The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1857-10-17

o cipline and kill rebellion in the bud bu
: from the weakness, we might say mbecility
f with which it was carried out, producing ex
actly the opposite result.
The 10th May, which happened to b
Sunday, passed in apparent tranquility
: The Queens troops marched to church. ha'
their dinner, and were quietly sauntering il
their lines. The officers and ladies' (pool
soulsD were preparing to 20 to the evening
service, the chaplain was driving thither il
his buggy-al was as it had been in every
station in India for scores of years past
when tie mine erploded The men Of tn,
Sd Light Cavalry, having probably spent
the day in drugging themselves with bhang
for their intended revenge, suddenly rushed
from their huts to the lines, and mounted
their horses. A party galloped to the jail,
overpowered the guard, and liberated the
prisoners. The rest, calling aloud to the
SepOys Of the llth and Goth regiments, by
whom they were Immediately joined, com
menced an indScriminate attack on the Eu-
ropean residents. Colonel Finns, their COIN
msnder, was shot down by the men of the
Goth. The other Off :ers were eagerly fired
at and sabred. Their houses were set on
fire, and those barbarities practised which
have been read with horror throughout the
empire, and TO which we remember no par
allel in the bloodiest scenes of storm or pi-
racy upon record. While our countrvmen
and countrywoinen were thus abandoned as
prey to atrocities more than iendish; 1900
! OF the Queens trOopS-nearly double the
/ European force with which Give won the
J battle ofPa, sey-were in the same canton
ment. The tidings were long in reaching
them; the Carabineers were badly mounted,
and when they issued at las from their bar
( racks, lost their gay in reaching the other
( end OF the cantonment. Wben they arriv-
/ ed it was dusk, and soon after dark the Se-
/ poys and their feilow-scOundrels from the
/ jail having pretty well finisher thar butche-
/ ry and rapine declined to engage the Euio-
/ peans, but took the road 10 Delhi and, TO
! the eternal disgrace of all who were guilty
Of the Aches, were allowed to pursue it un-
mo!ested British troops Of every arm re-
mained to guard the burning bungalow, the
! corpses OF the slain, their own barracks, and
the slumber of the division headquarters;
while three regiments Of natives, without
leaders or guides, made good march Of for
ty miles to seize the native capital of the
country. Why were they not followed and
cut up to man by the carbineers and horse
artillery The road from Meerut to Delhi
crosses the Hindnn, a stream which fails in
to the Jumna by narrow suspension bridge,
easily held by few against a much larger
force. The mutineers had the sense to post
hundred troopers at this bridge; why was
it not seized by troop Of horse artillery at
Meerut: Why, in short was nothing done
or attempted before the insurgents could
reach Delhi, 10 arrest their murderous pro-
gress, and protect the unfortunate residents
in that city? Why, but that our leaders
were unequal to their duty, and that Gene
ra Arson had rushed into menaciug dis
play of authority, without -rUubling himself
to consider the means Of the persons by
whom it was to be sustained.
The Sepoys had plan, if the generals
had none. Pushing forward unno.ested,
they reached Delhi on the following day
Brigadier Graves, who commanded there
had notice of their approach, and was urged
to occupy the IIindun bridge with some OF
his gnns. This move would at once have
arrested the mutneerS. and, with the prompt
cooperation Of General Hewitt, might have
suppressed the flame. But the fatality con-
tinuej; he preferred to move his guns out
on the roaO to .liyghur, hoping to cover the
retreat Of the ladies and children; /; but there
the river was fordabic, and the rebels being
supplied with cavalry, it was judged impru-
dent to make stand. Meantime a few
troopers who headed the mutneers rode fear.
lessly in at the principal gate. The 3Sth
native infantry were hastily ordered against
them but the troopers ga!loped straight at
the regiment, calling on the Sepoys, and
pointing to the place where their legs had
been fettered. The regiment parted to the
two sides Of the road, leaving their officers
in the midst, where they were cut down by
the cavalry. The revolt was Immediately
joined by all the native corps in Delhi. the
artillery alone exhibiting some reluctance,
and protecting their officers. Mr.. Fraser,
the civil commissioner, with all the European
residents that could be found, were slaugh-
tered without mercy. The Government
treasure, to the amount OF half-a- million, was
seized but similar attempt made upon the
magazine gave occasion for one act of hero
ism which illumnes the dark story, and as
sures US that the spirit which conquered
India is not extinct among its defenders.
The Commissary of Ordnance, Lieutenan,
Willouxhby, finding himself unable to pro-
tect his char ,e, fred it with his own hand
blowing up himself and some hundreds of
the rebels who had come TO seize il. We
regret that ii is not yet certain, though re-
ported, that this gallant officer has escaped
alive
The mutineers now occupied themselves
for a day or two in plunder. They then
proclaimed the her-apparent of the titular
emperor, king, and began To organize gov
erument. The new made monarch aud his
father are said at first to have sent 4 mes
sage to the Lieutenant Governor at Agra
that he was in power OF the insurgent troops.
He would seem, however, to have quietly
come into the rebellion, for it is reported
that the Rev. Mr. Jennings, an English cler
gyman, and his daughter, being brought be-
fore him for orders, he RENTED them to the
pleasure of the troops; IN other words, to
be stripped, tortured, and hewed to pieces
in the street,
The fame now fairly kndled, leaped from
station to station till it Overspread the whole
of the upper provinces. We have 70 inten-
ton of following t e sickening tale of hor-
rors in all its details Suffice i. to record
that the brutal atrocities of Meerut and
Delhi were too faithfully copied at every
station where the news arrived, and the ma
tive forces were not overawed by Europeans
Officers were murdered, and their dead
bodies stripped and mutilated; ladies were
violated in the presence of their husbands,
parents and children, and then cruelty man.
gled and slain; children were thrown up
in the air and received on the points OF bay
onets as they fell; others had their limbs
cut off, and scattered on the roads Every
where the determination was avowed to ex
terminate the hated Europeans, and alter
each successive outbreak the road was taken
to Delhi Many of these atrocities were no
doubt committed by thieves and camp-fOl-
lowers who rose in the wake of the SepOys;
but the native soldiery, both Mussulman
and Hindu, were at t e head OF all and
though some regiments stood firm for a
while. small indeed is the number of the
permanently faithful.
SPREAD OF TIE MUTINY.
The prolonged stand of the mutineers at
Delhi has given countenance to the prophe-
cies circulated by the Brahmins, that des-
t;pu limits the Rrifish nower m the exact