The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-03 00:00:00

LITERATURE,

Travels and Adventures of an Officer's Wife in
India, China, and New Zealand. By Mrs.
Muter. Two Vols. Hurst and Blackett.
The experiences of an officer's wife, if ahe chooses
to follow the fortunes of her husband, are usually
varied and interesting ; but it is not often that a
lady undergoes such rapid changes of scene and
climate, or passes through so many startling adven-
tures. Mrs. Muter had need to be gifted with an
amount of courage and coolness very rare to the
feminine nature ; for, during the brief interval
when the din of battle and the anxiety of watching
the enemy did not form part of her daily pro-
gramme, she was subjected to perils and disasters
that might well affright the most hardened travel-
ler. She tells us her story pleasantly and simply,
having, as we learn, made her notes her companion
on shipboard, when she and her husband beguiled
the monotony of a tedious voyage by arranging and
correcting them. To this joint supervision we
owe the occasional introduction of professional
topics, and the free expression of Lieut.-Col. Muter's
views on many points eonnected with the soldier
and the service. Mrs. Muter's narrative of her resi-
dence in India, which opens the book, begins simply
thus :—" On Sunday, 10th May, 1857, I was at
Meerut." These few words lead us to the history
of the following days of terror through which Mrs.
Muter and her husband happily escaped unhurt.
Even at this lapse of time those days can hardly
be thought of calmly by those who had no active
part in them, and the fearful scenes and deeds of
blood, then too familiar to English eyes, can never
be effaced from the recollection of the witnesses.
Our authoress, a fully competent authority,
although she gives few details, fully confirms the ac-
counts of the barbarities practised by the Sepoys. The
horrible character of the outbreak is not yet, she
says, fully understood in England. From the ex-
treme of credulity people passed to the extreme of
unbelief, and this tendency to underrate the horrors
of the mutiny was increased by the accounts of those
" who saw the retribution but not the provocation ;
who beheld the cringing figure and elapsed hands
of the wretch mercilessly consigned to the gallowe,
but not the yelling fiend, with dripping sword and
hands red with blood, mutilating the bodies of those
who had never injured him." According to Mrs.
Muter, the mutiny broke out at Meerut, owing to
an attempt to punish the 3d Cavalry. It is well-
known that its commencement was precipitated,
and the authoress tells us that the original scheme
would have been most disastrous. On the celebrae
tion of the Queen's birthday, a fortnight later, it
was intended that the conspirators should, while
professing to fire the customary salute, load with
ball and aim at the heart of the English soldiers
around them. This, "if carried out with secresy
and resolution, would have swept every European
soldier from the face of India in one and the same
hour." After the memorable 10th, many anxious
days and nights had to be passed. " The very air
of India was charged with horrors. The weary
watching, the sickening expectation, and the wear-
ing effects of the climate had a depressing effect
that required much resolution to struggle against,
and all the consolations of religion to sustain. The
men were relieved by action, but for the women
there was not this resource." From time to time,
too, came the news of fresh horrors, and the massacre
of Cawnpore lent additional strength to the resolve
of all Englishmen to conquer or die. After the
fell of Delhi, Mrs. Muter joined her hiss-
baud, whose duties placed him in that city.
She gives an interesting account of its appearance
after the siege, and of the palace of the Moguls,
which she describes as a mixture of splendour and
dirt. From Delhi the authoress subsequently ac-
companied Colonel Muter to Murree, a hill station
in the Punjab, a long and tiresome journey, rendered
doubly uncomfortable by the unruly conduct of the
palkee bearers, who had grown insolent and extor-
tionate, with the news of the outbreak. To add to
her uneasiness, the Colonel's health had been much
affected by his exertions, and the tricks played by
the bearers were by no means likely to improve it.
But they were not destined to have peace when
they arrived at the depot, for shortly after the
cholera broke out with the fearful virulence belong-
ing to the climate. Those attacked in the day
could hardly hope to see the sunset, and in asking
for the orderly who had brought a message it was
to learn that he was dead and buried! So severe
an attack of the epidemic was remarkable at a hill
station, but Mrs. Muter records her conviction that
these sanitary establishments are by no means the
most healthy of the stations. It would be well, if
such is the fact, that this should be examined into.
The intense cold of the winter in the Himalayas
proves a singular contrast to the summer in the
plains. After describing the dazzling brilliancy of
the landscape when the rays of the sun were every-
where reflected on snow and ice, Mrs. Muter ex-
claims, " Could any one believe this to be India—
was it not rather Siberia or Spitzbergen ?" One
evening she was terrified to hear the bugle give
the alarm, and on looking out saw the glare
of fire. We can fancy the feelings of one who
had passed through the horrors of Meerut
on beholding such a spectacle. Happily, however,
it was nothing but an accidental conflagration.
After some time Colonel Muter and his wife pro-
ceeded to England, turning their backs on India
with feelings of relief and gratitude. 'They em
barked in the Eastern Monarch, said to bo the
ficest merchant ship afloat. They arrived safely
within sight of Portemouth, and the night before
they were to laud Mrs. Muter listened with a
thankful heart to the sound of letting go the
anchor. Musing on their escape from the dangers
of India she fell asleep, to be roused by the shock
of a catastrophe as perilous and as unexpected. The
vessel went on fire, and being loaded with saltpetre
a fearful explosion took place, killing some, and
ir.juring many more. A scene of great danger and
anxiety had to be passed through before Colonel
and Mrs. Muter were safely landed in their native
country, without any of their possessions. This
scarcity procured them but a sorry welcome from
the hotel-keepers, and it is not surprising that Mrs.
Muter'a long-tried health and spirits gave way
when she was at length safely housed. Her ad.