Not liking to waste it, we looked round us, and saw a group of officers on the steps of the church, apparently engaged in an animated conversation. Among them was an old man, who looked as if a good “peg” (the common term for a brandy and soda) would do him good. Drawing, therefore, nearer the group, in order to offer the “peg” to the old officer, we heard our colonel say, “All I can say is that I won’t retire, but will hold the walls with my regiment.” I then offered our “peg” to the old officer, whom we afterwards knew to be General Wilson. He accepted it, drank it off, and a few minutes after we heard him say, “You are quite right—to retire would be to court disaster; we will stay where we are!” “On such little matters,” Wilberforce gravely reflects, “great events often depend!” The course of British history in India, in a word, was decisively affected by that accidental glass of brandy and soda he offered to General Wilson! It tightened his shaken nerves to the key of resolution! Wilberforce’s book belongs rather to the realm of fiction than of grave history, and his history-making glass of brandy and soda may be dismissed as a flight of fancy. It was the cool judgment and the unfaltering daring of men like Baird Smith and Neville Chamberlain, and other gallant spirits immediately around Wilson, which saved him from the tragedy of a retreat. When Wilson asked Baird Smith whether it was possible to hold the ground they had won, the curt, decisive answer of that fine soldier was, “We _must_ hold it!” And that white flame of heroic purpose burnt just as intensely in the whole circle of Wilson’s advisers. The British troops held their position undisturbed on the night of the 14th. The 15th was spent in restoring order and preparing for a new assault. There is a curious conflict of testimony as to whether or not the troops had got out of hand owing to mere drunkenness. It is certain that enormous stores of beer, spirits, and wine were found in that portion of the city held by the British. Lord Roberts says, “I did not see a single drunken man throughout the day of assault, and I visited every position held by our troops within the walls of the city.” This bit of evidence seems final. Yet it would be easy to quote a dozen witnesses to prove that there was drunkenness to a perilous extent amongst the troops, and it is certain that Wilson found it expedient to give orders for the destruction of the whole of the vast stores of beer and spirits which had fallen into his hands.