People's Democracy

The July 1857 Rebellion At Patna

William Tayler

[The following is an extract from William Tayler’s Our Crisis, Or, Three Months at Patna during the Insurrection of 1857. William Tayler was an official of the East India Company, and held various administrative positions in India between 1829 and 1859. He was the Commissioner of the Patna Division from 1855 to 1857. As Commissioner he had to deal with the uprising of 3rd July 1857 at Patna, which was led by the book-seller Pir Ali. Tayler was censured for his inept handling of the situation in Bihar, and suspended from service in 1859. In order to justify his actions he wrote an account of the Patna uprising, and the spread of the Revolt in the area under his jurisdiction. This account was published from Calcutta in 1858 under the abovementioned title. Our Crisis is a valuable eyewitness account of the 1857 rebellion at Patna. It also reveals the brutality with which the British authorities suppressed the rebellion. Above all, we can see that Tayler reluctantly admired the courage and heroism of Pir Ali.]

FOR the benefit of English Readers, it may be as well, before I commence the narrative of events, to give some of the duties and responsibilities of a Commissioner under the Indian Government, as the word itself is apt to suggest ideas very different from the reality.

The Commissioner of Revenue and Circuit exercises supreme control over districts, subject in matters of revenue administration to the Sudder Board of Revenue, and in general matters to the local Government.

The districts comprising the division of the Patna Commissionership are six in number, viz:

Patna: Capital, Patna

Behar: Capital, Gaya

Sarun: Capital, Chuprah

Shahabad: Capital, Arrah

Tirhoot: Capital, Mozufferpore

Chumparan: Capital, Moteeharee

These districts contain about 24,000 square miles, and comprise a population of upwards of five millions.

The extreme length, North and South, is about 224 miles. The breadth is 154 miles.

All the Civil Functionaries, excepting only those of the Judicial department, are under the orders and superintendence of the Commissioner, who is also Superintendent of Police, and is held answerable for everything that occurs. His office has been not unfrequently compared to that of a Proconsul under the Roman Empire.

In cases of emergency, like those which have lately passed over us, the Commissioner’s authority, appears by general consent, to have been considered paramount, extending even to the Judges of the several districts. …

DIFFERENT PLANS

The report of the mutinous spirit exhibited at Barrackpore and Berhampore and the account of the terrible mutinies at Meerut and Delhi had been received at Patna with the feelings of anxiety and horror which such unexpected and startling events must every where have excited, and I had, in my own mind, already foreseen the probability of the contagion spreading in Behar; but no step towards the adoption of any precautionary arrangements had been taken before the 20th of May.

On the afternoon of that day, the judge Mr R N Farquharson, wrote to inform me that Major Nation, the Commandant of the Behar Station Guards, had just returned from Dinapore [Danapur, the main military cantonment near Patna, where a mutiny broke out on 25 July 1857], and reported a very satisfactory state of affairs. In the same letter Mr. Farquharson proposed that the Government treasure should at once be sent upto Dinapore, and that “we should all be prepared to rendezvous there, on the first real alarm, under the protection of H.M’s 10th Regiment and guns”.

A meeting was that evening held at Major Nation’s house, at my request, to consider the best plan to be adopted for the protection of the place.

The Judge’s proposal, which if acted upon, would have involved at that early date the abandonment of Patna, and thus have produced a general, and probably, a fatal panic, was not of course to be entertained for a moment, and I mentioned at the meeting the idea which I had already formed in my own mind, and which was eventually adopted – viz. to stand our ground at Patna, whatever happened and prepare my own house, as a place of general rendezvous. This house, being situated in open ground, at a distance from the Bazars, and having a very extensive flat roof, capable of holding all who were likely to resort to it, appeared on all accounts to be best adopted for the purpose of protection and defence.

Several other plans were suggested, and discussed during the next few days. The occupation of the Collector’s Cutcherry, and the Opium Godown, as a general rendezvous, was successfully proposed, approved for a time and abandoned, and, while conflicting opinions were still causing a division of council, events drove us to a decision.

On the evening of the 7th of June, while driving on the race-course [the present Gandhi Maidan in Patna], we received intimation from Dinapore, that the Regiments were in a state of excitement, and that a rise was apprehended that very night, by the military authorities.

All was now excitement and alarm; there was no time to be lost in argument or discussion; everyone referred to me for decision, and I declared at once, for the plan originally proposed by me, viz. the occupation of my own house; my wife and myself were in a Curricle [a light two wheeled chariot drawn by two horses] when we received the news; we drove off at once to the house of the nearest residents, and informed them quietly of the plan decided upon, begging them to come over without any delay, bag and baggage, to the rendezvous; messengers were at the same time despatched to warn the more distant residents. In less than an hour almost every man, woman and child (excepting some few who lived close to the Opium Godown, and found refuge there) were hurrying helter and skelter to our house, followed by a heavy phalanx of beds, clothes, pillows, mattresses and other domestic “impediments”.

The intimation sent was imminent, and from the best authority; no one knew at what moment the Mutiny night break out, whether the Sepoys would bear down at once on Patna, whether they would be joined and supported by the townspeople, or by our defenders, the men of the local Police.

Dinapore is eight miles from Bankipore [Bankipur is the part of Patna where British officials resided], but long-legged Pandies [‘Pandies’ was a term used frequently by the British in those days for those who took part in the revolt, especially mutinous sipahis. It was a term of contempt, derived from Mangal Pandey’s surname] travel marvellously quick, and would have done the distance in less than two hours, if they chose; every minute therefore was of importance, and I confess to no little anxiety, until all the fugitives were fairly within the house, and the gentlemen on whom we could rely, at hand with their revolvers and double-barrelled guns.

It was a lovely night, and by the time that all were assembled the moon had arisen, and the grounds and garden were lit almost as day; every room in the house was filled with occupants; in one a bevy of children of every of size, age and disposition, the sleepy, the cross, the silent and the squalling were stretched in every conceivable attitude on the floor. In another a group of nervous ladies scarcely knowing what to apprehend: Strange Ayahs were stealing to and from with noiseless step, and bearing unintelligible bundles, agitated gentlemen, cool gentlemen and fussy gentlemen, gentlemen with guns and swords, and gentlemen without guns and swords, were holding consultations in groups; outside the house, a body of the Nujeebs [‘najibs’ or irregular troops], or local Police battalion were assembled under the command of Major Nation, while a small party of Holmes’s Troopers, were ready mounted near the door; the rattling of carriages, the screaming of children, men’s hoarse voices, servants shouting – formed on the entrance side of the house, a Babel of confusion. … [Subsequently, repressive measures were taken to ensure the safety of the city, and peace was maintained till the end of the June 1857.]

NEWS OF ATTACK

This, however, was not destined to continue. On the 3rd of July, just as we were sitting down to dinner, the Magistrate rushed into the house, and calling me out, informed me that news had just been brought of a party of several hundred men having attacked the house of [the] Roman Catholic priest in the heart of the town.

I immediately directed Captain Rattray to march down with the Magistrate and 150 Sepoys to the scene of the disturbance, dispatched messages to all the residents, and rode round myself to the nearest houses to warn the occupants. …

After my return we all remained outside the house anxiously looking for the return of the messengers, who had been successively dispatched, on horseback or in Ekkas [light vehicles drawn by a single horse], to bring tidings from the city.

While thus assembled, a horseman dashed up the avenue, with a drawn sword in his hand, and called out in a loud voice, “Mr. Tayler: where’s Mr. Tayler?” on receiving an answer he said , “Dr. Lyell is shot, the city is up, we were too few, and have been obliged to retreat” [Dr. Lyell was the Deputy Opium Agent, Patna Opium Agency. This was a powerful position, since Patna was the headquarters of the East India Company’s opium business in Bihar]. He then hurriedly related all that he knew about this melancholy catastrophe, and galloped away again.

On hearing this account, thinking the affair, from this gentleman’s statement, more serious than I had at first imagined, I dispatched one of my servants, on my fastest horse to Dinapore, and requested the General to send us 50 Europeans.

The requisition was promptly complied with, and the detachment marched into our grounds, between 2 and 3 o’clock A.M.

Before they arrived, however, we had received intelligence that the insurgents had been dispersed, one man having been killed, and another wounded. …

[On 4th July] the deputy Magistrate, Moula Buksh to whom the Magistrate had entrusted the investigation of the case, came to me in great triumph with some murderous looking arms and implements (among which was an English fencing mask) and a large packet of letters, all of which had been found in the house of in the house of Peer Ali Khan, the leader of the outbreak and Captain of the rebels; numerous accomplices were seized during the next few days, and among them, after a short resistance, in which he was wounded, Peer Ali himself; ample evidence was, by the exertions of Moula Buksh, obtained, convicting these men of active participation in the outrage, 21 were hanged, 23 imprisoned.

PEER ALI COURAGE

Peer Ali himself was a model of the desperate and determined fanatic; repulsive in appearance, with a brutal and sullen countenance, he was calm, self-possessed, and almost dignified in language and demeanour.

After capital sentence had been pronounced upon him, I sent for him (as I generally did with such criminals) and questioned him in my private room, in hopes of eliciting some further information regarding the plot.

Heavily fettered, his soiled garments stained deeply with blood from a wound in his side, confronted with myself and several other English gentlemen, the last hope of life departed, not for a moment did he betray agitation, despondency, or fear.

On being asked whether he could do anything to make it worth while to spare his life, he answered with supreme coolness and some contempt: “There are some cases in which it is good to save life, others in which it is better to lose it”. He then taunted me with the oppression I had exercised, and concluded his speech by saying, “You may hang me, or such as me every day, but thousands will rise in my place, and your object will never be gained.”

After this defiance, he joined his manacled hands, and said, with the utmost politeness, as if he was on the best of terms with himself, the world, and me, “I have something to ask” – “Well, what is it? Speak,” – “My house?” – “It will be razed to the ground,” – “My property?” – “It will be confiscated.” – “My children”, and there for the first time, his voice faltered and his tone betrayed emotion. – On my asking him where his children were, he said they were in Oude, and all I could tell him was, that, under the circumstances of that country it was impossible to make either guess or promise in regard to them.

He then salaamed, respectfully rose on the order being given and walked out unmoved, and, to all appearance unconcerned.

I have dwelt at some length on the description of this man, because he is the type of a class, with many of whom we in this country have to deal, men whose unconquerable fanaticism renders them dangerous enemies, and whose stern resolution entitles them, in some measure, to admiration and respect.

Peer Ali was a native of Lucknow, but had resided for many years at Patna; he was by trade, a Book-seller, and I strongly suspect that he may have originally established himself here, for the express purpose of carrying on the intrigues which issued in this abortive out-break.

The letters discovered in his house serve to show, that, for several years past, he had been in correspondence with different parties, principally with one ‘Musee ool zuman’, a Lucknow man, who followed the same trade and that he had, in communication with these parties, deliberately discussed and matured seditious plans against the British Government.

CONSIDERED PLAN

It was proved that during the few months prior to his capture, he had, assisted by … ‘Guseeta’ a notorious and consummate villain, engaged numerous men and kept them in pay, with instructions, as some of the accomplices themselves described to me, that they should be ready, when called upon to fight for their “deen and the emperor of Delhi”.

The letters of ‘Musee ool zuman’ appear to afford a most instructive and interesting commentary upon the late disastrous events, and they prove, beyond a doubt, the following important facts.

First, that an anti-Christian crusade (if I may use such an expression) has been for some time past, deliberately contemplated …

Secondly, that for the accomplishment of this object, it was understood and enjoined that all sects and classes, Hindoos, Wahabees and even Rafzees [a sect which is regarded as having ‘deviated’], were to combine with the orthodox Mahomedans.

Thirdly, that the arguments employed to excite the conspirators to action, are all based on the assumption, whether sincere or pretended, that the covert purpose of the British Government has been, for some years past, secretly to undermine and destroy the religion of the native, whether Mahomedan or Hindoo, and thus, many of the late orders, rules and regulations, the abolition of customs, the new rules regarding the prisoners’ food, the shaving of their beards, each and all of these matters were taken advantage of, and employed by the instigators of the insurrection, to exasperate the people, and seduce the army from their allegiance.

It must be remembered that these letters were all found in one man’s house, and only accidentally discovered; they cannot, therefore, be regarded as anything like a complete or full exposure of the secret design of the conspirators, but as a mere example, as a stray mineral, on the mountain top, indicates the vein beneath the surface.

The conclusion obviously suggested by common sense, is, that if one accidental seizure has disclosed so much, even in the house of a single individual, much more must remain behind.

Peer Ali Khan would never have kept men in pay for months together, appointed Darogahs, and distributed hard money for the mere purpose of a street row, and the inference from what was discovered, especially when confirmed, as it is, by the confessions of the conspirators themselves, the testimony of witnesses, and the collateral evidence of facts is, that this scheme, which failed in the execution, was part and parcel for a more general and extensive plot, which, but for the measures taken to anticipate and baffle it, would have issued in disastrous consequences.