Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/376

 seemed to demand. On 14 Feb. Outram first realised that the amirs intended open hostility. On the 15th his residence at Haidarabad was attacked by a force of eight thousand men under Mir Shahdad Khan and other principal chiefs. After four hours' gallant defence, Outram, with his little bodyguard of one hundred men, was compelled to evacuate in consequence of ammunition running short. He retired with his small force on board the steamer Satellite, and proceeded up the river under heavy fire for some miles. On 16 Feb. he joined Napier at Matári, sixteen miles above Haidarabad. Napier at once sent Outram off at his own request to burn the Miáni and neighbouring forests (shikárgáhs), in which it was expected the enemy would collect, and from which it would be difficult to dislodge them. He was employed on this duty while Napier was fighting the battle of Miáni (Meanee). Napier prefaced his despatch on this battle with a notice of the risks run by his commissioner at Haidarabad, and observed that the defence of the residency by Outram and the small force with him against such numbers of the enemy was so admirable that he would send a detailed account as a brilliant example of defending a military post. On 18 Feb. the amirs of Haidarabad, Mirs Hasan Khan, Shahdad, and Husain Ali Khan, surrendered. The two former were detained as prisoners, but the latter was released at Outram's request out of respect for the memory of his late father, Mir Nur Muhammad. Outram's functions as commissioner having ceased on the outbreak of hostilities, he left on 20 Feb. for Bombay, carrying despatches. In April he was presented at Bombay with a sword of honour of the value of three hundred guineas and a costly piece of plate, in token of the high estimation in which he was held for the intrepid gallantry which had marked his career in India, and more especially his heroic defence of the British residency at Haidarabad against an army of eight thousand Baluchis with six guns. For his services in the Sind campaign he was promoted brevet-lieutenant colonel on 4 July 1843, and made a C.B. Outram's share of the prize-money amounted to 3,000l., but he declined to take the money for himself, and distributed it among charitable institutions in India.

Outram returned to England in May 1843 with his mind filled with the unfortunate condition of the amirs of Sind, and during his furlough was much engaged in making representations on their behalf. He was also engaged in the great controversy on the annexation of Sind, and the difference of opinion between Napier and himself led to a serious rupture. The contest proved a long and costly one for Outram. For years the uncongenial paper warfare dragged on, and was the source of misrepresentations, misunderstandings, and aspersions which are better forgotten.

Intelligence of the revolution of Lahore and the murder of the Maharaja Sher Singh was received in London in November, and Outram returned to India in December, armed with a letter from the Duke of Wellington to the commander-in-chief in India. On arrival at Sir Hugh Gough's camp at Fathpur, Lord Ellenborough, who was there, refused him a personal interview, and objected to his joining Gough, but gave him political charge of Minar, an appendage of Indore. He reached his station, Mandlaisir, on 10 March 1844. There was not sufficient work to occupy him in Minar; he was worried with the Sind controversy, and in September he resigned his appointment, intending to return home.

An outbreak, however, in the southern Maráthá country between Bombay and Goa, and a check which a detachment, under Colonel Wallace of the Madras army, had received on 24 Sept. before the strong fort of Samangarh, led Outram to offer his services. He was sent on special duty, and joined Wallace on 11 Oct. On the 13th he was present at the capture of Samangarh. The rebellion spreading, he was attached to Major-general Delamotte's staff, and his duties were those of a special commissioner and head of the intelligence department. During the campaign he distinguished himself at the storming and capture of the forts of Páwangarh and Panála, and received the thanks of the government.

Outram returned to Bombay in December, and was at once ordered to take part in the suppression of disturbances in Sawant-Wari, south of the country he had just quitted. He was given a command of twelve hundred men, and did good service before Forts Manohar and Mansantosh, and in scouring the country, as well as in delicate negotiations with the Portuguese government of Goa.

In May 1845 Outram was appointed resident at Satára, and took up his appointment on 26 May, and in May 1847 he was transferred, at the instance of Sir George Clerk, governor of Bombay, to the British residency at Baroda, the highest position under the Bombay government. On 21 Feb. 1848 he became a regimental major. The murder in 1848 of Agnew and Anderson, the latter a brother of Outram's wife, brought on the second Sikh war, and again Outram applied to serve in the field; but ill-health compelled