May and June had passed in these preparations. On June 4 the current business of the Government, such as it was, was distributed by the Lieutenant-Governor between Mr. Harington, Mr. Reade, Mr. Muir, and himself; Mr. Colvin reserving to himself, says Mr. Reade, 'the Foreign Department and defence of the station.' The loss of Rohilkhand, the massacres at Jhánsi, intercepted communication with Cawnpur, culminated in the outbreak at Gwalior, and the flight of the residents to Agra on June 15. About this time Sir Donald (then Captain) Stewart, starting on his daring ride from Alígarh to Delhi, spent a few hours in Agra. He found Mr. Colvin, he has told the writer, among all his anxieties, calm, cool, and cheerful. So the month passed; disorder without: within, dissensions. On July 2, as a rebel force was approaching directly by the road on which the Government House lay, Mr. Colvin moved to the house of the General. On July 3 he was threatened with apoplexy. For twenty-four hours, like Sir Henry Lawrence, when similarly struck down by 'worry, constant anxiety, and his overtasked frame[1],' he gave over the guidance of affairs to a Committee. On the 4th he was carried into the Fort. On the 5th he resumed his charge. So violent was the outcry in the excited community now crowded into the Fort against Mr. Drummond, whom they chose to hold responsible for the defection of the Police and the loss of property, that it became
- ↑ Life of Sir H. Lawrence, ii. 341.
