The Disputed V.C.: A Tale of the Indian Mutiny

by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

  CHAPTER VI

  The Outbreak of the Mutiny

  On the night of Monday, May 11, some weeks after Ted's recovery, Ethel'stwenty-first birthday was celebrated, Colonel Woodburn entertaining theofficers and British residents of Aurungpore. The season was too warmfor more than occasional dancing, and conversation was the order of thenight--conversation serious and frivolous, harmless flirtations betweenthe younger members, and solemn interchange of views concerning therumoured dissatisfaction prevailing amongst the native troops, a subjectpooh-poohed by some and laughed at by others, but gravely regarded by afew--when an orderly entered and handed a missive to the colonel. As heopened it and read he gave a start, and his face paled for one briefsecond, but soon resumed its ordinary aspect as he slowly folded thepaper and placed it in his pocket.

  A few moments later he crossed over to Major Munro, who at once left theroom after speaking to the adjutant and another officer. These two alsotook their departure before long, and one by one the remainder of theofficers were spoken to and retired to their mess-room, where they wereshortly joined by Colonel Woodburn.

  "I have terrible news," he informed them, "but we must try to avoidalarming either the ladies or the sepoys. The 3rd Native Cavalry and the11th and 20th Native Infantry have broken into mutiny at Meerut, killedsome of their officers, and, so the message runs, are sacking the townand murdering right and left."

  "At Meerut!" gasped Major Munro. "How at Meerut of all places? Theycouldn't--it's simply impossible!"

  "It must be true," declared the colonel, "though it certainly does seemimpossible. One would think they would have broken out at Cawnpore, orBenares, or Allahabad, or here, or anywhere rather than Meerut. But thisreport must be exaggerated! How could they sack the town and murder inthe face of those English regiments and the Artillery? It'sincomprehensible!"

  Now even Ensign Russell, a mere griffin, knew that Meerut--a largestation more than fifty miles north-east of Delhi--was considered amodel cantonment, and contained the strongest British force in allIndia. Could a revolt seem more hopeless than at this station, where thethree native corps were more than counterbalanced by a regiment ofBritish dragoons, the 60th Rifles, and two batteries of the finestartillery in the world--a force sufficient to repress any rising withinten minutes--whereas throughout the seven hundred and fifty miles ofterritory along the Ganges, in the districts containing the large townsof Agra, Allahabad, Benares, Cawnpore, Lucknow, and Patna, there wereonly three weak British corps to oppose nearly a score of sepoyregiments and many thousands of armed rebels?

  "There's no saying how it will spread," continued the colonel. "We musttake all precautions, though I believe our men are perfectlytrustworthy. There must be some mistake, and I've no doubt that we shallhear to-morrow that the rebels have been cut to pieces. I'm afraid thesilly fellows will be slaughtered by hundreds."

  But the news of the morning and of the succeeding days was no less hardto understand. Eighty-five men of the 3rd Native Cavalry (a corpscomposed of Hindus and Mohammedans) had refused to use the cartridgesserved out, alleging that the fat of pigs and of cows had been employedin the manufacture.

  As most readers will know, the pig is regarded as unclean by allMoslems, and the cow is holy to Hindus, so that to touch the fat ofthese animals would imperil their salvation and shut them out ofParadise. The mullahs and fakirs had been poisoning the minds of thesoldiers by asserting that the government was taking this means ofuprooting their religion and converting them to Christianity bydestroying their chance of salvation as Moslems or Hindus. If they hadno future to which to look forward as Mussulmans or Brahmans, they wouldbe the more ready to listen to the Christian doctrine which might givethem some hope.

  Unfortunately there is reason to believe that some foundation for therumour existed, owing to carelessness on the part of those responsiblefor the manufacture, and to senseless, most blamable, disregard of thesepoy's religious susceptibilities. But these few unclean cartridges hadbeen withdrawn, and those which the men were required to use containedno offensive grease, but merely oil and bees'-wax. The childish,credulous, superstitious sepoys were, however, only too ready to believeall idle tales: they accepted the statements of the fakirs, that bymeans of charms and witchcraft the English would transform them intoanimals; that their children would be born with tails like monkeys, andother stories equally absurd.

  The sepoys were now in such a panic of fear lest their precious casteshould be defiled, that they began to suspect some attempt to destroythis inheritance (without which life was not worth living) in everythingprepared for them by the government. The new cartridge-paper had aglazed, greasy appearance. This was enough! Here was another subtleattempt to make them Christians! In this fashion they argued andpersuaded one another like foolish children, though in reality the paperwas entirely free from fat.

  Many years before this a report had spread throughout Hindustan that theEnglish rulers were collecting the salt (a very precious commodity inthe East) into two heaps: over that intended for the use of theMohammedans the blood of pigs was sprinkled, and over the other theblood of cows. This "salt" panic had occurred many years ago, but now in1857 an equally incredible story was believed by hundreds of thousands,namely, that the government had caused the bones of bullocks and of pigsto be ground and mixed with the flour served out to the troops. For daysfollowing the rumour no flour was used, the sepoys preferring to starverather than eat what they believed to be defiled food.

  But these matters of the greased cartridges and bone-flour were by nomeans the only cause of the great mutiny: they were simply the pretextsfor bringing matters to a head. The sepoys had been treated in widelydifferent ways at various times, being now spoiled and petted, and nowdealt with haughtily and occasionally unjustly. When first the nativearmy was raised the men were allowed to dress after their own fashion,but early in the nineteenth century many changes had been initiated, andthe soldiers began to be clothed and drilled according to the Europeanmodel.

  They were forbidden to wear the cherished caste-marks on theirforeheads; the ear-rings to which they were fondly attached, and whichthe Moslems regarded as a charm against evil spirits, were no longerpermitted; they were deprived of the beards of which they had been soproud, and were forced to shave their chins like the "unclean"Englishmen; and upon their head the national turban was replaced by astiff round cap. Now, not only are hats and caps the outward andvisible signs of Christianity (for Christians are known as_topi-wallahs_, or hat-wearers), but this uniform cap contained leathermade either from the hide of the abominable hog or from that of thesacred cow. Thus the new head-dress was an offence to Moslems and Hindusalike.

  A further cause of discontent arose from the decline in the importanceof the native officer. In the early years of the British-Indian army thenative officer had been a great and important man, but at this periodhis standing had declined. The English officer of sixteen had authorityover the grizzled Rajput captain who had served the Company for thirtyyears. The native officers were not saluted by British privates, andfrequently when they visited the tents of their white brother-officers,the latter had not the courtesy to offer them chairs, regarding them,indeed, as in no way different from the common sepoy. The nativeofficers grumbled to one another in indignant tones over thesegrievances.

  "It is better," they said, "to serve in the armies of the native states,where elephants and palanquins and sumptuous tents are provided for theofficers, than in the army of 'The Great Lord Company', in which we arecompelled to live with the common sepoy when on the line of march."

  Again, most of the Hindus had enlisted on the understanding that theywere to serve in Hindustan only and not across the sea. Now to cross"The Black Water" is likewise a defilement forbidden to Brahmans, andgreat dissatisfaction had been caused a few years previously becausecertain regiments had been ordered to Burma; and during this campaignthe Brahmans had been compelled to work as labourers in the constructionof barracks. The British soldiers had fallen to with a wil
l, as had thelow-caste Madras sepoys, but the men from Bengal demanded to knowwhether Brahmans and Rajputs were mere coolies that they should sodefile themselves.

  In addition to the above causes of disquietude, the King of Delhi--aquiet old gentleman who dabbled in poetry--had been recently deprived ofcertain privileges. This monarch was the descendant of the great Mogulemperors, whose sway had been acknowledged by far more kings, princes,and nations than that of any European sovereign.

  Yet the heir to this magnificence was now merely the pensioner of acompany of merchants; though permitted to dwell in an enormouspalace--almost a town in itself--with the empty title of king, hepossessed no real power and no authority. This fact rankled in the mindsof all Mohammedans. In one important respect, however, the Company haddeferred to the king's wishes. He had begged that none of their troopsshould be quartered in the imperial city, so that he might at least makepretence to be the real master thereof. The request was granted, andwith the exception of a handful of men to guard the great Delhi arsenal,neither sepoys nor British soldiers were stationed in the town, but,instead, had their cantonments on the destined-to-be-famous ridgeoutside.

  Then, again, the great province of Oudh had been recently annexed, andcertain privileges had been taken not only from the king thereof, butfrom the large landholders; and though in the course of time thesechanges would undoubtedly work for the good of the majority, still theypressed heavily on a certain class; and the poorer people, for whosebenefit the changes were made, could not understand, and thereforedisliked them. The King of Oudh, like his master the Emperor of Delhi,was a Mohammedan.

  There was also a Mahratta rajah, known as Nana Sahib, who had manygrievances against the English. The Mahrattas were a powerful Hinduconfederacy that had overawed even the Grand Moguls until Wellesley andLake had broken their power.

  Trouble had arisen in many corps over the question of pay. For servicesoutside India the sepoys were paid more than in Hindustan itself. Afterthe annexation of the Punjab in 1849 this extra pay was dropped forregiments serving in the province, and the sepoys could not understandhow, if the Punjab was not in Hindustan when they entered, it couldbecome part of Hindustan because the government chose to term it so.They argued that even if the Punjab had become merged in the IndianEmpire, it was still a foreign country in their eyes; that they werestill serving away from their native land, and were therefore entitledto extra pay. Some regiments had accordingly refused to obey orders.

  The Brahman priests thereupon warned the Indian Government that if they(the priests) chose to forbid Hindus to enlist, the British would haveto make shift without a sepoy army. This threat rather frightened "JohnCompany", but not Sir Charles Napier, the commander-in-chief at theperiod. He promptly took matters into his own hands, and disbanding the66th Native Infantry, which had refused to obey orders, he gave theirtitle and colours to the Nasiri Gurkha Battalion, who thereupon becamethe 66th Infantry of the Line.

  This step scared the Brahmans, for they saw that if the government wasminded to fill their places with Gurkhas, those intrepid littlemountaineers would be only too delighted to enlist in the regular armyinstead of in irregular battalions with less pay, as at present. Theoccupation of the Brahman sepoys would then be gone, at least to alarger extent than they desired.

  Now, in India the status of a soldier is a most honourable one, and thearmy is not mainly recruited from the lower classes, as in England, butfrom the most respectable natives of the middle and higher ranks oflife; and families consider it a great privilege to have a son in thearmy, even as a private. Judged by Indian standards the pay is verygood, and the pension will keep a family in ease and comfort. TheBritish soldier often enlists because he has no taste for settledemployment, or because he has been tempted by coloured placards settingforth "the advantages of the army", or has been attracted by the ribbonsof the recruiting-sergeant. Perchance he has been jilted by hissweetheart, or done something of which he is ashamed, and so has runaway from home. Often he has taken another name, and has lost sight andtouch of the parents at home.

  But the sepoy, as soon as his name is on the regimental roll, becomesthe pride and prop of his house. He visits home regularly and isregarded as a great man in his village, and his family comes under thespecial protection of the state. Many families boasted that they hadeaten the salt of "The Great Lord Company" from generation togeneration. The sepoys usually had a real pride in their colours; theyrejoiced in the honourable and well-paid service that was sought by thevery flower of the people, by the highest castes in Bengal.

  Napier's prompt action checked the spread of revolt, but dissatisfactionstill rankled in the sepoys' breasts. In 1857 each injustice wasrecalled to mind, and thousands of the mutineers honestly believed thatthey had been very badly treated.

  A further incitement to revolt was this. The Moslems cherished aprophecy that India would be ruled by the Feringhis for exactly onehundred years, after which the Mogul Empire would resume its sway. Theyear 1857 was just a century after Plassey.