Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/1139

CLY  shock to encounter before his object was gained. Every building was garrisoned and loopholed, every palace constructed into a fortress which obstructed their advance. By successive and persevering efforts, however, they were all overcome—the Martiniére carried after a sharp conflict, the bridge of the canal forced, and with infinite difficulty heavy guns dragged up to batter the Secunderbagh, garrisoned by two thousand of the best sepoy troops. On to the assault rushed the 93rd and the 2nd Punjaub infantry at a run, striving who should first penetrate in; and they effected an entrance at the same time, and awfully avenged the massacre of Cawnpore, by putting the whole defenders to the sword.

Still the Shah Nussief's mosque stood in the way, strongly garrisoned by sepoys, and till it was carried access to the residency was impossible. Peel's guns were brought up to breach the walls, but the fire of musketry from them was so severe, that the gunners were all struck down and the guns silenced. Sir Colin then ordered up the 93rd, and assembling them around him, told them that the guns were silenced, but the mosque must be carried that night, and they must do it with their bayonets, and he would put himself at their head. He did so accordingly. Sir Colin himself and all his staff leading on the assault were wounded or had their horses shot under them; Major Alison, his military secretary, lost his arm in the advance; Captain Alison, his aid-de-camp, was struck down; Colonel Adrian Hope, the bravest of the brave. Sir D. Baird, and Captain Foster, both aid-de-camps to Sir Colin, had their horses shot under them. Success seemed hopeless; for no fissure could be discovered in the massy walls, from which incessantly streamed a terrific fire of musketry. The 93rd was fast falling, and orders were already given to retreat, when Colonel Adrian Hope, with a party of the 93rd, found a small opening, which, being enlarged, they got in, and the fort was carried. This success was decisive—access was obtained next day to the residency, Havelock, his brave garrison, and the whole women and children were brought off in safety; and Sir Colin having achieved this deliverance, set out with the utmost expedition to succour Wyndham, who was hard pressed in his rear.

It was high time he should do so; for that general, over-powered by an overwhelming superiority of forces, had been driven back into Cawnpore. The town was taken, the fort hard pressed, and already the enemy's balls were beginning to fall on the bridge, the sole line of communication of the troops. In a few hours more the bridge would have been taken, the army cut off from its base, itself destroyed, and India lost, for there was no reserve at Calcutta to effect a second deliverance of Lucknow. But Sir Colin soon restored matters; his gray hairs were worth a thousand men. The enemy was soon repelled from the heights they had won which commanded the bridge, and the long file of wounded men, women, and children having been got in safety across, and despatched to Allahabad, the chief sallied forth at the head of six thousand men, and by an extraordinary display of skill and tactics, succeeded in completely defeating an army double the size of his own, flushed with victory, and taking all their guns. This was the crisis of the war—the tide had turned—the Scottish hero had, with an energy and skill equal to the greatest efforts of Napoleon, with an army of seven thousand defeated seventy thousand, brought off the long train of helpless beings without the loss of one, under their very eyes, and delivered India from the greatest peril in which it had been placed since the victories of Clive, a century before, had laid the foundation of the British empire in the East.

The subsequent career of Sir Colin happily proved but one unbroken succession of triumphs. Casting an eagle glance over every part of India, he despatched its forces in every direction, so as to crush all the efforts of the rebels. Before the hot weather had recommenced, he himself had regained the important post of Futtyghur, which restored the direct communication with Delhi and the Punjaub. No sooner had the next cool season commenced, than he advanced, with ten thousand men and eighty guns, a second time against Lucknow, and having by a most skilful movement succeeded in enfilading the whole of the enemy's works with his guns in their rear, he carried the begum's palace by storm, and made himself master of the whole city, with ninety-six guns, immense military stores, and resources of all kinds. This was immediately followed by an advance into Rohilcund, and the capture of Bareilly, the next greatest stronghold in possession of the insurgents, after several hard fought and brilliant actions. The return of the hot season having again necessarily suspended military operations, the interval of rest was turned to such good account by the veteran commander-in-chief, that when he took the field again in November, 1858, he succeeded in capturing the whole strongholds of Oude yet in the hands of the insurgents, and driving the remains of their scattered bands to perish in the wilds of the Nepaul mountains. Subsequent accounts contained the gratifying intelligence that Oude, the centre of the insurrection, was entirely pacified; two hundred and seventy-three forts in course of being demolished, and four hundred thousand stand of arms delivered up. For these astonishing successes, Sir Colin, with the entire approbation of the nation, was raised by her majesty to the peerage by the title of Lord Clyde. But history must, in justice to his transcendent merits, give him a still higher title, and pronounce him the greatest general whom Scotland has produced since the time of Robert Bruce, and one of the greatest benefactors to England who has ever appeared; for he preserved and strengthened in its hour of utmost need the British empire in the East. Kindly and affectionate in his dispositions, courteous and high-bred in his manners, independent and manly in his character; he united with these brilliant martial qualities, those most fitted to command respect and win regard in private life. Overflowing with courage, and ever in the front of battle, he was avaricious only of the blood of his soldiers; and by his mingled caution and dash, achieved his glorious successes with an incredibly small effusion of human blood. This great commander died at Chatham, in the house of his friend General Eyre, on the 14th August, 1863.—A. A.  CLYMER,, chairman of the committee which prevented the tea sent out by the English ministry from being sold in Philadelphia, and a signer of the American declaration of independence, born of a good family in Philadelphia in 1739; died in 1813.—F. B.  COBAD or CABADES, nineteenth king of Persia of the dynasty of the Sassanides, succeeded his brother, Palasch, in 486. A revolt of the people not long after placed his brother, Jamasp, upon the throne, but, by the assistance of the khan of Tartary, Cobad succeeded in subduing the usurper. He afterwards waged war with the Emperor Anastasius, who compelled him to pay a large ransom. He died in 531.—J. S., G.  COBB,, an English poet of some note, master of Christ's hospital, published "A Collection of Poems on several occasions," 1707; some translations; the Miller's Tale from Chaucer, and a Pindaric ode "the Female Reign," which was printed in Dodsley's Collection He died in 1713.—J. S., G.  COBBETT,, an English political writer, possessed of peculiar and independent personal characteristics, and of extraordinary influence, was the son of a farmer at Farnham, Surrey, where he was born in 1762. His education being uncared for at home, he took it in hand for himself, and obtained such a mastery of the English language, that few better examples of its severe and vigorous power can be obtained than those afforded by the writings of William Cobbett. Wearied of farm work, he became copying clerk to an attorney in London, but soon deserted this monotonous avocation for the stirring adventures of the army. He proceeded in a regiment of foot, as a common soldier, to Nova Scotia, and in 1791 returned to England a sergeant-major, married, and obtained his discharge. In 1792 he went to France, intending to pass the winter in Paris; but hearing of the dethronement of the king and the massacre of the guards, he changed his route and embarked for Philadelphia, where he landed in October, 1792, and soon obtained abundant employment as a teacher of English to the numerous emigrants who had left France and St. Domingo to avoid the dangers of the Revolution. Cobbett was a thorough Englishman in heart and soul; and although he himself did not shrink from attacking the faults of his country, yet, when upon American soil, he upheld the English constitution as the type of perfection, and would not tolerate one upbraiding word against the government, even when men like Dr. Priestley were driven into exile. For eight years—1792 to 1800—Cobbett remained in America, and took an eager part in the discussion of the question whether an alliance should be sought with France or England. In numerous pamphlets, very personal and sarcastic but sufficiently masterly, which commanded an enormous circulation, Cobbett attacked the French or anti-federal party. The anti-federalists compared him to a porcupine; he accepted the name and 