Bandits that had
been suppressed under British administration returned to their old work
of robbery and brigandage. All classes took advantage of the anarchy to
murder the money-lenders. Meanwhile the country was bristling with the
fortresses of the talukdars; and the cultivators, deprived of the
protection of the English, naturally flocked for refuge to the
strongholds of their old masters.
The English, who had been lords of Hindustan ever since the beginning of
the century, had been closely besieged in the residency at Lucknow ever
since the final outbreak of May 30th. For nearly two months the garrison
had held out with a dauntless intrepidity, while confidently waiting for
reinforcements that seemed never to come. "Never surrender" had been
from the first the passionate conviction of Sir Henry Lawrence; and the
massacre at Cawnpore on June 27th impressed every soldier in the
garrison with a like resolution. On July 2d the Muchi Bawen was
abandoned, and the garrison and stores were removed to the residency.
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