military services of Major-General Sir David Ochterlony, it would be superfluous to dilate; they have been acknowledged in terms of the highest praise by successive Governments; they justly earned a special and substantial reward from the Hon. East India Company; they have been recognised with expressions of admiration and applause by the British Parliament; and they have been honoured with signal marks of the approbation of his Sovereign…
… The confidence which the government reposed in an individual gifted with such rare endowments, was evinced by the high and responsible situations which he successively filled, and the duties which he discharged with eminent ability and advantage to the Public Interests. As an especial testimony of the high respect in which the character and services of Major-General Sir D. Ochterlony are held, and as a public demonstration of sorrow for his demise, the Governor-General in Council is pleased to direct that minute guns to the number of sixty-eight, corresponding with his age, be fired this evening at sunset, from the ramparts of Fort William.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Calcutta, October 182' His Excellency General the Right Hon. Stapleton Lord Combermere, GCB, GCH amp;c, Commander-in-Chief of all the Forces in India, as he was styled, received Hervey warmly but without the same careless ease of their previous acquaintances. They had first met eleven years ago in the field at Toulouse, as Hervey lay painfully under the ministration of a surgeon. The commander of Wellington's cavalry had been all praise and warm regards then for Hervey in that culminating battle of the campaign, in his despatches writing that 'by his bold and independent action he averted what might at the very least have been an embarrassment for the mounted arm'. They had met on three occasions since then, the last being that most diverting evening at Apsley House before Hervey had come out to India, when he had met Lady Katherine Greville.
'I fancy you might care for some coffee, Hervey? It's a damnably cold morning.' The invitation was to help himself from a pot on a table covered with maps and sketches, at which stood Colonel Macleod, who was to be brigadier of artillery, and Colonel Anburey, who was to be the same of engineers. Hervey acknowledged them both with a brisk bow of the head before pouring some of the strong black liquid into a big cup and adding a good measure of sugar.
'You set us nicely in apposition, Captain Hervey,' said Colonel Anburey, nodding with a grim, if perhaps wry, sort of smile at Colonel Macleod.
Hervey knew exactly what he meant. 'I fear the sappers will have little chance of doing their work without the support of the guns, Colonel, for the approaches to the walls are coverless. And yet the walls are so solid and thick that the guns shall have to come in close, and that can only be done by sapping from outside the range of the fort. Indeed, I wonder that it will not be better to mine one or two of the bastions, for a breach will otherwise be devilish hard.'
Colonel Anburey shook his head. 'I read your opinion, Hervey, but it is out of the question if the country lies as you have drawn it.' 'Too far to tunnel,' explained Lord Combermere. Hervey looked puzzled.
Colonel Anburey supplied the detail. 'The greatest distance a gallery may be driven is two hundred yards. Beyond that there is insufficient air for a man to breathe, and indeed for the explosive to operate efficiently.'
Hervey was confident he had surveyed the defences accurately. 'That is indeed a pity. Colonel. It will be an affair of heavy pounding therefore.' And it need not have been, he said to himself later. Six months ago Ochterlony might well have carried the day at a stroke, with that never-failing ally surprise had the Governor-General allowed him to try – even with half the number of men with which Lord Lake had failed. At least he might by now be keeper of the gates in those great walls, thereby shutting out every freebooting Jhaut and brigand who at this very moment was flocking to Durjan Sal's banner.
But the Governor-General had dithered, fatally. Eyre Somervile had told Hervey of how he had gone to Lord Amherst's office the morning Ochterlony's despatch had arrived from Dehli. Amherst had looked alarmed: there was ill news enough already from the east without more from the west.
'You read my earlier minute on the situation in Bhurtpore, Excellency?' Somervile had asked, careful to observe the punctilio of address for once. Lord Amherst had looked uncertain.
'Three months ago the Rajah of Bhurtpore died, and his infant son succeeded him under the guardianship of his uncle.'
Lord Amherst's face had shown a flicker of recall.
'However, for reasons that should not detain us, the late rajah's nephew, Durjan Sal, has laid claim to the succession.'
'Why do you say they should not detain us, Mr Somervile?' Lord Amherst had demanded, his brow furrowed anxiously. 'We are, by your tone, very evidently to be detained by one claim or the other.'
'Durjan Sal disputes the legitimacy of the rightful heir, Balwant Sing. But by all the evidence hitherto before us this is a most villainous claim.' 'Before us? I have not heard anything of it!'
'No, my lord. Matters in this regard have fallen entirely to the resident in Dehli.'
'Ochterlony? Good God: what has he been about?'
Although Somervile shared the general opinion of Sir David Ochterlony – that his best days were long past – he had sufficient regard for his judgement in the rights of things, if not in their consequences. 'Sir David recognized the rightful claim of Balwant Sing twelve months ago by vesting him in a khelat-'
'What in heaven's name was he doing? Such a thing is not done without presumptions of obligation. What is Bhurtpore to us? I consider it very rash.'
Somervile had sighed to himself. 'The fact is, my lord, that Sir David has bestowed the Company's recognition on Balwant Sing and-' 'Well, he had better renounce it. We have trouble enough in Ava. Campbell's still stuck in the mud at Rangoon, and his ships gathering weed.' The Governor-General had waved his hand as if the matter was done with.
At whose door might blame lie in that regard, Somervile had been minded to ask. 'I'm afraid it is too late. It seems Durjan Sal moved against Balwant Sing's guardian some weeks ago – and very bloodily – and has proclaimed himself regent-' 'So?'
Somervile had tried hard to hide his irritation at the Governor-General's disregard of the dangers the country powers might pose. 'Sir David has already denounced Durjan Sal as an usurper of supreme authority, by which he means, of course, the Company-'
'I am perfectly well aware what he means, Somervile! He must be told at once to moderate his demands and conclude the affair by diplomacy.'
'I fear it is too late for that. He has called on the Jhauts to rally to him and announced that he will appear at the head of a British force to restore Balwant Sing!'
Lord Amherst had then, by Somervile's account, looked like a man winded by a body blow. His brow had furrowed even more, signalling his utter incomprehension. 'Where is this force to come from, Somervile?'
Somervile had raised his eyebrows. 'By all reckoning he might muster ten thousand men at most, scarcely a thousand of them white.'
Lord Amherst had fallen silent. 'Would that be enough? Sir David was – may yet be – a fine general…'
Somervile had put on a most determined expression. 'Opinions vary and differ. The commander-in-chief's is as yet unsettled. His deputy is of the opinion that it would be very far from sufficient. Bhurtpore, you may recall, is the fortress that defied Lord Lake more than twenty years ago, and nothing, I understand, has rendered it any less formidable since then.'
The remaining colour had disappeared from Lord Amherst's face. 'Then the consequences will be very grave. I cannot suffer humiliation in the west, at this time especially.'
Somervile had been much perturbed by the Governor-General's alarm. 'But, Lord Amherst, I understand that the commander-in-chief's opinion tends to reinforcement. If we at once send word to Bombay, and to Madras, we may assemble full three times Sir David's present number, and a proper siege train, and that shall surely be enough to subdue Bhurtpore!'
'No, no, no! We want no second campaign while Ava is undecided. It is quite impossible!'
