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    John Nicholson The Lion of the Punjaub
    John Nicholson The Lion of the Punjaub
    John Nicholson The Lion of the Punjaub
    Ebook120 pages1 hour

    John Nicholson The Lion of the Punjaub

    By R. E. Cholmeley

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    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 26, 2013
    John Nicholson The Lion of the Punjaub

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      Book preview

      John Nicholson The Lion of the Punjaub - R. E. Cholmeley

      The Project Gutenberg eBook, John Nicholson, by R. E. Cholmeley

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

      Title: John Nicholson

      The Lion of the Punjaub

      Author: R. E. Cholmeley

      Release Date: July 2, 2007 [eBook #21985]

      Language: English

      Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

      ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN NICHOLSON***

      E-text prepared by Al Haines

      'Seize those men!' commanded Nicholson fiercely, as he pointed out the ringleaders.

      JOHN NICHOLSON

      THE LION OF THE PUNJAUB

      by

      R. E. CHOLMELEY

      "My Lord, you may rely upon this, that if ever

      there is a desperate deed to be done in India,

      John Nicholson is the man to do it."

      Sir Herbert Edwardes to Lord Canning,

      March 1857.

      WITH EIGHT COLOURED PLATES

      LONDON:

      ANDREW MELROSE

      16 PILGRIM STREET, E.C.

      1908

      TO

      GILBERT BRANDON WHITE

      CONTENTS

      LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

      Seize those men! commanded Nicholson fiercely, as he pointed

      out the ringleaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece

      One by one dropped through into the narrow street below

      They seated themselves and fixed their eyes upon the object

      of their adoration

      "You have just five minutes to read it and give me any message

      for your husband"

      They saw Nicholson himself fastened with ropes to a tree

      Portrait of John Nicholson

      He saw Nicholson's great form riding steadily on as if nothing was the matter

      A sepoy leaned out . . . and pointed his musket at the tall figure beneath him

      JOHN NICHOLSON

      CHAPTER I.

      EASTWARD HO!

      High up on the crest of the wild and rugged Margalla Pass, on the north-western frontier of India, stands a plain stone obelisk. It looks down on to the road that winds from Rawal Pindi to Hasan Abdal, the road where once only the Afghan camel-train passed on its way to and from Peshawur, but where now a railway marks the progress of modern India. Severely simple in its exterior, the obelisk is yet one of the most notable monuments to be seen in our great Eastern Empire, for it commemorates a soldier-hero of high fame. On its base is inscribed the name of John Nicholson.

      This Margalla monument is not the only memorial to Nicholson in India: there is a tablet to his memory in a church at Bannu, the scene of his administrative work; and there is at Delhi, where he lies buried, a fine bronze statue of recent erection. But the stone obelisk in the frontier pass will stand for ever as the most striking tribute to the man who played so prominent a part in the saving of India. Its very position appeals strongly to the imagination. Here it was, in the district which he ruled so wisely and well, that Nicholson's early reputation was made; and here it is that among the wild tribesmen whom he tamed to his will his memory is still fondly cherished.

      Who was John Nicholson? The question may well rise to the lips of many, for the writers of history textbooks have hitherto done him scant justice. And yet the tale of the Great Mutiny cannot be properly told without due acknowledgment being made to his genius. Those who know how the fate of India trembled in the balance in those dark days of 1857, know what we owe to him among other strong men whom the occasion brought to the front. It is now fifty years since Nicholson fell in the hour of victory at Delhi; the present year is, therefore, a fitting time to retell the story of his short but glorious career.

      Like his distinguished chief, Sir Henry Lawrence, John Nicholson was an Irishman. He was born, in December 1822, at Lisburn, near Belfast, where his father, Dr. Alexander Nicholson, had a flourishing practice. On the paternal side he came of a family which had been established in Ireland since the sixteenth century, while through his mother, who was a Miss Hogg, he was connected with a well-known Ulster family, of which the late Lord Magheramorne was a representative.

      Of young John's early life several stories have been preserved which give some indication of his character. According to Sir John Kaye, he was a precocious boy almost from his cradle; thoughtful, studious, of an inquiring nature; and he had the ineffable benefit of good parental teaching of the best kind. Both his father and mother were deeply religious people, and their children—seven in all—were brought up with an intimate knowledge of the Bible. One day, it is said, when John was three years old, Mrs. Nicholson found him alone in a room with a knotted handkerchief in his hand and striking furiously at some invisible object. On being asked what he was doing, John answered, Oh, mamma dear, I am trying to get a blow at the devil! He is wanting me to be bad. If I could get him down, I'd kill him!

      The boy's willingness to be taught enabled him to learn how to read and write at the early age of four. When, five years later, his father died, and the family removed to Delgany, in County Wicklow, he was sent to a school in that town. Thence he proceeded to the Royal School at Dungannon, where, although he did not greatly distinguish himself as a scholar, he made good progress. His chief characteristics were a fiery temper and a

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