whole block of buildings, and inflicted a very heavy loss on the enemy, the attack having been one of very desperate character. This was the sternest struggle which occurred during the siege. "From thenceforward the chief engineer pushed his approach with the greatest judgment through the enclosures by the aid of the sappers and of heavy guns, the troops immediately occupying the ground as he advanced, and the mortars being moved from one position to another as the ground was won on which they could be placed.

"The buildings to the right, and the Secunder Bagh, were taken in the early morning of the same day, without opposition.* During the night of the 12th Sir

*The following description of the Secunder Bagh, the scene of a terrible slaughter during the first advance of Sir Colin Campbell upon Lucknow, from the pen of an eye-witness, appeared in the columns of the Times newspaper:—

"After a sharp canter through this deserted village we turned into a wider street towards the left, and in front of us, a few hundred yards off, there came in sight one of those high square enclosures surrounded by particoloured walls with gateways and towers, which are the general type of country residences or pleasure palaces in Oude. It was the Secunder Bagh. Near one of the angles was drawn up a battery of field artillery, and a red-coated sentry stood in the shade of the angle tower to which we were advancing. It was the angle at which the breach was made, and where most of the stormers entered, on that terrible day. We found a party of the 53rd Regiment, to which these quarters were not new, posted inside the building. Their sentries were watching a battery of the enemy's, and a number of their men in a village or suburb on our front, but there was no fire on either side. I never recollect encountering any odour so disgusting and intolerable as that which assailed our nostrils on approaching the northern side

James Outram was reinforced with a number of heavy guns and mortars, and directed to increase his fire on the Kaiser Bagh, while, at the same time, mortars placed in a position at the Begum's house never ceased to play on the Imambarrah, the next large palace it was necessary to storm, between the Begum Kotee and the Kaiser Bagh.

"On Brigadier-General Franks, C.B., who had relieved Sir E. Lugard, and the 2nd division with the 4th division on the 12th instant, devolved the duty of attacking the Imambarrah. A column of attack was formed for that purpose by Brigadier D.Russell, on the morning of the 14th. In the meantime, the Maharajah Jung Bahadoor, with a force of about 9000 men and 24 field guns, drawn by men, had arrived, and taken his position in our line on the 12th instant, and moved close to the canal on the 13th.

"At my request his Highness was begged by Brigadier-General Macgregor, C.B., the special commissioner attached to him, to pass the canal and attack the suburbs in his front and considerably to the left of Banks's house. To this his Highness acceded with much willingness, and his force was most advantageously employed in thus covering my left for several days, during which, from the nature of our opera

of this enclosure. The ground was covered with grinning skulls and fragments of burnt skeletons. It was a veritable Golgotha. In this spot 2000 sepoys met a terrible punishment for their crimes. The most callous of men in smell and sight must have been glad to leave the place, and the officers declared to us that they could not keep the men on that side of the square."

tions, I was obliged to mass all the available strength of the British force towards the right, in the joint attack carried along both banks of the Goomtee.

"The Imambarrah was carried early on the 14th, and the Sikhs of the Ferozepore regiment, under Major Brasyer, pressing forward in pursuit, entered the Kaiser Bagh, the third line of the defences having been turned without a single gun being fired from them.

"Supports were quickly thrown in, and all the well-known ground of former defence and attack, the Mess-house, the Tara Kotee, the Motee Mahul, and the Chutter Munzil, were rapidly occupied by the troops, while the engineers devoted their attention to securing the position towards the south and west. The day was one of continued exertion, and every one felt that, although much remained to be done before the final expulsion of the rebels, the most difficult part of the undertaking had been overcome."

The enemy now began to evacuate the doomed city in hasty flight, and thousands of fugitives were seen escaping to the north west. Flying columns were sent after them, and building after building which had been occupied as a defence was successively taken until all but the city itself was in our hands.

"On the 19th," says the Commander-in-Chief, "a combined movement was organized.

"Sir James Outram moved forward directly on the Moosa Bagh, the last position of the enemy on the line of the Goom

while Brigadier Campbell, moving right round the western side from the Alum Bagh, prevented retreat in that direction.

"The rout was now complete, and great loss was inflicted on the enemy by all these columns.

"On the 21st, Sir E. Lugard was directed to attack a stronghold held by Moulvie in the heart of the city. This he occupied after a sharp contest, and it now became possible to invite the return of the inhabitants, and to rescue the city from the horrors of this prolonged contest.

"Brigadier Campbell, with his cavalry, attacked the enemy when retreating from the city, in consequence of Sir E. Lugard's advance, inflicting heavy loss, and pursued him for six miles."

The following vivid description will give some idea of the scenes that took place when Lucknow fell into our hands:

"Those stately buildings, which had never before been entered by European foot except by a Commissioner of Oude on a State day, were now open to the common soldier and to the poorest camp follower of our army. How their splendours vanished like snow in sunshine! The destruction around one, the shouting. the smashing noises, the yells of the Sikhs and natives, were oppressive. I was glad to get away just as our mortars began to thunder away at the enemy's works again. There were burning stockades, and thousands of pounds of powder near at hand. In every court there was abundance of all kinds of ammunition, except sixpounder shot, which, as well as many nine-pounder balls, were rudely made of hammered iron. In one court we found a large

brass mortar, with heaps of live brass and stone shells near it, but I could not find any fusees, as the enemy seldom used shell, notwithstanding that I saw a good many of our own in the Kaiser Bagh; I presume that they did not know how to manufacture the fusee composition. It was late in the evening when we returned to camp, through roads thronged with at least 20,000 camp followers, all staggering under loads of plunder-the most extraordinary and indescribable spectacle I ever beheld-Coolies, syces, kitmutgars, dhooly-bearers, Sikhs, grass-cutters, a flood of men covered with clothing not their

own, carrying on heads and shoulders looking-glasses, mirrors, pictures, brass-pots, swords, firelocks, rich shawls, scarfs, embroidered dresses, all the loot' of ransacked palaces. The noise, the dust, the shouting, the excitement were almost beyond endurance. Lucknow was borne away piece-meal to camp, and the wild Ghoorkas and Sikhs, with open mouths and glaring eyes, burning with haste to get rich, were contending fiercely against the current as they sought to get to the sources of such unexpected wealth."*

*Letter from the Special Correspondent of the Times newspaper.