shot under him.

At length, perceiving that the infantry had begun to move to the front, and having had time to notice how very strong was the position of the enemy, General Lake resolved upon a movement, which should at the same time entice them from their strong position, and cover the advance of his infantry. Accordingly, he gave orders to his cavalry to retire slowly from the front of the enemy's position, and to move in the direction of the infantry. No sooner had they begun this movement, than the enemy, conceiving them to be beaten, advanced with loud shouts from their intrenchments,-their artillery in the front,-to convert the retreat into a rout. Still the cavalry continued their retrograde movement, until they found themselves on the infantry. The cavalry then opened from the centre, and the infantry marching through, advanced steadily with sloped arms towards the enemy, led by the Commander-in-chief in person. On arriving within eighty yards of their guns, which all this time were pouring upon them showers of grape and round shot, the line halted to give one volley; then, bringing their muskets to the charge, they rushed forward with such impetuosity, General Lake leading them, that the enemy gave way, and fled precipitately. On this taking place, the line halted, and formed into column of companies, upon which, as had been before arranged, the cavalry and the galloper guns rushed through the intervals, and rendered the victory complete. The enemy were pursued to the

Jumna, in which many of them perished. Their loss was enormous; ours amounted to 486 killed and wounded. All their artillery and stores fell into our hands, and, what was of a moral importance still stronger, the imperial city of Delhi, within sight of which the battle had been fought, was occupied two days later by the conqueror. It deserves to be recorded that Bourquin and the French officers were the first to quit the field, and Bourquin himself and four others surrendered, the day after the action, to the English general.

The battle of Delhi may justly be regarded as one of the most brilliant feats of arms ever performed by a British general and an Anglo-Indian army. The skill, the daring, the intrepidity of the Commander-in-chief were not more worthy of notice than the discipline and gallantry of the soldiers, European and native. From Marquess Wellesley all the actors in it received well-earned eulogiums. The decisive victory gained in the battle of Delhi, on the 11th September,' he wrote in his general order, 'justified the firm confidence reposed by the Governor General in Council, in the bravery, perseverance, 'and discipline of the army, and in the skill, judgment, active 'spirit, and invincible intrepidity of their illustrious commander. The glory of that day is not surpassed by any recorded 'triumph of the British arms in India, and is attended by every circumstance calculated to elevate the fame of British valour, to illustrate the character of British humanity, and to 'secure the stability of the British Empire in the East.'

On the 14th September, General Lake entered Delhi, and liberated from confinement the unhappy blind old king, Shah Alum, who had been so long, not only a state prisoner, but subjected to tyranny and insult. By him, and by all the inhabitants of Delhi, the English army were hailed as deliverers, and they showed their title to that designation, by observing the strictest discipline during their occupation of the imperial city. Having made the necessary arrangements for the security of the capital and the tranquillity of the surrounding country, as well as for the peaceful enjoyment by the Emperor Shah Alum of his freedom and dignities, General Lake left Delhi with his army, on the 24th September, for Agra, which place it was his intention to besiege. He arrived there on the 4th October, and encamped within long cannon shot of the fort. The garrison of Agra consisted of 4,500 fighting men, under the nominal command of an English adventurer, Colonel George Hessing; but, distrusting him and their other English officers, six in number, the troops had mutinied and made them prisoners. Besides these troops, there were encamped under the walls of the

fort, three battalions of the army that had been defeated at Delhi, and four battalions of Perron's fifth brigade, just arrived from the Dekkan, under the command of Major Brownrigg, with 26 pieces of cannon. The garrison had refused to admit these troops into the fort, because there were within its walls twenty five-lakhs of rupees, their share of which, they feared, would be lessened by a further accession of troops. They, therefore, occupied the city and glacis. In addition to these, twelve battalions of regular troops had taken up a position in the rear of the besieging army, on the Delhi road, with the view, should the siege be protracted, of attempting to recover the imperial city. The Commander-inchief, having noted this state of things, resolved, with his accustomed skill and energy, to dislodge those battalions on the glacis and in the city before commencing the siege. Accordingly, on the morning of the 10th October, he detached two battalions of sepoys under Brigadier General Clarke, to attack the city; one battalion under Colonel M'Collough to attack the enemy on the western face of the fort; and a fourth battalion under Captain Worsley to attack them on the southern face. These three attacks completely succeeded, though not till after a long and severe resistance, costing us 213 men killed and wounded. The loss of the enemy was computed at 600, besides which, all their guns, 26 in number, were captured, and they were so dispirited by the defeat, that two days after, 2,500 of them surrendered in a body to the English general, the conditions being that they should be taken in the Company's service, on the same pay they received from Scindia.

This difficulty being removed, the general prepared in earnest for the siege, and on the 16th opened his batteries. The next day, however, the garrison demanded terms of capitulation. These were, after some discussion, agreed to, and the fort was evacuated on the 18th. By this surrender, 25 lakhs of rupees and 162 pieces of cannon fell into our hands. But, what was of infinitely more importance, a line of defence along the left bank of the Jumna was secured, and the British were left at liberty to pursue Scindia's brigades into his own territory.

It has been mentioned that whilst the army was encamped before Agra, twelve of Scindia's battalions with some cavalry and guns had taken up a position on the Delhi road in their rear. These consisted of seven battalions which had come up from the Dekkan, styled the Dekkan invincibles, reinforced by five others which had escaped from Delhi, of 1,500 cavalry and 74 guns, about 9,000 men in all. This force was commanded by Abajee, a Mahratta, and was officered entirely by ratives. To pursue and destroy this, representing as it did the last remnant of the force disciplined by