Page:Notes by the Way.djvu/341

 NOTES BY THE WAY.

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��of supplies, not one of the 3,000 men, women, and children who sought shelter within that place towards the end of May, or of the 2,000 more men of Outram and Havelock's force who joined the original garrison there on September 25th, could have been saved. They must all have perished either by starvation or by falling into the hands of the enemy. But for Henry Lawrence there would have been no ' Defence of Lucknow,' and no ' Relief of Lucknow ' to commemorate to-day."

It is pleasing to note Lord Roberta's high testimony to the policy of Lord Canning. He had been but a little more than a year in the country,

" but he proved himself worthy of the high position for which he had been selected. His calmness during great excitement prevented panic becoming serious, and his policy of mercy at a time when a thirst for vengeance, created by the atrocities perpetrated at Cawnpore and elsewhere, was not unnaturally very acute, did much to heal the feeling of racial animosity which existed."

The Athenceum strongly opposed the mischievous suggestions being made at the time of the Mutiny, and I know, from a letter from Lord Granville in 1858, that Lord Canning was grateful to The Athenceum for standing up for him at the time of the attacks on " Clemency Canning." Lord Granville forwarded, at Lord Canning's wish, a memorandum on his policy, adding, in a private letter, that he knew that the editor and proprietors of The Athe- nceum had never given in to the outcry.

At the dinner the services of the Naval Brigade and its gallant Sir William commander, Sir William Peel, were not forgotten. The loose Peel and the clothing of the sailors gave them a great advantage over the soldiers, and enabled them to undergo more hardships. The tight belt worn by the European troops occasioned much discomfort, and after long marches the pressure against the side frequently caused a serious wound that mortified.

��The

AthtncKum and Lord Canning.

��Naval Brigade.

��A poem by Gerald Massey which appeared in The Athenceum of the 12th of June, 1858, rendered tribute to ' Sir Robert's Sailor Son,' closing with the following lines :

Our old Norse Fathers speak in you,

Speak with their strange sea-charm, That sets our hearts a-beating to

The music of the storm. There comes a Spirit from the deep,

The salt wind waves its wings, That rouses from its Inland sleep

The blood of the old Sea Kings.

Nearly 600 survivors of the Mutiny were present at the banquet, while about 700 hampers were sent to those too infirm to attend.

��Poem by Gerald

Massey.

�� �