Talookdar, to whom the chance offered itself, aided, more or less
actively, in the protection of European fugitives. This phase in the
character of the disturbances in Oudh is not generally known; but it
is nevertheless true, and is due emphatically and solely, under Divine
Providence, to the benignant personal character and the popular policy
of Sir Henry Lawrence.

'14. The 1st of May saw our disturbances commence with the mutiny of
the 7th Oudh Irregular Infantry. This, its suppression, and the durbar
in which he distributed rewards and delivered a speech on the aspect
of affairs, have been fully described elsewhere, and need not be
repeated by me.

'15. The durbar was held on the twelfth. I am not aware whether he had
any intelligence at that time of the Meerut outbreak. The telegrams,
when they did arrive, were vague; but he indubitably kept on his guard
immediately on receiving them. The Cavalry were piqueted between the
cantonments and the Residency, and the Infantry and Artillery were
kept prepared for movement. His plans were evidently already decided;
but they were to be effected simultaneously and not successively,
and the movements of the Europeans were somewhat dependent on the
arrangements of the Quarter-master-General's Department. It was not
until the sixteenth that the tents required for the 32nd were ready;
and the morning of the 17th May saw an entirely new and effective
disposition of the troops. Half the Europeans were at the Residency,
commanding the Iron Bridge; half, with the Artillery, were at the
south end of the cantonments; the bridge of boats was moved and under
control, while the Muchee Bawn, not yet sufficiently cleansed from
its old conglomeration of filth, was garrisoned by a selected body of
Native troops. The whole of these dispositions could not have been
effected at an earlier date, and Sir Henry would not do them piecemeal
or successively. Simultaneous, they were effective, and tended to
paralyze any seditious plots that may have been hatching. Successive
and piecemeal, they would have incited the sepoys to mutiny and the
turbulent to insurrection.'

_Memorandum, 18th May, inserted in Sir Henry's own hand in his ledger
book._

'Time is everything just now. Time, firmness, promptness,
conciliation, and prudence; every officer, each individual European,
high and low, may at this crisis prove most useful, or even dangerous.
A firm and cheerful aspect must be maintained--there m