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reach. From Benares they will be distributed as most required. The regiments from Pegu, Bombay, and Ceylon, will be sent up in this way. Every bullock and horse that is to be had, except just enough to carry the post, is retained; and no troops will be sent by steamer which can be sent more quickly by other means. This is the best I can do for you. I look anxiously for the recovery of Dehli. I fear the Commander-in-Chief cannot be there before Tuesday."

On the 26th of May Sir Hugh Wheeler telegraphed the following more favourable account from Cawnpoor: —“ All well, very well, and I think likely to continue so, unless some startling event should occur. Captain Hayes' services, freely given, have been extremely valuable. The police under Major Parker admirable, not a single robbery. Electric telegraph from Benares, May 25th, intimates that detachments of Her Majesty's 84th Foot, which had just arrived there, were being forwarded by dâk garrie, as each succeeding detachment would be, as fast as the carriages can take them. Thanks for your aid, which has been so promptly given on every occasion. But I hope we may consider the crisis passed; though the disease is by no means cured. I shall return the men of the 32nd Foot, as soon as 150 men of Her Majesty's 84th arrive; and I shall be ready to aid and support you, as you have me. Letters tell that all look to Cawnpoor.'

Before the month closed, the Lieutenant-Governor had telegraphed to us the disarmament at Lahore of the mutinous native regiments, and later that himself had followed the same course at Agra with success. More than once I discussed with Sir Henry Lawrence the propriety of following the same course at Lucknow. Sir Henry admitted that it was quite possible to disarm the native troops at the capital where there

was an European force, and seemed to incline to the measure, had the capital only been to be cared for. It was feared, however, and justly, that the adoption of this measure, though beneficial to ourselves, might precipitate an outbreak of the troops stationed at Cawnpoor, and at the out-stations of Oudh: and on this account the idea of adopting it was relinquished. About the end of the month Captain Hardinge arrived at the capital with a wing of his regiment, the 3rd O. I. Cavalry, from Purtabgurh, where it would have been of little use. The second wing remained at Allahabad. A wing of the 15th Irregular Cavalry (Fisher's) under Captain Gibbings, had also come in from Seetapoor, escorting treasure.

During all this month Sir Henry Lawrence had been untiring in his exertions. He generally visited the Muchee Bhowun every morning, and any other post that called for his attention. From breakfast until dark he was consulting with his military subordinates, closeted with native officers, or at work with his pen. Under this weight of anxiety and exertion his health had greatly failed. When he came to us in March he was ill. His medical attendant had certified the necessity of his revisiting Europe, and he had reached Bombay en route to England, when he received the request of Government that he would remain. He accordingly retraced his steps to Lucknow, to take charge of the Chief Commissionership. The ordinary labours of his office had fully tried his strength; but the intense anxiety attending his position at the present crisis would have worn the strongest frame. At first he was able to ride about a good deal, but now he drove about in his carriage. He lost appetite and sleep, and his changed and careworn appearance was painfully visible to all.

CHAPTER IV.

CAUSES OF THE MUTINY.

Mr. Gubbins' opinion asked as to the causes of the mutiny.-Concurred in by Sir Henry Lawrence.-Causes which are usually assigned, viz.— 1st. Russian intrigue; 2nd. A long-matured conspiracy on the part of the Mahomedans; 3rd. Viewed by some as a national revolt; 4th. Attributed by some to the annexation of Oudh; 5th. By others as a religious outbreak, from interference with their prejudices and religion; 6th. By others to the absence of a European force, and mismanagement, loss of discipline, and discontent of the Bengal army.-First cause not capable of investigation.-Second supposed cause prevalent in Bengal.—Its correctness discussed and questioned.—Third supposed cause, viz. a general national revolt, examined and combated.-Apathy of the people noticed and explained.—Want of information rendered by the people noticed.—Outrages committed by city people upon our women and children.-Attributable to the budmâshes.-Their habits explained. Behaviour of the gentry.-Mahomedan gentry chiefly depend on service. Their dislike to our Government explained.-Improvement in the native service by Lord William Bentinck.-Its insufficiency. Some cases of their ingratitude noticed.-Newaub of Jhujjur.-Raja of Bullubgurh.-Good conduct of the Newaub of Rampoor noticed. Much allowance necessary in considering the conduct of the gentry.—Their ignorance of our resources.

DURING the seven or eight weeks of alarm which had now elapsed, no question more agitated men's minds than that which sought to solve what really were the causes of the mutiny. Could they be clearly developed, it might be possible to apply a remedy. Communications upon this all-engrossing topic were passing in all directions; and, among others, Mr. Colvin, the Lieutenant-Governor at Agra, had inquired my opinion. Before despatching my reply, in which I entered fully into the question, I showed it to Sir Henry Lawrence, who added a memorandum express

ive of his concurrence. Native Army had of late years attracted much of the attention of that distinguished officer, and he had published two excellent articles upon the subject, which appeared in the "Calcutta Review." I have therefore the less hesitation in introducing my opinion of the subject in the present work. It would be impossible, indeed, to avoid doing so; for by many persons, both in India and in this country, who are not well acquainted with affairs in Oudh, the annexation of that Province has been assigned as a chief cause of the mutinies. Believing this wide-spread opinion to be founded on error, it would be impossible, in a work treating of the mutinies in Oudh, to avoid examining it. At any rate it would be right to adduce such facts respecting the actual condition of the sepoy in Oudh, as affected by the introduction of the British rule, as may enable the public to form a judgment upon the question. At the same time, as affecting ourselves specially located at the capital of Oudh, the state of feeling of the people of the Province, generally, will have to be described.

The condition of the Bengal

The following, then, embrace all the causes that have been adduced, so far as I have heard or read, to account for this wide-spread and unlooked-for mutiny. First. It has been attributed to Russian intrigue. Secondly. To a long-matured conspiracy on the part of the Mahomedans.

Thirdly. It is viewed by others as a national revolt. Fourthly. Not a few attribute the mutinies to the British annexation of the Province of Oudh.

Fifthly. Some regard it to be a religious outbreak of the soldiery, aroused by our interference with their prejudices and religion, in which the people sympathized.

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Lastly. It is regarded by others as chiefly attributable to the absence of a sufficient European force; to the condition and management of the Bengal army having been unsound and bad; and to the sepoy having been too much freed from the bonds of discipline, and having become discontented.

Now the first of these supposed causes need not here be investigated, for we had no means of forming an opinion upon it in India. Suffice it to say, that suspicion was present to our minds, but nothing certainly occurred in the Province of Oudh to give support to it. And if the suspicion be well-founded, it appears strange that during those anxious days, when everybody's attention was fixed upon the subject, no evidence at all pointing to Russia should have been obtained.

I pass, therefore, to the second opinion, which prevails a good deal in the Lower Provinces of Bengal, and at the Presidency. Prior to the arrival of Havelock's force, it had not found expression at Lucknow. We had considered the alarm as having been taken by the Hindoo religionists, which the Mahomedans had taken advantage of, had carefully fostered, and had turned to their own ends. And this I really believe to have been the right view of the case. Had the mutinies had their origin in a Mahomedan conspiracy, the first symp. toms of disaffection would have manifested themselves among that class at the foci of Mahomedanism in India-Dehli, Agra, Patna, or Lucknow. Such is, however, far from having been the case. Murmurs of discontent among the sepoy regiments stationed in Bengal were first heard in January, and gradually swelled into the uproar of open mutiny. In these regiments the Hindoos exceed the Mussulmans in the proportion of five to one. With us at Lucknow, up to the

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