Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1857-10-29
OBJ 9ittBfelb Gnq]1ru .
nissha id, Conn, Thursday, oct 49, 1857.
Tho War in India.


svpoys it is reasonable to suppose these neiailbors
Of ours suffered the most inhuman and harbaroas
treatment at their hands. The origin of this revolt
in India may be attributed to several causes in all
Il which superstItious religious feeling is merged
though, others have combined to produce the disas
ter outside of religious prejudices The sepoys
which now form SO large portion OF the troops IN
1sdis are native soldiers They were first organic
ed and introduced into the service by Lord Give in
the year 1857. After the disaster Of the Black Hole
the first battalion was raised and oficered from a
detachment which accom- panied Give from Madras.
lts establishment WIS one European captain, lieu
tenant, and ensign who acted as iield-otfcers
native commantant and adiutant, with one subadar
It,ptasn] aud three jemaders {snbalterns to each
III the ten companies. The company consisted OF
five haviidars [scrgeants, four naiks [corporals]
two torntams [drnmmers], one trumpetsf, and sew
enty sepays 4 each company had color, in the CEN
ara If which the subaaf was allowed to bear bis own
deviee Ut badge, sucL sabre, dagger crescent,
&c. :.
such was the rude organzation-such the feeble
establishment of European officers with which Give
was satisfied to march against the native armies OF
itindustan, fighting under their own chiefs, and IN
,,ssession of dominion which they deemed ilisup"
erable Tho total force with which the great foun-
der CT this army undertook the subversion OF the
Kingdom OF Bengal consisted of 3, 100 men, OF whom
only 900 were Europeans! The army he encoun-
tered at Plassey numbered so 900 foot 1sc0 horse
and strong train of artillery. Such was the une-
ous match played ON the 23d June 1857, directly
for the fair provn Of Bengal, Bahar, and Orisa
but ultimately for the imperial soertre of India
Sprung from class which regards the profession
Of soldier us only second in honor to priest;
Infinitely superior in pay and material comforts to
the native cultivator the mechanic; treated both
Il, cantunments and in the field, not simply a
par with, but in many points with more solicious
consideration than the European soldier; INDUCED
with regular furloughs to visit the home of his child
hood, his family, the slirnes Of his rely ZION ris
ing to commission by seniority decorated with an
Ordor Of Merit; and finally assured of a handsome
pension ON Tetirementno private soldier in the
world enjoys the advantages Of his profession to the
saa1e extent OF with few of its burdens as the
Bengal sepoy
Thus it is seen what temptations he is led into
from having his own way too much and too often.
The causes of the rebellion may be classed under
the following heads.
lst-A superstition that the sway Of the English
was to cease in hundred years. ond-to the
agents of Hindu Association allowed to exist at
Calcutta with the avowed object of defending their
religious customs from the entertainments by tho
Government 3rd-to lack of watchfulness on
the part of te English officers, and 4th-to the in
udicious treamont of those convicted of revolt; to
81 wLicn may be added the great hardness of move
are ii, English troops, 9efter the escape of the
! who had been adjudged to imprisonment
~ "A years with hard labor in irons. The mum
Ser of soldiers employed in the regular service at
the commencement of the revolt was about 322 900
man. Of these 20, $50 were Queens troops; 10000
Company's European troops $40 600 Company
native troops, and $4,000 are native contngents,
commanded by British officers and available under
treaties. Out of the 322, 000 only 5000 are Eng
lish. !
These men are thoroughly drilled and oficered |
and understand all the detail of war; as well as the
Use Of fire arms of every description. To the intro
duction araong them of an improved modern rifle |
which required the cartridges to be creased the end
uf Which they expected to be compelled to bite, i'll
loading the fire arms may be traced the excuse for
the first outbreak, which at involved the ee.
t1ents of revolt before alluded to- The barbarities
practiced in this by the Sepoys have parallel
in the bloodiest of storm piracy upon rec
ord. We cannot bear to dwell upon the sickenng
story of horror in all its details Officers were slai
and their dead bodies stripped and mutilaed their
wive: were cruelty manged and murdered chill
dren were thrown up Ia the air and received on the
points Of bayonetS as they fell Others had their
limbs cut off, and scattered the roads, Every |
where the determination avowcd to exterlnin- |
ate the hated Europeans end after each successive
outbreak the road was taken to Delhi. Many of
these atrocities were no doubt committed by the
thieves and CAMP followers who rose in the wake of
the Sepoys but sl.e native soLliery, both Mussul
man ard Hindu twere at the head of all .and though
some regiments stood firm for while, small indeed
is the numbe, of the permanently faithful
To such height were these atrocities carried we
learn, that Mr. Hay the american missionary at AL
la-habad, had made up his mind, after much PRAYER
and thought, to shoot his wife, his two little girls
and himself rather than fall alive into the hands
of these wretches. His wife agreed and was com
forted by the thought From instances like these
gainst burt faint idea of the intense feeling
that peryades India What is to be the end Heav-
en- only knows. The last adyices do not look favor
able for the English, and long before the troops
they are pushing forward shall arrive another chap
ter of bloody tragedy may be accomplished. The
war has OF course stagnated trade, and suspended
all further operations all the large public
works. Of the magnitude of these we have here at
home little idea They include canals, railroads
tclegraphs, all of which were being pushed rapidly
forward toward completion, when the outbreak
took place. The following is brief statement of
the salaries paid in premiums to conquered native
chiefs
Nearly million and a half pounds sterling are
paid-unless some of them have lapsed within few