CHAPTER V.

BUNNOO.

1848.

BETWEEN the Suliman range and the right bank of the Indus lies a long narrow stretch of country, called, from the three Derahs-Derah Ishmael Khan, Derah Futteh Khan, and Derah Ghazee Khan-the Derajat, or 'The Encampments.'

The Sikhs had divided this country into two districts, and in 1847 the northern, or Derah Ishmael Khan district, was held by Dewan Dowlut Rai; and the southern, or Derah Ghazee Khan district, by Dewan Moolraj.

It is with the first of these, or 'Camp of Ishmael,' that I wish principally to deal, because the next four years of Reynell Taylor's life were spent here, and some of the deeds for which his name afterwards became so famous in the Punjab were performed in this particular part of the Derajat.

After Edwardes returned from the first of his two expeditions to Bunnoo, he recommended that Dowlut Rai should be removed, and that General van Cortlandt, of the Sikh service, should have command of the Derah Ishmael Khan district; and, as it appeared that Dowlut Rai was quite incompetent to discharge the duties of

a governor, Henry Lawrence at once concurred in Edwardes's recommendation, and Cortlandt was appointed to the post.

The district of Derah Ishmael Khan, with which was included Derah Futteh Khan, was divided into ten different provinces, the principal and most northern being the province of Bunnoo. Thus Bunnoo belonged to Cortlandt's command; but, as it had never been actually conquered, his jurisdiction was only to extend to the troops employed in its reduction, and Edwardes was to have the sole responsibility of its effective subjugation.

As political officer, Edwardes was also charged with the revenue settlement of the whole district, and as soon as he could arrive at a preliminary arrangement with the mullicks of Bunnoo he intended to visit the other provinces, and effect a settlement of the revenue question there also for the next three years.

Cortlandt was meanwhile to remain in Bunnoo, and another officer was to be deputed to discharge the civil duties in Edwardes's absence. At first it appeared uncertain to whom this latter duty would fall, for during the days Edwardes and Reynell Taylor were together at Jhundoo Khail Edwardes had pointed out the certainty of his having to be absent on the Revenue Survey, and had strongly advised Reynell Taylor to come to Bunnoo in his place. But Reynell Taylor, diffident in his own powers, and thinking there were others far more eligible, hesitated to fall in with Edwardes's suggestion, and thus for some time the matter was left open.

Reynell Taylor's writings show how much he afterwards regretted not having at once offered to take up

Edwardes's duties. He knew the difficulties and dangers of the position, but he did not hesitate on this account, and when it appeared that Lumsden would be sent in his stead he wrote to Edwardes : I shall never forgive myself for having said anything to bias the choice between us.'

But Reynell Taylor was to have the opportunity of retrieving his position, and to seize it.

A few days after his return to Peshawur the news arrived of the first attempt on Edwardes's life. Then, without a moment's hesitation, Reynell Taylor sprang forward to help his friend, and to grapple for months with difficulties growing daily in intensity as the whisper of treachery and murder passed from mouth to mouth, and the booming of heavy guns was wafted on the wind from the direction of Mooltan.

I must pause here for a moment, because, in relation. to this apparent hesitation on Reynell Taylor's part to undertake the duty in Bunnoo, there are sundry rough drafts of letters written to Edwardes, as well as jottings in the diary before me, throwing distinct light on two material points in Reynell Taylor's character-his estimate of his own powers, and the strength of his religious convictions.

There is no doubt that, when Reynell Taylor and Edwardes were together in Bunnoo, in December 1847, many questions were seriously discussed by them; and that these discussions had a religious tendency seems clear from the letters which passed between them after they parted.

The characters of the two men at this time, though

curiously alike in some respects, differed very materially in others. Faith and humble reliance on the will of God, absolute fearlessness, perseverance, determination, high principle, and a certain buoyant cheerfulness under adverse circumstances, were common to both; but where they differed most was in the quality of self-reliance. Edwardes, in writing to Reynell Taylor, speaks of the enthusiasm which possesses him whenever he is placed in a position of great trust, but Reynell Taylor, at this period of his life, accepted such positions with diffidence, and only after full consideration.

He was ever ready to consider himself inferior in capacity to the men with whom he was thrown, but that he was so in reality it would be a mistake for one moment to suppose. The Lawrences were not likely to err in their choice of assistants; but, apart from this, Reynell Taylor's work in Cashmere, at Peshawur, and on the Kohat Kothul had already proved beyond doubt that he was possessed of administrative talents at least equal to, if not beyond, those of many of his distinguished contempo

raries.

From a feeling of diffidence he at first declined to attempt the work in Bunnoo, yet there was neither weakness nor want of manliness in the view he thus took of his own powers; it resulted from his contrasting his own shortcomings, as he imagined them, with that high standard to which he considered all men ought to attain, and there is ample evidence to show that his friends, and those under whom he served, were fully alive to this, and both understood and respected him for it.

His proneness to self-depreciation made him think he

was ever falling short of his high ideal, but that there was either weakness or unmanliness in this self-depreciation I shall, I hope, be able to show. Reynell Taylor would have scorned such weakness as approaching morbidness, and he would have condemned it above all because it was unmanly.

Though many letters passed between him and Edwardes on the subject of the Bunnoo duties, only two are now forthcoming.

In his first letter, written on the return march to Peshawur, Reynell Taylor evidently dwelt at some length upon the possibility of our being able so to order our minds that God's directing influence might make itself felt in everything, for in answer to this letter Edwardes writes :

'To me the principles you avow seem the highest on which a public or private person can act in all situations in life. . . . But excuse me if I ask you whether the fears you express of encountering responsibility are consistent with your reliance on the overruling Power which drives events before it like so many straws? Are you not, with so happy a morale, the last man who should feel a moment's uneasiness under any amount of responsibility imposed upon you?

'I do not say that it follows that, because you trust in God, you must succeed. The inscrutable laws which are made for a world's conduct cannot turn aside for an individual; and it is well known that the best men are often the most unfortunate in life.

Means also are prescribed

for the working out of ends; and the plans of a fool, however good his intentions, by accident only occasionally