The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1857-10-08
n.rv.I Mutiny.


-. 80 r...ntio. after the hour named.
The bengal Muttny.
A.. .v,,cle .ppears in the September number OF
mai woods Magazine on the Bengal Mutiny,
which gives an interesting history Of that extraor-
binary outbreak The disafection, though long
smouldering in the army, did not show itself in
action till January. and attained to crisis In the
second week Of May. The Bengal Native Army
was born one hundred years ago, when the hrst
battalion of Sepoys raised and oftieered rom
detachment which accompanied Give from Madras
The total force with which Lord Give undertook inc
conquest Of Bengal was 100 men, Of whom ohiy ''o
were ruroneans and this force at Pleassy, defeated
an Indian force consisting Of ""V'V loo'' i'''''
hn-so and strong train Of artillery ''That simple
-, 18th Was established 81 this battle, and
which alone can perpetuate the British ascendancy'
.ha rnbesi,atine advance of the English soldier
,r,r every enemy that presents itself, be the dis
,,ro,o,tion in numbers or material what il may, >
has received Of late a splendid illustration in the
heroic actions of GEN Iiavelock and his small com
mand.
Al the opening Of 1857, the Native Bengal Army
consisted Of II regiments Of light cavalry, and -
of regular infantry. with troops OF horsearillery
and q battalions--of six companies each-of foot
art Iery There were also irregular troops, con-
sist ng II q regiments Of cavalry. battalions Of
Sisl in antry. and upwards Of - other corps. The
Con pan IS European forces were 3 brigades OF
hor e. a ii battaiions Of foot artillery, with re-
GIN nts Of infantry The Queens troops were :
reg men : Of cavalry and - Of foot. OF this mag
nificemt army there now remains not more than
nineteen Of the regular native infantry and six OF
light cavalry, aud rot more than six or seven OF
these can be depended upon.
The writer in Backwood expresses the opinion
that disafcction had previously existed through a
large portion of the Bengal army, but that the re-
volt appears to have been really OccasOncd by the
cartridge grievance. This grievance had its foun-
daton not in anything the British Government
had done. but mere rumor of what it intended to
do for not only had Of the Sepoys been called
upon to bite or to handle, the new cartridges
but. fact IL is Stdted by Government that not a si'
gle one has been issued to any natre soldier from tr
10 last.
Whilst Blackwood agrees with the Government
and the journals that it is military mntiny not
national revolt, which threatens Great Britain, u
says no consolation can be derived from the dis
tinction when it is remembered that it is eF-
c1asi,cly on He mijuary arm that the pos
session of India depends The great CONT
neut Of India. says Blackwood, has nothing ma
tional: 1t has a score Of native populations
more distinct in language, customs and religion
than the natives Of Europe. The ancient and pc
Culiar polity Of India is municipal; every village
has n corporate government, but its connection
with other communities is feeble and its relations
10 the Supreme Government simply tributary
.sThe native cuitYator, mechanic, or merchant has
little further concern with the ruling power,
whether Hindoo, Mahommedan, or British, but to
contribute his share Of the rent or taxes levied
from the community TO which he belongs All that
he desires in returu-aud usually desires in vail
is the protection of efficient police, with the adj
ministTaton Of justice in matters above the reach
of the village conclave. For the rest, he only asks
t. be let aloreto travel the little round that his
parents trod before him to scratch the fields with
the same crooked stick that served his fathers for
n plough; to shave with the same razor the chill
dren OF those whom his father shaved of old to
beat upon the same great stone with the identical
Jerk and groan wherewith his father made the
rivers bank resound, the scant apparel Of his
dusky clan to tell the same stories eat the same
food. share the same ceremonies, lead the same
stolid life. and die the same apathetical death,
which millions have done, are doing, and will con-
time 20 de-. before, around, and after himself in
most supreme Indifference whether Prospero OF
Siephano be King of the island"
II Is worthy OF lptt. THAT WIieb iLlS pOItIOIl VI
the population. which, under the British govern
mcut rs under all others, has been made the sub
ject Of governmental oppression and extortion, re-
mains quiet and apathetic, the mutinous are exclu
sively those who have been treated with most favor
and indulgence. OF the Sepoy soldiers, to whom
the Bengal mutiny has been altogether confined,
we are told that "sprung from a class which re-
CARDS the profession Of a soldier as only second In
honor to that of priest; infinitely superior III
nav and material comforts to the native cultivator
or the mechanic; treated both in environments and
in the field not simply on a par with, but in many
points with more eolictous consideration than, tho
Europeap soldier; INDUCED with regular furloughs
10 visit the home of his youth, his family, or the
shrine of his religion; rising to commissions by
seniority: decorated with Order Of Merit: ana,
finally assured of a handsome pension on retire
lnent no private soldier in the world enjoys the
advantages of his profession to the extent,
with so few of its burdens, the Bengal Sepoy.--
His position was declared by Lord DalhOusie to be
;ueapable of improvement. All his temptations,
in short, arise from his having his own way too
much and too often Yet it is this pettcd and
spoiled soldiery to whom the India mutiny has
been confined, and whose fendish and unparal
Ieled atrocities upon women and children, upon
the wives and daughters of those from whom they
received naught but kindness, have filed the civil
lied world with horror.