Page:Sir Henry Lawrence, the Pacificator.djvu/207

198 outbreak so large a proportion of the English community in the out-stations of Oudh were aided and eventually saved.

It was also in consequence of his resolute stand at Lucknow and his organization of the defence of the Residency that it became an immediate theatre of war, and hence kept engaged on the spot that large army which would otherwise have gone to Delhi, and so increased the strength of the mutineer army there during its siege as to have made its capture impossible.

His action, too, it was, in the Karauli adoption case, that stayed the dismay and allayed the irritation of the princes of Rájputána, who, till then, were well on their way to that bitter stage of hostility that would otherwise have excited them, on the outbreak, into joining the rebel cause.

Lastly, great as had been the services of others in organizing the successful administration of the Punjab, it was, in a large measure, his guidance, and the tone he introduced, together with the strong and universal goodwill that his personal bearing and influence created there, that led to that assistance and support which we received from the Punjab while the vital struggle was going on, and that conduced so greatly to its success. Not only does this remark apply to Delhi and the attitude of the Punjab itself, but also to the prominent aid given by the previously raised Punjab battalions elsewhere, as in Lucknow, in the Dinapore and Arrah districts, and in securing Allahábád.