At the same time, it is worth remembering that the struggle which produced so much cruelty and shame was
APPENDIX II: The Rani of Jhansi
Lakshmibai, Maharani of Jhansi, was one of the outstanding leaders of the Mutiny, and a heroine of Indian history. She has been compared, not unjustly, to Joan of Arc; on the other hand, while the evil reputation which propaganda gave her in her lifetime has now been largely discounted, there remain some shadows over her memory.
The general facts about her career, as Flashman learned diem from Palmerston and Skene, and as he himself describes them, are accurate — her upbringing, marriage, political attitudes, part in the Mutiny, escape, campaigning, and death. What is less clear is when and why she became actively involved in the Mutiny, for even after the Jhansi massacre (see Notes) she professed friendship for the Sirkar; it may even be that, despite her bitterness towards the British, she would have stayed clear of rebellion if she could. What is certain is that, once committed, she led her troops with great resolution and personal bravery — she was, in fact, a fine swordswoman and rider, and a good shot, as a result of her upbringing among boys (Nana Sahib among them) at the Peshawa's court.
On a more everyday level, Flashman's impressions of Lakshmibai and her court are borne out by contemporary accounts. He seems to have given a fair picture of her conduct of affairs and public behaviour, as well as of such details as her daily routine, her apartments, private zoo, recreations and tea-parties, and even clothing and jewellery. Other Britons who met her shared at least some of his enthusiasm for her looks ("remarkably fine figure … beautiful eyes … voluptuous … beautiful shape", are among the descriptions, although one added that he thought her "not pretty"). The most apparently authentic surviving portrait shows her much as Flashman first describes her. Her personality seems to have been pleasant enough, if forceful (her two most quoted remarks are "I will not give up my Jhansi", and the taunt thrown at Nana Sahib when they were children: "When I grow up I'll have ten elephants to your one!").
But her true character remains a mystery. Whether she is regarded as a pure-hearted patriot, or as a devious and cruel opportunist is a matter of choice — she may have been something of each. Her epitaph was given by her most persistent enemy, Sir Hugh Rose, speaking of the rebel leaders; he called Lakshmibai "the best and bravest".
(For biographies see The Rebellious Rani, by Sir John Smyth, V.C., and The Ranee of Jhansi, by D. V. Tahmankar. Also in Sylvester, Forrest, Kaye/Malleson.)
Notes
1. Lord Cardigan, who led the Charge of the Light Brigade, was a popular hero after Balaclava, but a reaction set in against him in 1856, with rumours that he had shirked his duty, and even that he had not reached the Russian guns at all. The law-suit did not take place until 1863, when Cardigan sued Colonel Calthorpe for libel on the subject; it was established that he had been at the guns, and also that he had left his brigade during the action which, although it did not reflect on his personal courage, left a large question-mark over his fitness for command.
2. Punch also noted that at this dinner champagne was served at the rate of only one bottle per three guests.
3. For once Flashman is exact with a date — it was on the 21st that Florence Nightingale had a two-hour meeting with the Queen at Balmoral. In fact, his recollections of Balmoral are so exact, even down to topics of conversation and the state of the weather on particular days, that one suspects he is indebted to the detailed diary which his wife Elspeth kept during their married life, and which forms part of The Flashman Papers. (For corroboration, see Queen Victoria's Letters, 1827-61, ed. Benson and Esher; The Queen at Balmoral by F. P. Humphrey (1893); Life of the Prince Consort, 5 vols., by Sir T. Martin (1875-8o); Twenty Years at Court, by Eleanor Stanley (1916); and A Diary of Royal Movements … in the life of Queen Victoria (1883).
4. No record can be found of a visit by Lord Palmerston to Balmoral in late September, 1856; obviously it must have been kept secret, along with the disturbing news that chapattis had appeared in an Indian regiment: most histories of the Mutiny do not mention chapattis as appearing until early in 1857.
For the rest, Flashman gives a fair picture of "Pam" as his contemporaries saw him — a popular, warm-hearted, impulsive, and (to some eyes) deplorable figure whom Disraeli described as a "painted old pantaloon". Lord Ellenborough was a former Governor-General of India, and Sir Charles Wood, although at the Admiralty when Flashman met him, had been President of the Board of Control for India from 1853-55, and was to return to the India Office from 1859-66.
5. The missionaries were greatly displeased at a government decision in 1856-7 that education in Indian schools should be secular. The fear of Christianisation was certainly present among Indians at this time, and is considered to have been a main cause of the Mutiny. Preaching army officers were regarded as especially dangerous: Governor-General Canning, who was was unjustly suspected of being an ardent proselytiser, actually said of one religiously-minded colonel that he was unfit to be trusted with his native regiment, and Lord Ellenborough delivered a strong warning in the House of Lords on June 9, 1857, against "colonels connected with missionary operations … You will see the most bloody revolution which has at any time occurred in India. The English will be expelled." This contrasts with the statement of Mr Mangles, chairman of the East India Company: "Providence has entrusted the empire of Hindoostan to England in order that the banner of Christ should wave triumphant from one end of India to the other."
6. John Nicholson (1821-57) was one of the legendary figures of British India, and an outstanding example of the type of soldier-administrator who became known as "the desert English", possibly because many of them were Scots or Irish. Their gift, and it was rare, was of winning absolute trust and devotion from the people among whom they worked in the East; Nicholson had it to an unusual degree, and when he was only twenty-seven the religious sect of "Nikkulseynites" was formed, worshipping him with a fervour which caused him much annoyance. As a soldier and administrator he was brilliant; as a Victorian case-study, fascinating. Since he served in the First Afghan War he would certainly have known Flashman, but it is interesting that they met as described here, since in late 1856 Nicholson should have been far away on the frontier. However, as he was about to enter on new duties at Peshawar about this time, it is conceivable that he came south first, and that they met on the Agra Trunk Road.
7. The Guides was perhaps the most famous fighting unit in the history of British India. Raised by Henry Lawrence in 1846, and commanded by Harry Lumsden, it became legendary along the frontier as an intelligence and combat force of both infantry and cavalry (Kipling, it will be remembered, used the Guides' mystique in his "Ballad of East and West"). It is interesting that Flashman recognised Sher Khan as an ex-Guide by his coat, since the regiment normally wore nondescript khaki rather than a military colour.
8. Flashman's assumption that the Rani would be much older was not unnatural. He had heard Palmerston describe her as "old when she married", which, by Indian standards, she was, being well into her teens.