1 Tie bravery of a
2 volunteer,
3 The magazine in the
4 fort blown up.
5 Capture of the city
6 of Multan, 3rd January,
7 1849,
8 Horrible sight in
9 the town,
10 Mal Raj retires to
11 the citadel.
12 The fort is stormed.
13 Mil R&j sues for
14 peace.
15 Mal Raj yields
16 unconditionally,
17 The citadel ig
18 suriendcred.
19 566 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
20 tain possession of the long line of suburbs that had been seized, while the
21 rest of the British force was left to prosecute the siege.
22 On the 29th, a body of the rebels, 2,000 strong, sallied out from the
23 Delhi gate of the city, but after an hour and a half of hard fighting, were
24 driven back within the walls. Great praise was won in this action by a
25 volunteer named MacMahon, who cut down the leader of the Sikh infantry,
26 a powerful man, dividing his head with one blow.
27 On the 30th, the principal magazine in the fort, in which was stored
28 5,000 maunds of powder, was blown up by a shell from a mortar, destroying
29 the great mosque, the lofty tower of which had long been the pride of the
30 ancient town. Five hundred of the garrison perished in this explosion.
31 On the 2nd of January, two breaches were reported practicable, one in
32 ‘the Khuni Burj (or Bloody Bastion) of the city, and the other at the Delhi
33 gate, and storming parties advanced and crossed the intervening ditch, but,
34 to their surprise, found the city wall in front, which the hollow had. hitherto
35 concealed, to be about 80 feet in height, unbreached and totally impracticable.
36 The division at this part of the city wall was therefore compelled to retire,
37 and repaired to the Bloody Bastion, to assist the other division engaged there.
38 The breach was easily surmounted, but on reaching the summit it was found
39 that it was retrenched inside. A most bloody struggle ensued. The columns
40 passed the trenches, pushed on to the ramparts, and planted the English flag
41 on the very crest of the breach. The insurgents having been driven into
42 holes and corners, the English became masters of the town. Terrible had
43 been the carnage during the siege and frightful the effect of the British
44 ordnance. The battered town of Multdn, on the 8rd of January, 1849, pre-
45 sented the appearance of a vessel wrecked and broken by a tremendous storm
46 which had driven it to an inhospitable shore. The streets were strewn with
47 slain Sikhs, whose long locks, matted with gore, and beards, blown about,
48 by the wind, gave the dead a demoniacal appearance. Nota house or wall
49 had escaped the effects of the English shells. All had been scorched and
50 blackened by the bombardment. M4ul Raj retired to the citadel with more
51 than 3,000 picked men; the rest all dispersed and fled. In vain did the
52 Dewdn make an endeavour to rally them. They were dispirited, and nothing
53 was left for the garrison but to sally or surrender. Mal Raj was now
54 reduced to the last extremity. A constant storm of shell had reduced the
55 interior of the fortress to a wreck. All the flour having been blown ap in
56 the explosion of the grand mosque, every soldier of the garrison was obliged
57 to grind the wheat for his own food. M4&l Réj’s chief advisers urgently
58 ressed him to surrender, and he promised either to do this or take poison,
59 Mul Rdj made overtures for peace, and, in one of his arzis to Major-General
60 Whish, he said: “If you grant me my life and protection to my women, I
61 surrender ; otherwise it is better to die with honour than live with disgrace.”
62 “You are,” said the rebel Dewd&n, “a sea of compassion ; if you forgive me, I
63 am fortunate ;if you do not, I meet my fate with contentment.” ‘To this the
64 British General replied: “I have neither authority to give your life, nor to
65 take it, except in open war. The Governor-General can only do this. And
66 as to your women, the British Government wars with men, not with women.”
67 On the morning of the 22nd of January, the murderer of Agnew and
68 Anderson gave himself up to justice. He came out of the citadel gorgeous-
69 ly attired in silks and riding a fine Arab steed. He was kept a prisoner
70 in the tent of the Chief Engineer, and, the fortress being occupied by the
71 British troops, the flag of Great Britain was seen waving in a fresh breeze
72 from the highest bastion of the famous citadel. The garrison, between
73 Sri Sattielf 9 agneshQAd i stupraryat the same Nimedsaribiistery® davaiizobewn their