REACHES CALCUTTA.

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mingled with broken spars, and boats, and fragments of the wreck.* Had the vessel struck at almost any other point, not a soul would have been saved. Havelock said: "The madness of man threw us on shore; the mercy of God found us a soft place near Caltura."

Conveyances were obtained for Havelock and his officers, by which they reached Galle next day in the morning. Fortunately he found the steamer Fire Queen lying at anchor in port. The news from India was too alarming to admit of any delay, and she was ordered to get up steam immediately. Next day she put to sea. Four days after, Havelock entered the Madras roadstead and was surprised to see all the flags on the shipping and fort at half mast. He soon ascertained that it was in consequence of the death of his commander, Sir George Anson, who had fallen a victim to cholera while on his way to recapture Delhi. Taking on board the commander-in-chief of Madras, Sir Patrick Grant, the Fire Queen again put to sea, and on the 17th entered the port of Calcutta. The arrival of two such distinguished officers as Grant and Havelock was hailed with delight, and inspired new confidence. The latter was immediately ordered on to Allahabad to take command of the movable column operating against Nana Sahib.

* Captain Hunt.

CHAPTER IX.

Causes of the Mutiny in India-Annexation of Oude-Confiscation of the Soil-Proclamation of the Queen abolishing the Power of the Company-Sir Henry Lawrence appointed Chief Commissioner in Oude-Mutiny in Lucknow-Lawrence fortifies himself-Sir Hugh Wheeler intrenches himself at Cawnpore-Mutiny of the Native Troops-Nana Sahib lays Siege to the Garrison-Its SufferingsDesperate efforts to drive back the Enemy-Capitulation and Mas

sacre.

THIS is not the place to enter into an elaborate discussion of the causes that led to the mutiny in India. Those, however, who imagine it grew out of the employment of greased cartridges, know but little of British India and the relations it has sustained to the Company, and to the government at home. The leaders in this wide-spread conspiracy undoubtedly availed themselves of the religious prejudice of the Brahmins against the use of fat, as well as every other prejudice which could advance their projects. Religion, pride, ambition, revenge, patriotism, all would naturally be appealed to, to excite hostility, but the evil lay deeper than the disregard of one of their superstitious notions, and to get at the bottom of this desperate movement to throw off the British yoke, one must go to the instincts of the human heart, as strong in the

REASON OF THE MUTINY.

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savage as in the man of culture, viz.: hatred of foreign aggression, and restlessness under foreign subjugation. The conqueror and the conquered always maintain a hostile attitude to each other, and whether it ends in open rupture or not is a mere question of time and circumstance. That a company occupying at first only a single trading-post, could in process of time expand till it absorbed 837,000 square miles, and conquered 132,000,000 of people, and not sow seeds of discontent and rebellion, is an impossibility. The marvel is that it should be able to hold this vast empire so long, and that too almost entirely by native troops. It could not have been done had the population been homogeneous. It must be remembered that independent of the. many different religious creeds that prevail, and of the almost innumerable varieties of the proper Indian races, there are at least thirty distinct nations in Hindostan, speaking different languages and having no intercourse with each other. Besides, the beautiful plains of Hindostan have from time immemorial been subject to the inundations of hordes of northern barbarians, and hence a feeling of deadly hatred between the northern and southern sections of the country has existed. This will account for two facts: first, the apparent willingness of those occupying the plains, to submit to British rule, by which a constant and steady government was secured to them; and second, for the ferocity with which they at the outset fought against the northern chiefs who struggled to maintain their independence. British rule in India has rested on the division of the people, not on their cheerful submis

sion. Had the Sepoys joined the Sikhs as they were implored to do in the first Sikh war, the English army would have been annihilated, or had the Sikhs gone over to the rebels in obedience to the request of the latter at Lucknow, that garrison would have shared the fate of the one at Cawnpore. Independent of the feeling of hostility implanted so deeply in the human heart against foreign subjugation, the more intelligent natives of India viewed with indignation the impoverishment of their country by the withdrawal of large sums annually, to enrich their conquerors. $25,000,000 is paid away every year to holders of East India stock, and for civil and military purposes. About as much more is accumulated by private speculation and in mercantile pursuits, and sent home. Fifty millions a year constitute a heavy drain on any country; but when we remember that labor is worth only six cents a day in Hindostan, and hence $50,000,000 exhaust that country more than $200,000,000 would the United States, we may imagine what dissatisfaction must arise. Added to this, none but Europeans have been allowed to hold any rank in the army higher than lieutenant, or any office in the civil department more dignified than collector of taxes. This was especially obnoxious to the 15,000,000 of Mohammedans, the last conquerors of Hindostan, who saw all their dignities and honors taken from them and bestowed upon their captors.

Another and more proximate cause of the rebellion was the system of annexation pursued by Dalhousie. During his administration between 1851 and 1856, he annexed more than 15,000,000 of people, and

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146,000 square miles of territory. The entire kingdom of Oude, embracing a space as large as the State of New York, was added to the British Empire by the stroke of a pen. It is no defence to say that the throne was upheld by British bayonets alone, and that the misconduct of the princes rendered it impossible for the government to pay its dues to the Company, or that the debauchery reigning at the capital was a reproach to humanity. All this might justify the English government in assuming a protectorate till order was restored, and its debts were paid. But to help one's-self to a million because a debtor neglects to pay a claim of a thousand, is not justice, but robbery. The reason given by Dalhousie for his conduct-viz., that the rulers of Oude were not fit to govern the kingdom-if good for anything, would justify the United States in absorbing all Mexico and most of South America. Said the king to Sir James Outram, as he placed his crown on his knees: "I have no more hope in the justice of England, after having been told that a treaty, which, for twenty years, I have considered lawful and binding, is no longer so because it is disapproved by a board of directors." A more

tyrannical act than the annexation of Oude cannot be found in modern history, and its people were justified by every principle of self-protection in rebelling against it. It is a significant fact that, of 200,000 Sepoys in the British army at the time of the outbreak, 40,000 were from Oude alone.*

*In 1747 Lord Clive organized the first battalion of Sepoys.