The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-15 00:00:00

who, as a British admiral, was in a position to know some -
thing of the subject, against a public department of wasting
£5,000,000, he, for one, and he thought the house, could
scarcely be satisfied with a mere promise from the First Lord
of the Admiralty to produce certain papers. He should not
be satisfied, and he thought the house should not be satis-
fied, with anything less than a full inquiry by a select com-
mittee. Let such a committee be granted, and he (Mr. B.
Osborne) would pledge himself to controvert the statements
made by the gallant and noble admiral, and to show that
however efficient that gallant officer might be upon the
water he was a very lame duck upon the land. He would
take an instance as proving the exaggerated nature of the
noble and gallant officer's statement, the Immortalite
frigate. That ship was referred to as one of those upon
which the waste charged against the Admiralty in the mat-
ter of ship-building had been occasioned. Now, what did
the house think the cost of the alterations of that vessel had
been ? It was true that she had been lengthened 14 feet,
and at a cost of just £2OO. The efficiency of the depart-
ment was prejudiced by the attack which had been made
upon it by the noble lord, and he hoped the right hon. gen-
tleman would grant such a committee as he had suggested.
(Hear, hear.)
Sir C. NAPIER considered that an inquiry was requisite
into many other matters than the estimates as they stood,
and recommended his hon. friend to withdraw his motion,
which would really be included in the more comprehensive
motion of the hon. member for Newport, which would deal
with not only the expenditure of the navy, but the constitu-
tion of the Board of Admiralty itself. At present contradic-
tory orders were constantly being issued, which occasioned
great and unnecessary expense to the country.
Mr. JACKSON was quite certain from his experience
that the Immortalit6 could not have been lengthened 14
feet at so small an expense as £2OO. If a committee was
granted, he believed it would be proved that in many items
of naval expenditure there was gross extravagance. Take
for instance anchors—eight different qualities of anchors
were submitted to the Admiralty for testing, and they chose
the worst. They might have the very best quality, viz.,
Trotman' s anchors, at 255. per cwt., and yet under the pretence
of a contract they were paying 755. for the worst. His noble
friend (Lord C. Paget) had brought forward charges which
he was bound to substantiate. He believed his noble friend
could substantiate them—but even if he could not, it was
essential for the efficiency of the department, which had
been seriously affected by charges of such a nature hanging
over it, that a complete investigation should take place.
(Hear, hear.) They had had a committee of inquiry upon
army contracts, and the house blew what abuses had been
proved to exist in that department of the public service, and
he had but little doubt if they had a committee that many'
Weedons would be found in connection with the Admiralty.
If the right hon. gentleman would undertake to grant such
a committee he would recommend his hon. friend the mem-
ber for Lambeth not to persist in his amendment.
Sir C. WOOD observed that he was responsible for the
lengthening of the Immortalite. She had been lengthened
14 feet, but it was by no means so serious a matter as the
hon. member who had just spoken seemed to suppose; for
it was only necessary to remove a few bolts, put in a few
timbers which were ready to hand, so that almost the whole
cost was the labour. He had seen the Surveyor of the
Navy on the previous evening, and by him had been in-
formed that as labour only had to be paid for, it was impos-
sible that the cost could have exceeded £2OO.
Mr. W. WILLIAMS would withdraw his motion if the
Government would promise such an inquiry as had been
suggested. (Cries of "Divide, divide.")
There was no response to the hon. member's appeal, and
his amendment was put and negatived.

THE MASSACRE OF THE 26TH NATIVE
INFANTRY.

Mr. GILPIN rose to call the attention of the house to
the destruction of the 26th Native Infantry at Ujnalla, on
the Ist of August, 1857, as detailed in a work entitled
"The Crisis in the Punjaub," by Mr. Frederick Cooper,
Deputy Commissioner of Umritzur. He observed that the
subject which he was about to bring to the notice of the
house formed he believed the darkest page in that em-
phatically black book the Indian rebellion. The facts
there could be no doubt about; for he should confine
himself not to the more unfavourable statements
of the Indian newspapers, butt, to the account which
this Mr. Cooper gave of his own acts. Let it be 'borne in
mind that he was not calling in question the acts of a mili-
tary man. It was no military execution to which he was
calling attention. He stood there a civilian calling in ques-
tion the acts of a civilian—as an Englishman, drawing at-
tention to acts which as having been committed by an
Englishman he blushed for, but which he who perpetrated
them unblushingly detailed to the public, gloried in them,
and seemed to claim the approbation of the public for them.
The regiment whose annihilation—that was the word
which Mr. Cooper himself used—he was bringing under the
notice of the house had served with great distinction under
the English flag on several occasions. The first quotation
he should have to make from Mr. Cooper's book was in
proof of this. They had served, it appeared, in Affghanis-
tan, Caboul, Moodkee, Ferozeshah and Sobraon. They
were disarmed at Seehar on the Ist of May, 1857. There
was no statement of any overt act of mutiny committed by
them, but they were disarmed as a matter of precaution.
They fled from the cantonments, having killed two of their
officers, after they had been fired on by the Sikh levies.
Major Spencer, one of the officers killed, was a man of un-
usual humanity, and he, with a sergeant-major, rushed
among the men, who concluded that they were connected
with the firing upon them, and they were killed in the panic
which ensued. No wonder there was a panic, for Mr. Cooper
showed that'a panic could take place among English officers,
for he described some English officers rushing into the houses
of ladies at Simla, crying out to them to save themselves, for
the Ghoorkas were coming ; and one gentleman with a won-
derful telescope was enabled to discover that the Simla Bank
was on fire. The murderer of Major Spencer was well
known, his name being given by Mr. Cooper. However, the
regiment fled, pursued by the Sikhs. The sepoys had been
employed against the Sikhs, as the Sikhs now were against
the sepoys, and they were, as it were, natural enemies. The
regiment was attacked, and 150 of the men destroyed. The
remainder crossed the river, and took refuge on a desolate
island, whither they were pursued by Mr. Cooper with a
small force. They were under the impression, if not under
a promise, that they were to have a fair trial, and they gave
themselves up without resistance, no •less than 66 stalwart
sepoys allowing one man to bind them. Without a trial,
277 of them were shot, 45 were stifled in a place where they
were confined, and 41 were blown from guns at Lahore, and
thus in 48 hours 500 human beings were ruthlessly and mer-
cilessly murdered. He would read the statement of Mr.
Cooper • himself, which would bear out the awful history
which he had related. The hon. gentleman then read from
Mr. Cooper's book to the following effect :—" The 26th Na-
tive Infantry, stationed under surveillance at Meean Meer,
was, as previously narrated, disarmed on the 13th of May
last. Whether there had been any preconcerted scheme
among the disarmed regiments for a general attempt to
escape from their unpleasant position is not known, though it
has been generally understood that lots had actually been
drawn, and that had the 26th succeeded in any measure, the
16th Grenadiers had engaged to follow in their wake. Some
say that the noon-day gun was to be the signal of a general
rise. Society, on the 30th of July, was, however, shocked to
hear of another foul murder of a commanding officer, Major
Spencer, and the rise of the 26th Regiment. Lieutenant
Montague White narrowly escaped. He was enticed into
the lines by some sepoys, who affected sorrow at the mur-
der, and was about to dismount, when a warning voice in
his ear told him to beware. He galloped off; but not before
some hand had aimed a felon stroke at him, and wounded
his horse. The sergeant-major was also killed, and the re-
giment precipately fled ; a dust storm (as was the case at
Jullundur when the mutiny arose) raging at the time,
favouring their immediate escape, and concealing its exact
direction. They were, however, unmolested; and it is
feared that the ardour of the Sikh levies, in firing when the
first outbreak occurred, precipitated the murders and
frightened all, good, bad, or indifferently disposed to flight.
From subsequent statements, since taken down, it is con-
currently admitted that a fanatic of the name of Prakash
Singh, alias Prakash Pandy, rushed out of his hut, brand-
ishing a sword and bawling out to his comrades to rise and
kill the Feringees, selected as his own victim the kind-
hearted major. suffice it to say, that it was reported at
midday, on the 31st of July, that they were trying to skirt
the left bank of the Ravee ,but had met with unexpected
and determined opposition from the Tehseeldar, with a
posse of police, aided by a swarm of sturdy villagers, at a
ghat 26 miles from the station. A rapid pursuit was at once
organised. At 4 o'clock, when the district officer arrived
with some 80 or 90 horsemen, he found a great struggle had
taken place ; the gore, the marks of the trampling of hun-
dreds of feet, and the broken banks of the river, which,
augmented with the late rains, was sweeping in a vast
volume, all testified to it. Some 150 had been shot, mobbed
backwards into the river, and drowned inevitably, too
weakened and famished as they must have been, after their
40 miles' flight, to battle with the flood. The main body
had fled upwards, and swam over on pieces of wood, or
floated on to an island about a mile from the shore, where
they might be descried crouching like a brood of wild fowl.
It remained to capture this body, and, having done so, to
execute condign punishment at once." Mr. Cooper went
on to state that several mistakes were made as to the direc-
tion which the regiment had taken, and when the district
officer (Mr. Cooper himself) arrived he found that a struggle
had taken place between the regiment and the Sikhs. " There
were but two boats, both ricketty, and the boatmen =-
skilled. The presence of a good number of Hindostanees
among the sowers might lead to embarrassment and acci-
dental' escapes. The point was first how to cross this large
body to the main land, if they allowed themselves to be cap-
tured at all (after the model of the fox, the geese, and the
peck of oats). This was not to be done under two or three
trips without leaving two-thirds of the mutineers on the,
island under too scanty a protection; and able to escape,
whilst the first batch was being conveyed to the main bank
—nor also without launching the first batch, when they did
arrive, into the jaws of the Hindostanee party who in the
first trip were to be left ostensibly 'to take care of the
horses' on the mainland. From the desperate conflict which
had already taken place a considerable struggle was antici-
pated before these plans could be brought into operation.
The translation of the above fable to the aged Sikh Sirdar,
who accompanied, and to the other heads of the pursuing
party, caused intense mirth, and the plan of operations
after this formula elicited general approval. So the boats
put off with about 30 sowers (dismounted of course) in high
spirits ; most of the Hindostanee sowers being left on the
bank. The boats straggled a little, but managed to reach
the island in about 20 minutes. It was a long inhospitable
patch, with tall grass ; a most undesirable place to bivouac
on for the night, with a rising tide; especially if wet, dis-
pirited, without food, fire, or dry clothing. The sun was
setting in golden splendour, and as the doomed men with
joined palms crowded down to the shore on the approach of
the boats, one side of which bristled with about 60 muskets(
besides sundry revolvers and pistols, their long shadows
were flung far athwart the gleaming waters. In utter de-
spair 40 or 50 dashed into the stream and disappeared, rose
at a distance, and were borne away into the increasing
gloom. Some 30 or 40 sowers with matchlocks (subse-
quently discovered to be of very precarious value) jumped
into the shallow water, and invested the lower side of the
island, and being seen about to take pot-shots at the heads of
the swimmers, orders were given not to fire. This accidental
instruction produced an instantaneous effect on the mutineers.
They evidently were possessed of a sudden and insane idea
that they were going to be tried by court-martial, after
some luxurious refreshment. In consequence of which, 66
stalwart sepoys submitted to be bound by a single man
deputed for the purpose from the boats, and stacked like
slaves in a hold into one of the two boats emptied for the
purpose. Leaving some 40 armed sowers on the island, and
feelmg certain that after the peaceful submission of the first
hatch (or peck of oats), the rest would follow suit and suit,
orders were given to push off. On reaching the shore, one
by one, as they stepped out of the boats, all were tightly
bound, their decorations and necklaces ignominiously cut
off, and under a guard of a posse of villagers, who had
begun to assemble, and some Sikh horse, they were ordered
to proceed slowly on their journey back, six miles to the
police-station at Ujnalla. Meanwhile, the Hindostanees
(the geese) had been despatched to the island back in the
boats with an overawing number of Tawana sowers ; and
it was gratifying to see the next detachment put off safely,
though at one time the escorting boat got at a great dis-
tance from the escorted, and fears were entertained that
escape had been premeditated. However, by dint of hal-
looing, with threats of a volley of musketry, the next invoice
came safely to land, and wore subjected to the same process

of spoliation, disrobement, and pinioning. At any moment,
had they made an attempt to escape, a bloody struggle must
have ensued. But Providence ordered otherwise, and nothing
on the side of the pursuing party seemed to go-wrong. Some
begged that their women and children might be spared, and
were informed that the British Government did not conde-
scend to war with women and children. It was near mid-
night before all were safely lodged in the police-station. A
drizzling rain coming on prevented the commencement of
the execution, so a rest until daybreak was announced. Be-
fore dawn another batch of 66 was brought in, and as the
police-station was then nearly full, they were ushered into
a large round tower or bastion. Previously to his depar-
ture with the pursuing party from Umritsur, the deputy
commissioner had ordered out a large supply of rope, in
case the numbers captured were few enough for hanging
(trees being scarce), and also a reserve of fifty Sikh
levies for a firing party, in case of the numbers demand-
ing wholesale execution; as also to be of use as a reserve in
case of a fight on the island. So eager were the Sikhs, that
they marched straight on end, and he met them half way,
23 miles between the river and the police-station, on his
journey back in charge of the prisoners, the total number of
which, when the execution commenced, amounted to 282 of
all ranks, besides numbers of camp followers, who were left
to be taken care of by the villagers. As fortune would
have it, again favouring audacity, a deep dry well was dis-
coved within one hundred yards of the police-station, and
its presence furnished a convenient solution as to the re-
maining difficulty, which was of a sanitary consideration—
the disposal of the corpses of the dishonoured soldiers. The
climax of fortunate coincidences seemed to have arrived
when it was remembered that the Ist of August was the an-
niversary of the great Mahomedan sacrificial festival of the
Bukra Eed. A capital excuse was thus afforded to permit
the Hindostanee Mussulraan horsemen to return to cele-
brate it at Umritsur; while the single Christian, unembar-
rassed by their presence, and aided by the faithful Sikhs,
might perform a ceremonial sacrifice of a different nature
(and the nature of which they had not been aware of) on
the same morrow. When that morrow dawned sentries
were placed round the town to prevent the ingress of sight-
seers. The officials were called ; and they were made
aware of the character of the spectacle they were about to
witness. Ten by ten the sepoys were called forth. Their
names having been taken down in succession, they were
pinioned, lined together, and marched to execution, a
firing party being in readiness. Every phase of deportment
was manifested by the doomed men, after the sullen firing
of volleys of distant musketry forced the conviction of
inevitable death—astonishment, rage, frantic despair, the
most stoic calmness. One detachment,i as they passed,
yelled to the solitary Anglo .Saxon magistrate, as he sat under
the shade of the police station performing his solemn duty,
with his native officials around him, that he (the Christian)
would meet the same fate ; then as they passed the reserve
of young Sikh soldiery, who were to relieve the executioners
after a certain period, they danced, though pinioned, insulted
the Sikh religion, and called on Gungajee to aid them ; but
they only in one instance provoked a reply, which was in-
stantaneously checked. Others again petitioned to be
allowed to make one last salaam' to the Sahib. About 150
having been thus executed, one of the executioners swooned
away (he was the oldest of the firing party), and a little
respite was. allowed. Then proceeding, the number had
arrived at 237, when the district officer was informed that the
remainder retused to come out of the bastion, where they
bad been imprisoned temporarily a few hours before. Ex-
pecting arush and resistance, preparations were made against
escape; but little expectation was entertained of the real and
awful fate which had fallen on the remainder of the muti-
neers—they had anticipated by a few short hours their doom.
The doors were opened, and, behold I they were nearly all
dead I Unconsciously, the tragedy of Holkar's Black Hole
had been re. enacted. No cries had been heard during the
night, in consequence of the hubbub, tumult, and shouting
of the crowds of horsemen, police tehseel guards, and ex-
cited villagers. Forty-five bodies, dead from fright, ex-
haustion, fatigue, heat, and partial suffocation, were dragged
into light, and consigned,in common with all other bodies into
one common pit, by the hands of the village sweepers. One
sepoy only was too much wounded in the conflict to suffer the
agony of being taken to the scene of execution. He was ac-
cordingly reprieved for Queen's evidence, and forwarded to
Lahore, with some 41 subsequent captures, from Umritsur.
There, in full parade before the otlaer mutinous-disposed
regiments at Meean Meer, they all suffered death by being
blown away from the cannon's mouth. The execution at
Ujnalla commenced at daybreak, and the stern spectacle
was over in a few hours. Thus, within • forty-eight hours
from the date of the crime, there fell by the law nearly 500
men. All the crowds of assembled natives, to whom the crime
was fully explained, considered the act ' righteous ' but in-
complete ; because the magistrate did not hurl headlong into
the chasm, the rabble of men, women, and children, who
had fled miserably with the mutineers : they marvelled
at the clemency and the justice of the 'British." This
was the statement he (Mr. Gilpin) had to bring before
the house, which he was sure would thrill the heart of every
lion. member who heard it, and no one, if that statement
was correct, but would wish to say that he had no part in
those atrocities. According to military law, he knew that
' the punishment of mutiny was death. Now, he had many
friends who were military men, and he had taken the
trouble to ascertain from them what was the usual course
in reference to mutiny. He had in his hand an extract of
a letter frotm a Polish officer who served in the Hungarian
war of independence, who said that " the execution of the
26th Native Infantry as detailed by Mr. Cooper was such
a cannibal affair that he was glad it was not directed by a
military man ; that such deeds would be a stain on any
army, it was wholesale murder, inhumanand unjustifiable.
More than this, Sir F.-Currie, recently chairman of the
East India Company, and now a member of the Indian
Council, speaking of these acts, called them a cruel mas-
sacre. He (Mr. Gilpin). had looked into the accounts of
the recent war in Hungary with reference to mutiny, and
he found that a Hungarian regiment mutinied, killed their
major, cast his body to dogs—a court-martial pardoned the
men and punished the officers. Again, a Wallachian regi-
ment, during the struggle in' Hungary, where all the pas-
sions of those engaged were strongly excited, and where as
many atrocities were committed by the Austrians as had
been committed by the Sepoys, mutinied : they were sur
• rounded and disarmed, and by sentence of a court-martial
' ordered to be decimated. Mr. Cooper would no doubt have
executed them all. They were marched to the place of exe-
cution, and their sentence was about to be carried out, when
an order arrived granting them a free pardon, and they re-
turned to their duty, and ever afterwards remained true and
faithful. He had little further reference to make to Mr.
Cooper. He had never heard of him until his book was
put into his hand, and he had unfortunately read it. He
would now take leave of him, recommending him to build
a pyramid of skulls in imitation of his great rival Tamer-
lane, and with his Christian feelings he would no
doubt inscribe on the ghastly structure the words, " Non
noble Domine." It was, however, due to Mr. Cooper to
quote what had been said by persons above him. Here was
the approval of Sir John Lawrence, which he (Mr. Gilpin)
could not believe was given with a full knowledge of the
facts. Sir John Lawrence said, " I congratulate you on
your success with the 26th Native Infantry; you and the
police acted with great energy, and have done well by the
state." There was another letter which, looking to the cha-
racter of the hon. gentleman who wrote it, gave him (Mr.
Gilpin) deep pain, for if such was the spirit in which Bri-
tish power was exercised in India no wonder that there
had been a rebellion in that country. Mr. Montgomery
wrote to Mr. Cooper to the following effect :—" All honour
to you for what yob. have done, and well done ; it is a fea-
ther in your cap for ever. The executioners, the Sikhs,
should leave a good round sum given to them. If there are
any stragglers send them to me. You have done enough ;
but we want a few here as an example to our troops. Three
of the regiments have been shaky, but I do not think they
will go now ; I wish they would, for they are a nuisance,
and not a man-of them will escape if they do." If there was
any meaning in the language of Mr. Montgomery, he
wanted 2,000 men to flee, in order that he and his soldiers
might have an opportunity of murdering and butchering
them. It was a common and not unnatural feeling that
these atrocities were exceptional in India, and he had been
asked why he did not let the matter rest, and a noble lord
who had much to do with India had said to him, " Let the
matter rest—the less that is said about it the better." His
(Mr. Gilpin's) answer to the question why he brought
this forward was this. It was not that he claimed any par-
ticular character for humanity ; but he appealed to the
Government, represented by the noble lord whose head and
heart were now so full of India—he appealed to the noble
lord to declare on the part of the Government that they had
no sympathy with such atrocities. Such a declaration would
do more towards the consolidation of our power in India than
any number of troops. Those 500 men had trusted to the
honour of England and had been deceived, and he called
on the noble lord to declare that such a deception met with
no approval from him or those who acted with him.
They had been told of the interest which that house felt in
the successful teaching of Christianity to the heathen, but
he would maintain that one such atrocious act as this would
create more undying hatred in India towards this country
than all your missionaries multiplied a hundredfold could
undo in a century. As he believed that a throne could not
be established on injustice, and as he wished the throne of
the Queen to be established in the hearts of her subjects in
India, as it was established in those of her people here, he
wanted a declaration from the noble lord that that throne
should be established in justice, and on the prinCiples of
truth, justice, and humanity.
General THOMPSON said that much conversant as he
was with public debates, it had been.his boast that he could
follow any man. But he could not follow this statement, he
could not add a word to what had been said by his pacific
friend, except by adding a few more facts. Neither he nor
his hon. friend were present, and the only ground on which
they could go was the evidence of the public papers, to which.
they appealed. Her gathered from them what had been
stated by his hon. friend. The regiment in question was
disarmed. It had been stated that small bodies of men could
be destroyed by the hostile population, and an order was
given that these men should be sent out in small bodies. He
did not charge the Government of India with this, but those
who usurped all the power of the Government. The men
were sent to indiscriminate slaughter. It had happened to
him (General Thompson) to be present when an infuriated
populace broke in and attempted to murder a number of pri-
soners, of whom he was one. A quarter-master of the Horse
Artillery, drew his sword and cried out, " Let us have a
tussle for life ;" and the men seized on brickbats, staves, and
anything they could lay their hands on, as anyone, the
Speaker—(laughter)—and he (General Thompson) would
have done, m order to have a tussle for life. In this case
there came a man armed with the power of the magistracy
to hound on the Sikhs to murder. The honourable and
gallant general went on to say that last session, when he
spoke in that house of the murder of the Princes of Delhi,
he had a glimpse of hope that the man by whom that
act was committed might perhaps have been suffering at the
time under the infliction of insanity; and so he charitably
hoped, that the same might have been the case in this affair,
and that England and mankind might thus be clear of this
stigma, if it could be proved that the wretch (for so he could
not avoid calling him) had acted under a deprivation of
reason, and was not responsible for his acts. He now waited
to see who would stand up and defend this horrid massacre.
He had read that when the massacre of St. Bartholomew
occurred in France, there was one officer who, when he re-
ceived the King's orders, replied, "Your Majesty has here
many brave soldiers and faithful subjects, but not one exe-
cutioner." He (General Thompson) must now say that he
was sorry to wear epaulettes since they had been worn by
hangmen, and he had declined the Speaker's invitation to
dinner because he did not wish to wear them, at least until
after some time had intervened to sweeten them. (Murmurs.)
It was true that there was one officer of the rank of major
who had boasted that he hanged several sepoys with his
own hands, and tied the rope himself.

Lord STANLEY—Sir, I have no reason to complain of
the course which the hon. member who brought on this
discussion has taken, and I cannot help regretting that the
honourable and gallant general who followed him has
thought fit to mix up with what is a serious and painful
subject statements taken from old newspapers, of which
there are nd proofs, and whioh, if proved, are utterly irrele-
vant. It is impossible to deny that the transactions to
which reference has been made are such as cannot be heard
of or read of, even at this distance of time, without deep
pain and regret ; and I will go further, and I will say that
that pain is greatly increased by the tone and the spirit m
which those traiisactim have been described both, IA the